The essential guide to delivering cloud services & products profitably

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Contents

The channel challenge 5Tips for selling managed cloud services 6Addressable market for cloud 8How does DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace work? 10Products and services catalogue 12Channel support services 13A single platform for cloud service providers 14On-boarding and resources 15How to access DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace 16Key features of DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace 19About Distribution Central 22

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The role of a distributor is to enable partners to solve contemporary business problems through IT solutions. The same rule applies to delivering cloud services and products. Cloud is simply another pathway to deliver IT solutions, albeit a revolutionary one, as it rapidly transforms the IT industry. Put simply, the future is cloud. Gartner named cloud as one of the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2015, stating that “both internal applications and external applications will be built on this new style.” 1

So how do you – channel partners – use cloud to transform your organisation successfully?

The essential guide to delivering cloud services & products profitably

This guide explains how DC CloudSelect™

Marketplace can:

• support your organisation to remain competitive, successful and profitable, while delivering cloud services and solutions to your customers

• make it easier for you to consume cloud services and get the benefits without having to deal with the complexities of cloud

• simplify and demystify the cloud experience

• help you create a business model that drives profitable revenue streams and growth.

This on-boarding guide is a valuable resource for existing and new Distribution Central partners to ensure a successful journey to delivering cloud services. With DC CloudSelect™ you can meet your customers’ future needs, now.

1 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2867917

Welcome to DC CloudSelect™!

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DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace is designed to empower channel partners by enabling you to deliver, secure and optimise cloud services to your customers.

DC CloudSelect™ is a single platform that offers procurement, provisioning, integration, orchestration and management of cloud solutions, services and aggregated billing. It has been designed for resellers, managed service providers, cloud service providers and partners born in the cloud.

www.dccloudselect.com

by Distribution Central.

Introducing

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace offers real value to the channel:

• It offers the most advanced and innovative open standards-based cloud services marketplace available in ANZ.

• It offers a broad ecosystem of more than 200 SaaS and cloud-enabled technologies and services from the world’s leading cloud providers.

• It lets you deliver, secure and optimise cloud-based Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) solutions to your customers.

• It lets you develop a recurring revenue source and a deeper engagement with customers, giving you more opportunities to sell more services and solutions.

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace

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Cloud has emerged as one of the most talked about, hypothesised and hyped-up technologies in recent years. It is early in its maturity cycle but fast becoming one of the most transformational technologies we have seen in the past 30 years.

The dawn of the cloud era has unveiled a potential new revenue stream for resellers, which, if developed well, is likely to become a torrent as more organisations transition to cloud and more cloud services become available. The opportunities are increasing at lightning speed and resellers must move quickly to plan their cloud strategy. Otherwise they may well need to plan their exit strategy.

How can partners simplify cloud? It is basically the mechanism that allows the shift from physical assets to virtual service assets.

Channel partners have mostly come to grips with the shift in mindset required to embrace cloud services by focusing on developing a service delivery capability. Yet now they face a new challenge: the impracticality of developing and managing relationships with multiple cloud providers; presenting these myriad solutions to their customers; and having the capability to provision, manage and bill their customers’ cloud environments.

To ensure profitability resellers need to build a transactional cloud e-commerce business and a transformational services business.

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace gives you:

• recurring revenue and profitability through exclusive partner pricing and a strong cloud ecosystem

• streamlined on-boarding and fully-automated, aggregated ordering with a single source of billing

• control over your customers’ cloud environments, orchestrated services delivery and automated service deployment from pre-populated solutions blueprints or own creations

• expert solutions advice and technical support as well as sales enablement through training and engineering services including design, build and integration of various cloud deployments, return on investment analysis and executive presentations.

The channel challenge

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1. Identify the right opportunity

Managed cloud services are not for everyone so it is critical to identify the right opportunity. It is a waste of time to try selling cloud services to businesses that are not ready for change. Instead, choose companies that can clearly articulate their needs and are willing to invest in new technology.

Companies that have significant investments in on-site infrastructure are unlikely to be ready to move to cloud-based services unless their infrastructure is nearing end-of-life. Similarly, companies that are still focused on ‘keeping the lights on’ are unlikely to be ready to consider investing in cloud.

2. Keep the message simple

Most organisations are still coming to terms with the benefits of cloud services: confusing them with lots of choices and technical specifications is likely to scare them off. Instead, keep the message simple and high-level, focusing on big-picture benefits. For example, organisations will want to hear that you can deliver a robust, scalable solution that meets their business and IT needs. It is also important to reassure customers and prospects that cloud services are secure and can enable users to work remotely using any device, without compromising on security.

A key point to emphasise is the cost savings and service level guarantees that come with cloud services.

Tips for selling managed cloud services

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3. Slow and steady wins the race

Not all companies are ready to jump into cloud services. They need time to consider the effects on their business and the benefits they can achieve. Instead of selling aggressively, take time to educate prospects and customers, building your reputation as a trusted advisor. When the time comes to close the deal, make it as easy as possible for your customer to commit.

4. Talk about the right kind of cloud

Many companies don’t yet understand the difference between public, private or hybrid cloud. Just because one type of cloud isn’t right for that organisation doesn’t mean that they will never move to the cloud.

For some companies, the physical location of their data is important so it’s critical to explain to them exactly where their data will be stored and how it will be secured.

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Various surveys and studies confirm that Australia is a market primed for cloud. This is further evidenced by the number of significant players setting up cloud data centres in Australia, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

According to Telsyte, cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service take-up is skyrocketing with twice as many enterprises adopting IaaS in 2013 versus 2012. The Telsyte Australian Infrastructure & Cloud Computing Market Study 2014 forecasts the total market value for public cloud infrastructure services to reach $650 million by 2018, up from $305 million in 2014 2.

As barriers to adoption begin to dissolve, more organisations are realising the benefits of cloud, whether they choose public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid model.

2 https://www.telsyte.com.au/?p=2418 3 http://www.whatech.com/market-research-reports/press-release/it/28518-cloud-computing-market-in-the-anz-region-to-grow-at-25-52-cagr-by-2018

A research report from RnR Market Research says the ANZ region is looking at a cloud computing market that will grow at 25.5 per cent year on year to 2018 3. This represents outstanding potential for channel partners who can capitalise on this increasing appetite for cloud.

The Australian government is helping to drive cloud adoption, not least through its own cloud-first policy that mandates the use of cloud where possible at the federal level.

Addressable market for cloud

is the projected total market value for public cloud infrastructure services in 2018.

According to Telsyte

$650m

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is the year on year growth expected in the ANZ region for the cloud computing market.

According to RnR

25.5%

Australian businesses are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing cloud models and cloud providers. As the market continues to expand rapidly, businesses will look for a partner that can guide them through the complexities and deliver a viable, high-performing cloud solution.

While the market for cloud is significant it is important to remember that not every company is ready to make the leap.

Companies that may be suitable targets for cloud services include those that:

• consider security to be vital but are unwilling to allow their business to be hamstrung by overly-cautious security policies

• can realise genuine cost savings by minimising their on-premise infrastructure

• are looking to minimise capital expenditure in favour of operating expenditure

• have workloads that are suitable for the cloud, remembering that not all workloads are suitable

• are ready to approach technology as a business enabler, are looking to innovate proactively and are ready to move away from the traditional break-fix approach of IT departments.

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DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace is a fully-customised portal that acts as a single interface for resellers to order, consume and manage cloud products and services (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS).

It lets users access a products and services catalogue that includes pricing and subscription details. This helps resellers estimate customers’ budgets and the cost of cloud requirements.

How does DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace work?

Resellers can then leverage exclusive partner pricing and discounts across a variety of cloud providers.

The fully-automated ordering process puts all your products and services into a single order with a single source of aggregated billing in Australian dollars.

APPLICATION & CLOUD SERVICES MARKETPLACE FRAMEWORK

Cloud Control Panel & Storefront

Billing Accounting, Delivery & Aggregation

Dashboards & Reporting

Products & Services Catalogue

Services Provisioning & Orchestration

DC CloudSelect ™

Support & Admin

RESELLER / CHANNEL

Customer CustomerCustomer

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Profitability Control Panel

On-Boarding & Procurement

Billing & Payment Gateway

Cloud Solutions Expertise

Marketing & Sales Enablement

The benefits of DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace include:

• recurring revenue and profitability through exclusive partner pricing and a strong cloud ecosystem

• streamlined on-boarding and fully-automated, aggregated ordering with a single source of billing

• partners maintain control over their customers’ cloud environments, orchestrated services delivery and automated service deployment from pre-populated solutions blueprints or your own creations

• solutions advice and technical support

• cloud Billing-as-a-Service that eliminates complexity and overhead costs

• extended payment terms

• sales enablement through training and engineering services including design, build and integration of various cloud deployments, return on investment analysis and executive presentations

• marketing and legal support.

DC CloudSelect™ lets you:

• fast track your and your customers’ journey to the cloud

• create new services and revenue streams

• pick, choose and add a catalogue that fits with your go-to-market strategy and white-label the platform as your own branded store

• create hundreds of solution blueprints with end-to-end automation

• integrate easily with various private and public cloud providers

• retain primary customer engagement with full visibility, management and control over the consumption, performance and delivery of cloud services.

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DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace offers more than 200 products and services from the world’s leading cloud providers and solutions from Distribution Central’s existing vendor partnerships.

Products and services catalogue

The products and services catalogue covers:

• Data, infrastructure and network services

• Business applications and platforms

• Security and compliance

• IT and cloud management

• Enablement and consulting services

Our broad portfolio includes hybrid products and other cloud-enabled products to enable any type of cloud deployment.

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Distribution Central offers a range of services to support partners when delivering cloud solutions. These include:

• Solutions advice from a team of certified Solution Architects for:

– Pre-sales solution design

– Technical proposals

• Technical support available from our services catalogue for:

– Cloud readiness assessment

– Cloud services migration and implementation

Channel support services

• Sales enablement – we can assist you in transitioning your business to deliver cloud solutions through training and engineering services including:

– Design, build and integration of various cloud deployments

– ROI analysis

– Executive presentations

• Marketing – we offer marketing and business development services to assist you in running effective lead generation and marketing campaigns

• Legal support – we can assist you with cloud contracts specific to your SLA or business strategy.

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The DC CloudSelect™ marketplace platform lets you create a storefront with your own branding that will:

• provide a unified and common interface across multiple public and private cloud platforms

• deliver cloud solutions to your customers quickly and cost-effectively with your own branded storefront

• eliminate the need to invest in systems including ITSM, CLM and other applications to run a managed services business

A single platform for cloud service providers

• procure and perform service execution, customer on-boarding and management via a single platform

• enhance your own solutions offering

• reduce the time it takes to sell third-party applications into new markets from weeks or months to just minutes

• provide multi-tenant, on-demand service consumption, manage SLAs, operating platforms and security, and analyse cloud service performance, utilisation and growth.

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Distribution Central’s aim is to ensure our partners have everything they need to be successful. DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace is a significant asset to Distribution Central’s partners. It can support you in delivering cloud services and products, and help drive profitable revenue streams and business growth.

Follow these key steps to on-boarding with Distribution Central and DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace:

1. Ensure your organisation is registered as a Distribution Central reseller. If your registration included a credit application you will have a credit account, which you can use when ordering on DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace.

On-boarding and resources

2. Ensure you and your colleagues have a DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace login.

3. Sign up to our e-newsletter to ensure you receive information regarding the Marketplace, the cloud market in general, and upcoming promotions, events and training.

4. Use this guide to familiarise yourself with the Marketplace.

5. Access the FAQ page on the website for further details on how the Marketplace works.

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Registering for DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace is simple and easy. Your registration will be reviewed and you will receive a confirmation email once it has been approved.

Step 1

Go to www.dccloudselect.com and click on “Login/Register”.

Step 2

Select the Register Now link, which will take you to a page on the Distribution Central website.

How to access DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace

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Step3

If your organisation is already a Distribution Central reseller, and you have an existing Distribution Central login, select “Yes-Login”.

If your organisation is already a Distribution Central reseller, but you don’t have a personal login, select “No-Register as User”.

If your organisation has never transacted with Distribution Central, select “No-Register as Reseller”.

Once your registration has been submitted, you will receive a confirmation email. As soon as your registration has been approved, you will receive a separate email to confirm that your login has been activated.

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Step 4

To login, click on “Login/Register” and enter your username and password.

Step 5

You can now start searching and viewing products and services; create an order; view your bills; view and manage (turn on/off ) your existing cloud environments; provision new virtual machines; and manage your organisation’s users/role permissions. The screen shot below shows the DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace Store with categories for the available products and services.

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Key features of DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace

Searching for products

Once you have selected the product category (see previous screenshot), you can either browse through the list of products provided, or:

• search for a specific product in the top left hand corner search function

• filter via category of product

• filter via supplier or vendor name

• go back to the Store to select a new category.

API integration with cloud providers

Distribution Central has worked closely with its cloud providers to set up API integration that lets the user provision cloud services in real-time. In the example below, you can immediately select the RAM, CPU, operating system and data centre location.

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Self-service control panel

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace lets partners view their billing and order history; manage the virtual machines they have provisioned; submit support tickets; and manage their profile. The dashboard summarises your key information.

Manage your virtual machines

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace offers the ability to control and manage your customers’ virtual machines: you can stop or start them, and also reset and delete them in real time. You can even access the individual cloud provider’s management console directly from the control panel.

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Submit a support ticket

You can submit a support ticket for any questions or issues you may have. Each ticket is logged in your control panel and tracked until completion.

Manage your account

Access your order history, products and services wish lists, and add credit cards to your account from the “My Account” section, which is accessible from your Account Name in the header.

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DC CloudSelect™ has been developed by Distribution Central, the leader in digital distribution and a leading provider of specialised, technical-service orientated distribution and channel support for contemporary IT products.

Distribution Central goes beyond traditional channel distribution to bring together leading vendor technology and reseller requirements in a way that makes sense to our partners and end customers.

We understand that end-users don’t just want equipment and a competent installation service. They want help solving complex business issues. That is why our focus is on translating complex technology into tangible business benefits.

Our team stretches across Australia and New Zealand and our executive management have more than 25 years’ experience in the IT Industry.

www.distributioncentral.com

About Distribution Central

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Channel services

DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace isn’t just a platform, it’s one of many services that Distribution Central delivers to its partners. For more information on DC CloudSelect™ Marketplace or any of Distribution Central’s channel services, contact your local Account Manager or call your local Distribution Central branch office (see back of this guide for contact details).

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www.dccloudselect.cominfo@dccloudselect.com support@dccloudselect.com billing@dccloudselect.com

T 1300 678 364

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