bpos for the msp

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This guide is primarily for partners that: � Resell hardware and software solutions � Provide services to organizations with fewer than 500 seats � Provide services to organizations with more than 500 seats ; Provide managed IT services

If the characteristics checked above do not align with your type of business, please visit the following Web site to find the appropriate Business Optimization Guide for your business: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/BPOSguides.

Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)• ExchangeOnline, including ExchangeHostedServices,

which are attached services that encompass the archiving, encryption, continuity, and filtering of data.

• SharePoint®Online for intranets and document sharing.• OfficeCommunicationsOnline for real-time

communication and presence (instant messaging and related capabilities).

• OfficeLiveMeeting for interactive Web conferencing.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This guide is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Microsoft® Business Productivity Online SuiteBusiness Optimization Guide for Managed Services Providers ©2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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https://partner.microsoft.com/US/BPOSguides

Microsoft® Business Productivity Online SuiteBusiness Optimization Guide for Managed Services Providers

©2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.In C

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Quick TopicsPurpose and Use of This Guide

Quick Topics

What is Microsoft BPOS?

What are the benefits of BPOS for customers?

What are the benefits of BPOS for Managed Services Providers (MSPs)?

What is the first thing MSPs need to do to start integrating BPOS into their business?

What changes to MSPs’ businesses may be needed to integrate BPOS into their offerings?

How will MSPs make money integrating BPOS into their managed services business?

What are the practices and characteristics of the most successful BPOS MSPs?

What frequently asked questions (FAQs) do MSPs have related to BPOS?

What should MSPs do to get started integrating BPOS into their managed services portfolios (i.e., next steps)?

Purpose and Use of This Guide

This Business Optimization Guide is for partners that provide managed IT support services—in other words, MSPs. The purpose of this guide is to help MSPs: • Take advantage of the substantial business

opportunities to integrate a BPOS solution into their existing managed-services portfolio.

• Understand how to introduce BPOS into a managed-services business and begin generating new revenue streams.

• Leverage best practices on how to market BPOS most effectively and drive additional business opportunities.

This guide can be used interactively. It can be read from beginning to end by clicking the arrows next to each page number, or it can be browsed non-sequentially by clicking on the section tabs to the left.

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Cloud Computing: An Evolving Market with New MSP Opportunities


Introduction

Cloud Services and the Growing Managed-services Opportunity

The Evolving Software Model

The Microsoft Solution: Software plus Services (S+S)

Summary: Why S+S?

Why Customers Want Online Services

Online Services Market Opportunity

The Synergies between Online Services and Managed Services

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By now, most customers and MSPs are keenly aware of the industry buzz around concepts like “cloud computing” and software as a service (SaaS). In fact, many MSPs were on the cutting edge of these trends bybeingsomeofthefirsttodeliveroff-premises,managed services to their customers.

Similar to the substantial growth in the MSP market, the opportunities being created by cloud computing and SaaS are expected to be considerable. The two main reasons why customer interest is growing rapidly in cloud computing are the same reasons why managedserviceshaveflourishedinrecentyears:first,theabilityforcustomerstolowerupfrontandongoing costs, and second, the opportunity to streamline deployment and management.

©2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 4



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Cloud Services and the Growing Managed-services OpportunityTo many, cloud services are seen as an evolution of the managed services that MSPs have traditionally offered; services like remote management and off-site data storage. MSPs are very familiar with the distinctions between services delivered on site versus services delivered off site. MSPs are also familiar with the business model associated with cloud services: that is, providing services through subscription-based licensing models rather than through one-time product sales.

Recognizing the value of a subscription-based model and the potential for annuity revenue streams, other types of partners are exploringcloud-computingopportunitiesandfindingways to integrate cloud computing into their business

models. Recently, Microsoft sponsored a study conducted by Everything Channel’s IPED focused on cloud-services adoption among partners and customers (hereafter referred to as the “cloud-services study”)

to understand attitudes and perceptions among partners and customers toward online services. The study indicates that cloud services will double as a percentage of overall partner revenues in the next two years, growing from 8.5 percent to 18.1 percent of total partner revenue by the year 2010.* This suggests that many partners are potentially going to be offering cloud services to grow their businesses. For MSPs, who already have expertise in

providing remote, subscription-based services, cloud services present an excellent opportunity to grow revenues by expanding into familiar territory.

The Cloud: a Common DefinitionThe term “cloud” is typically used when referring

to the delivery of services from outside the

corporate firewall or beyond the walls of a

person’s home—in other words “off premises.”

In its simplest form, the cloud refers to services

that are delivered from a datacenter in one

location to a server or personal computer (PC)

in another location via the Internet, or the

“public cloud.” (More recently, the term “private

cloud” has been introduced to describe environ-

ments that emulate cloud computing on private

networks, or “on premises.”)

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The Evolving Software ModelCustomer needs and challenges drive innovation and growth in technology markets around the world. For much of the past 20 years, the predominant business model for software has been the following:1. The customer licenses a software application.2. The customer installs the application within its

environment.3. The customer replaces the application when a

change is needed.

While this model served customers, technology manufacturers, and partners fairly well, the rate of change and the degree of complexity for technology products within global markets has made it increasingly difficultforcustomers(andpartners)toacquire, provision, and manage their technology investments. Meanwhile, within small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), needed technology solutions are often out of reach due to high costs and limited information- technology (IT) resources to implement the technology.

These challenges have driven a fundamental shift in software licensing and deployment models. The result: the growth in and excitement around cloud computing.

License Install Upgrade or Replace

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The Microsoft Solution: Software plus Services (S+S)Until recently, the typical model for the cloud and SaaS has been “all or nothing.” Either customers purchase an entire application offering as a hosted service, or they deploy applications on premises in a traditional manner. However, many Microsoft partners andcustomershavemadesignificantinvestmentsinon-premises solutions—solutions that meet many of their needs.

Rather than forcing customers and partners to choose between on-premises solutions and the cloud, Microsoft is pioneering the S+S model, combining the value of both. With this approach, customers are not required to abandon their on-premises deployments and shift entirely to cloud services, but can instead blend on-premises solutions with hosted services to takeadvantageofthebenefitsofeachmodel.

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Microsoftoffersthreemodelsfordeliveringsolutions,providinganewlevelofchoiceandflexibility.Theseincludeon-premises, partner-hosted, and Microsoft-hosted solutions. Microsoft-hosted solutions are referred to as Microsoft Online Services.• OnPremises.Software is installed at the customer location and licensed to the customer in a traditional manner.• PartnerHosted.The infrastructure and software is owned and licensed by a partner, which purchases

Microsoft software licenses through a Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA). • MicrosoftHosted. Microsoft owns the infrastructure and provisioning of the software, which is delivered as a

service to customers via the Internet.

The goal for S+S is to enable customers to easily adopt and integrate services based on all three models (or any combination). This approach is similar to the model that MSPs have embraced for years by providing clients with remote, managed services to augment their on-premises environments.

On PremisesWindows® 7 operating system

Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating systemMicrosoft Office

Partner HostedLine-of-business application services

Microsoft HostedMicrosoft BPOS (Hosted Exchange,

SharePoint, Live Meeting, and Office Communications)

S+S Solutions

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Summary: Why S+S? • The power of choice for customers and partners.• Consistent, seamless customer experiences across

multiple computers and devices.• The enablement of multiple business models.

Why Customers Want Online ServicesThe cloud-services study revealed that the majority of customersrecognizeandappreciatethebenefitsofonline services,* suchasthebenefitshighlightedintheimage below:

Withacustomerbasethatunderstandsthebenefitsof online services and is anxious to begin taking advantage ofthosebenefits,MSPsareinagreatpositiontomake the most of these trends.

Customer Benefits

Lower Technology Costs Reduced IT Staffing Costs Greater Scalability and Agility

Enhanced Ability to Focus on IT Services That Provide a

Competitive Advantage

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Online Services Market OpportunityServices have already started to transform the world— from individual consumers to the largest enterprise organizations and government entities. Furthermore, significantbusinessopportunitiesexistforcustomersand partners to utilize Microsoft solutions within an S+S model. Industry analysts agree that these changes will transform the IT industry and create many new opportunities in the coming years. For example:• IDC predicts a 24.3 percent compound annual

growth rate for SaaS from 2008-2013, reaching just over $33 billion in 2013.‡

• The Yankee Group expects that SaaS global sales will outpace those of traditional software by 2012.¥

Thisgrowthopportunityisexpectedtobesignificantfor MSP partners. In fact, according to the cloud-services study, MSPs serving the SMB segment are expected to represent one of the largest channel opportunities in the office-infrastructure, online-services category by 2012.* This is not surprising given the fact that many MSPs have already established many of the trusted-advisor relationships that are crucial for acquiring and maintaining managed- and online-services customers.

MSPs are also recognizing the incremental business opportunities that online services can offer. In the cloud-services study, all of the MSP partners surveyed that target customers with fewer than 500 seats and have experienced early success with online services saidthattheyseeitasasignificantopportunitytoincreaseprofitmargins.*

Given the impressive growth projections, along with the revenues already being generated by partners, Microsoft is focused on delivering online-services solutions for partners to take advantage of these new opportunities.

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The Synergies between Online Services and Managed ServicesMostMSPshavebusinesspracticesthatfitwellwiththe online-services model. For example, MSPs have experience providing services via the cloud through remote management or monitoring. In addition, MSPs already have a business model structured around subscription services and the management of ongoing billing and revenue collection. Furthermore, most MSPs already offer a combination of services that aligns with the S+S strategy of providing customers choice when building their technology infrastructure.

These synergies provide MSPs with two great opportunities to grow revenues through cloud services. First, MSPs can generate new revenue streams by providing online services to their customers. Second, MSPs can attach other managed services such as monitoring, administration, and training when customers deploy online services.

One way MSPs can take advantage of the changing nature of cloud services is through engaging with a new Microsoft Online Services offering called BPOS. With BPOS, MSPs can generate incremental revenues by marketing the solution as a complement to their other services, and by attaching managed services to BPOS deployments.

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Understanding the BPOS Solution


Introduction

BPOS and Customer Choice

Benefits of BPOS for Customers

Benefits of BPOS for MSPs

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What is BPOS? BPOS is a suite of enterprise-class software that is hosted by Microsoft and delivered as a subscription service. Partners that refer customers that adopt BPOS receive referral- and annuity-based subscriptions fees. BPOS includes:• ExchangeOnline, including Exchange Hosted

Services, which are attached services that encompass the archiving, encryption, continuity, andfilteringofdata.

• SharePointOnline for intranets and document sharing.

• OfficeCommunicationsOnline for real-time communication and presence (instant messaging and related capabilities).

• OfficeLiveMeetingfor interactive Web conferencing.

13©2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.



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The following table highlights some of the key characteristics and differentiators of BPOS:

Characteristics Differentiators

StreamlinedCommunicationsCustomers can work with the same rich clients they already know and use—all within an integrated experience, from virtually any device, in almost any location.

SimplifiedManagementCustomers get the tools they need without requiring ongoing upgrades or installations. BPOS puts the IT resources of Microsoft to work for customers.

Business-classSecurityandReliabilityCustomers can work with confidenceknowingthatBPOSruns on a network of world-class datacenters protected by multiple layers of security and operational best practices—all while providing a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.

HighlySkilledPartnerChannelThe success of Microsoft in the market over the past 30 years has been due in large part to a strong partner ecosystem. That will continue as Microsoft brings more services to market via on-premises and off-premises delivery models.

Up-sellOpportunitieswithBPOSCustomers are looking for solutions that provide them with the scale of the Internet, but the control and usability of on-premises solutions. More and more, they are choosing solutions that include on-premises software plus cloud-based services. MSPs that provide managed services to customers subscribing to BPOS have the opportunity to pursue up-sell and cross-sell opportunities with the other managed services in their portfolio.

Enterprise-classSecurityandReliabilityMicrosoft has a keen understanding of what commercial and public-sector organizations need based on years of experience providing enterprise software to a wide range of customers and partners. In addition, Microsoft has successfully delivered hosted services forbusinessesatahighscalewithhighreliabilityandsecurity,includingMicrosoftOfficeLive Meeting, Exchange Hosted Services, and Hosted Messaging and Collaboration.

BroadestSetofServicesforBusinessThe Microsoft portfolio of services for businesses is the broadest in the market and is based on proven, market-leading products like Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Live Meeting.Asorganizationsofallsizeslookforhostedservices,MicrosoftisconfidentthatBPOSwillstandoutasaflexible,reliable,and,mostimportantly,securesolution.

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Microsoft offers standard and dedicated editions of BPOS:• Standard.Customers receive a complete,

standardized offering of the software in a shared environment, which they can manage, including some customization. There are no minimum or maximum licenses required, and it is less expensive than the dedicated offering.

• Dedicated.Customers receive a dedicated environment on a Microsoft-hosted server (or servers), which enables them to customize theservicetotheirspecificbusinessneeds.Thecustomer must license a minimum of 5,000 seats and select options for additional server features to take advantage of the dedicated offering.

BPOS and Customer ChoiceAs one of the Microsoft Online Services offerings, BPOS aligns with the S+S strategy of providing customers choice, while still maximizing the opportunity for partners. Each customer has unique needs, depending on characteristics such as size, IT budget, and industry, to name only a few. For example, one target market for BPOS is smaller customers that may not have had the budget for an on-premises solution or the in-house IT staff to manage it. BPOS offers an opportunity for partners to win new customers by meeting a more complete set of needs.

In another study conducted by Everything Channel’s IPED, it was discovered that 11 percent of partners are already selling vendors’ online services.₤These partners are already realizing the opportunities that online services such as BPOS can bring, such as acquiring new customers and preserving relationships with existing customers. With BPOS, MSPs have another tool for reaching the broadest set of customers possible.

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Benefits of BPOS for CustomersMSPs are in trusted, long-term relationships with their customers, and customers often look to their MSPs for guidance in making technology decisions. In evaluating the addition of BPOS to their services portfolio, MSPs will want a strong understanding of why BPOS is beneficialfortheircustomers.

Thefollowingisanoverviewofkeybenefitscustomerscan realize from deploying a BPOS solution:

New Level of Value Customers that were previously unable to deploy robust communications and collaboration solutions will now be able to consider these solutions because of the value offered by BPOS. As a suite of products, BPOS offers a substantial savings relative to the price of the services when they are sold separately. For many customers, such as SMBs that previously could not afford enterprise-targeted solutions, this will be a pivotal factor that peaks their interest in BPOS.

MSPs that would like to determine how much BPOS will cost customers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/online/estimator/default.aspx.

Accelerated “Speed to Value”With virtually no upfront hardware and software costs, and predictable monthly costs, BPOS helps IT decision makers provide budget forecasts that are more accurate,whileemployeescanbenefitfromthelatestsoftware capabilities almost instantly.

Familiar, Anywhere AccessBPOS customers will work with the same rich-client applications they already know and use. Built on a proven software platform, BPOS provides an all-in-one, integrated experience, which can be accessed from virtually any device in almost any location. BPOS provides best-in-class communication and collaboration via an easy-to-use service.

Business-class Security and ReliabilityBPOS is hosted on a world-class datacenter network architecture that enables quick and reliable recovery from unplanned occurrences. Customers can work with confidenceknowingthatsecuritystandardsaremetand are protected by multiple layers of security and operational best practices—all while providing a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee. BPOS provides highly secure data access that enables users to get messages and shared documents over the Internet via an encrypted connection.

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Seamless S+SBPOS is designed to integrate with on-premises solutions to make communication with co-workers, customers, and partners around the world simple, effective, and affordable. BPOS provides customers with a simple way to transition a subset of their users to the online service, while other users can use on-premises deployments, if needed.

Benefits of BPOS for MSPsSince MSPs have a business model that complements the BPOS model, they tend to have a good under-standing of how remote, subscription-based solutions can provide consistent streams of revenue at a low cost. However, what may be less apparent is that BPOS provides an ecosystem of revenue opportunities. As previously mentioned, MSPs that integrate BPOS into their offerings will find that they have another solution to help win new customers and protect existing customers from competitors. The following isabroadsummaryofpotentialbenefitsassociated with integrating BPOS into an MSP’s business.

Create New Managed-services Opportunities For MSPs, BPOS can open opportunities for providing additional services, like remote monitoring and management of BPOS services. BPOS is increasingly being offered as part of managed-services platforms, such as those offered by Level Platforms, to enable MSPs to monitor and manage the services seamlessly with other remote services. MSPs can visit Level Platforms at http://www.levelplatforms.com/Product/cloud-services.aspx to learn more about BPOS remote monitoring and management opportunities. Moreover,

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Microsoft is currently developing an online-services feature called Delegated Administration, which will enable online-services customers to delegate the administration of the customer’s BPOS service to an MSP. As BPOS grows, there will likely be more opportunities for remote monitoring and management of BPOS on behalf of customers. This is a prime opportunity for MSPs to increase their engagement with customers and create additional revenue streams.

Generate Incremental, Annuity-based Revenues With BPOS, the partner that drives the sale and is designated by the customer as the “partner of record” will receive an initial payment for referring customers that subscribe to BPOS. The partner will also receive a recurring revenue stream for supporting the customer for as long as the customer maintains its BPOS subscription and continues to designate the partner as its partner of record. The BPOS partner of record will receive an initial payment that equates to 12 percent of the net purchase price (after any discounts or promotions are factored in), plus six percent of ongoing subscription fees paid by the customer.

Even MSPs that currently offer no online services but serve as technical advisors to their customers can begin generating incremental revenues by referring customers to BPOS.

Partners that are interested in learning more details about becoming a partner of record can visit https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx.

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More Potential Sales through Value-added Services OpportunitiesSince MSPs already have substantial experience managing a services-based business, BPOS provides an excellent opportunity to leverage existing skills and resources to drive incremental revenues. In addition to managed services, MSPs can also drive revenue from otherhigh-profit,value-addedservicessuchas:• Education.MSPs have a unique opportunity to

turn their advisory relationships with customers into revenue-generating consulting services, becoming the experts in online services and guiding customers as they adapt and evolve their IT environments.

• Datamigration. Nearly all customers have legacy data that they want migrated to the online environment. MSPs can provide project management and implementation of this activity.

• Integrationservices.Integration among various Microsoft and third-party applications represents another opportunity for MSPs to generate services revenue.

• Customizationservices.MSPs can design applications, automate services, and customize experiences to help their customers utilize BPOS to its best advantage. For example, partners might consider designing automated business processes for customers by quickly leveraging built-in SharePointworkflowsandtemplates.Alternatively,partners could design and implement document-management systems by utilizing built-in SharePoint content-management capabilities and customizing them to the unique needs of their customers.

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The scenario on the following page is an example of potential revenues earned by an MSP that is designated as the partner of record and is also providing additional services such as administering and monitoring, migration, business-process consulting, and initial BPOS training. The example illustrates how adding services on top of a BPOS sale can provide substantial revenues beyond the initial and recurring sales payments. While this example includes only a few services, MSPs can create similar tables including their unique offerings to get a better view of the revenuesthatBPOScangeneratespecificallyfor their businesses.

The customer in this example has an organization with 250 information workers. All users require mobile access to corporate information. The MSP engagement includes:• Being the partner of record for the BPOS solution.• Administering and monitoring the BPOS service.• Migrating the on-premises Exchange Server

solution to Exchange Online.• Providing ongoing business-process consulting

to improve productivity and automate process workflowviaSharePointOnline.

• Initial BPOS training.

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MSP One-year Revenue Opportunity (illustrative)

Hours Rate Frequency Revenue

Net Add Fee (12%) $10/user/month (one year) Once $3,600

Residual Fee (6%) $10/user/month Monthly $1,800

Service Administration and Monitoring 10 $100/hour Monthly $12,000

Migration 50 $125/hour Once $6,250

Business-process Consulting 10 $100/hour Monthly $12,000

Initial BPOS Training 50 $125/hour Once $6,250

TotalYearOne $41,900

As indicated in this example, adding recurring revenues from managed services—like regular customization,service administration, and monitoring—can generate more substantial sources of revenue than even theBPOS-subscription revenue itself.

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Expand Customer Base with New Subscription OfferingsBPOSpartnersarefindingthatBPOScanhelpthemcreate opportunities with new customers. For example, a partner may have a customer in transition that is seeking to lower costs or seeking less complexity than their current solution. When the partner has exhausted alternatives with its existing portfolio of on-premises or partner-hosted solutions, BPOS may prove to be the best alternative for developing a customer relationship.

For example, MSPs can use BPOS to target new SMB customers, where budgets are often tight and internal IT support is limited. Once MSPs have introduced BPOS into an organization, they have the opportunity to pursue additionalservicesthatmightbenefitthecustomer.

In the cloud-services study, over half of the MSPs surveyed that offer services to SMB customers are already reporting that they are seeing increased demand for online-services solutions.*

Increase Revenues without Expanding InfrastructureJust as customers deal with the ever-growing costs associated with growing IT infrastructures, MSPs continually seek ways to increase revenues while minimizing infrastructure costs. Referring customers to BPOS can provide an ongoing revenue stream with minimal incremental overhead costs for MSPs. With BPOS, the infrastructure to host the solution is maintained by Microsoft. For MSPs looking for ways to expand their business without expanding IT-infrastructure costs, BPOS provides a simple and effective solution.

Protect and Grow Customer RelationshipsSince BPOS requires less emphasis on technical details, it enables MSPs to transition their primary, trusted-advisory role from technical support to one that is more focused on business capabilities. MSPs can therefore spend more time consulting with their customers and working with business decision makers (BDMs) in departments such as sales and marketing, rather than communicating exclusively with IT departments. Working with BDMs enables MSPs to extend their business into their customers’ organizations in ways they might not have been able to in the past.

BPOS can enable MSPs to reach a new set of customers that have a growing interest

in online services.

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Integrating BPOS into a Managed-services Portfolio


Introduction

What Is the First Thing MSPs Need to Do to Start Integrating BPOS into Their Business?

Characteristics of Best-in-class BPOS Partners

What Changes to an MSP’s Business May Be Needed?

How Can MSPs Develop Other Services Opportunities around the BPOS Offering?

How Can MSPs Create Demand for BPOS and Drive Sales?

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To be successful integrating BPOS into a managed-services portfolio, MSPs will need to consider successful strategies and tactics to drive interest, demand, sales, and referrals. This section discusses the changes, resources, and approaches that are typically needed to add BPOS to a managed-services offering.

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What Is the First Thing MSPs Need to Do to Start Integrating BPOS into Their Business?MSPsfirstneedtodecidehowBPOSwillfitintotheir current MSP offerings. For example:• BPOS could become a gateway product that is used

to sell into new customers and increase the MSP’s customer base.

• BPOS could be included as part of a comprehensive offering within the MSP’s services portfolio.

• BPOS could be offered as a strategic solution to deepen and protect customer relationships.

Of course, MSPs can choose to have BPOS play multiple roles within their existing managed-services business, but ideally, they should begin by choosing the role that best meets the needs of their business.

BPOS as a Gateway ProductAs the demand for online services continues to grow, MSPs can take advantage of this momentum to grow their customer base. BPOS offers an attractive solution for customers that previously have been unable to take advantage of enterprise-level offerings because of budgetary and IT-management constraints. MSPs can use BPOS to open doors with those customers. Once MSPs have established a business relationship with a customer through a BPOS deployment, they can look for other opportunities to provide managed services for the customer.

MSPs that use BPOS as a gateway product to new customers will need to consider marketing and sales issues like demand generation. There is more information on this topic in the “What Changes to an MSP’s Business May Be Needed?” section of this guide.

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BPOS as Part of a Comprehensive OfferingEach customer is different, with differing budgetary, technical,andinfrastructureneeds.BPOSfitswithinthe Microsoft S+S strategy as a solution that provides customers with choice. MSPs can take advantage of thelong-rangebenefitsofthisstrategybyintegratingBPOS into their existing offerings to create a comprehensive portfolio of offerings.

Many MSPs have been delivering remote managed services for on-premises deployments for many years. Whilethiscanbeprofitable,business-savvyMSPscontinue to look for ways to develop incremental business opportunities. By adding BPOS, MSPs can bridge gaps and meet a broader set of customer needs.

BPOS as a Strategic SolutionGiven the growing popularity of cloud computing, it should be no surprise that competition in the cloud-services market continues to intensify. As previously noted in this guide, BPOS provides many customer benefitsthatmakeitacompetitiveofferinginthemarketplace. MSPs can use BPOS to bolster their value proposition when engaging with new and existing customers.

For example, in the current economic climate many customers have been forced to reexamine their IT budget and make tough decisions. MSPs with customers that are facing these challenges can leverage the value offered by BPOS as a way to retain these customers and protect relationships.

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Characteristics of Best-in-class BPOS PartnersAs MSPs consider how BPOS can help address business challenges and achieve business goals, it may be helpful to look at the practices and characteristics of partners that have been the most successful generating revenues through BPOSsolutions.Partnersinthetop20percentintermsofprofitabilitywereanalyzed.ForMSPsthattypicallyengagewith customers with fewer than 500 seats, the following characteristics set apart these “best-in-class” partners:*

Top Four Characteristics of Best-in-class MSPs Offering BPOS Solutions

1 Trusted-advisor relationship.

In the cloud-services study, best-in-class MSP partners cited the “trusted-advisor relationship” as key to successfully marketing BPOS solutions. Successful MSPs recognize the importance of developing strong, long-term relationships with their customers; therefore, they focus on providing insight and support related to the overall health of the customer’s business, including issues such as total cost of ownership and return on investment. They also work to ensure that each customer’s BPOS deployment is supported and appropriately customized to that customer’s needs.

2 Exceptional technical support.

While Microsoft includes technical support for IT professionals, best-in-class MSP partners realize that technical support is an important part of their business as well. Maintaining a long-term relationship means ensuring that the customer has the deployment, integration, customization, and tiered support they need. When a single partner cannot provide all of these services, the partner helps its customers acquire them from other reliable partners.

3 Proactively helping customers understand risks and costs.

Part of the value that MSPs offer customers is helping them manage their technology risks and investments. For best-in-class MSPs offering BPOS, this means focusing discussions onthefinancialbenefitsandthebusiness-classreliabilityofthesolution.

4 Relationships with vendors and partners.

Best-in-class BPOS MSPs also recognize the importance of developing strong relationships with vendors to offer the types of solutions that their customers are seeking. Microsoft is facilitating these relationships by integrating BPOS monitoring into managed-services platforms, such as those provided Level Platforms.

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What Changes to an MSP’s Business May Be Needed? Armed with an understanding of the characteristics of the most successful BPOS partners, the next thing MSPs will need to consider is what changes they may need to make to their own businesses to integrate BPOS into their portfolio of services. Typically, these considerations fall into two main categories: • Execution• Marketing/Sales

This section provides an overview of the key considerations and available resources.

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ExecutionEstablish a BPOS Integration Plan and Ready the OrganizationWhen integrating BPOS into an existing managed-servicesportfolio,MSPswillfirstwanttoensurethat their IT professionals and sales representatives have the appropriate level of training to effectively promote and deliver BPOS services. BPOS is a product designed for ease of management, but as is the case with any technical solution, it requires proper planning and deployment oversight. Issues like data migration, remote administration, and integration with on-premises applications will need to be considered when planning aBPOSdeployment.Basedonthefindingsinthecloud-services study,* it is recommended that MSPs plan for a full day of training to launch the services and at least six additional days of ongoing training per quarter (or roughly two days each month).

To identify BPOS training, MSPs can visit http://www.microsoftlearningplans.com/Setup.aspx.

For additional BPOS instruction, MSPs can leverage the resources on the Microsoft Partner Network. For MSPs interested in becoming the partner of record for customers so that they can generate referral and annuity revenue streams, the following link provides guidance on how to register as a BPOS partner:https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx.

Readiness Checklist

� Provide initial and ongoing BPOS training for technical and sales staff.

� Leverage the resources on the Microsoft Partner Network to get started.

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ExecutionIntegrate BPOS into the MSP’s Financial ModelSuccessfulMSPsalreadyhavefinancialpracticesandtools in place for billing and capturing revenues for their managed-services business. These practices and tools will likely transfer well to the BPOS model.

MSPs considering the BPOS referral- and annuity-basedrevenuemodelwillfinditrelativelysimpletoparticipate in, especially since initial investments are minimal because there is no additional hardware or infrastructure to purchase.

MSPs can utilize the MicrosoftPartnerProfitabilityModeler TooltobuildouttheirfinancialplanforaddingBPOS to their portfolio of services.

For more information on fees and payments, MSPs can review the Quickstart for Online Services Resource Center.

Readiness Checklist

� IntegrateBPOSintotheMSP’sfinancialmodel.

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ExecutionIntegrate BPOS into Customer Engagement Resources and ProcessesIntegrating BPOS into an MSP’s current practices for customer engagement should be straightforward for most MSPs. The processes that most MSPs use for their existing services to bring customers onboard, provide migration services, and manage ongoing engagements should translate well to a BPOS offering. One difference may be that MSPs using BPOS as a gateway product to attract new customers will need to identify the types of customers they want to target. Those MSPs may also need to invest in demand generation. It will also be important to have a stable, repeatable, branded methodology for bringing new BPOS customers online, without interrupting the customer’soperationsortheflowoftheMSP’s services. Partners will want to document this process for BPOS and ensure that in includes:• An initial customer-needs assessment.• Clearservice-deliverydefinitionsanddelivery

protocols like service-level-agreement (SLA) enforcement launch points, environment stabilization, and operations integration.

• Clear service-escalation conditions and processes.

For more information on activating BPOS customers, business rules, and policies, MSPs can visit the Microsoft Online Subscription Program Guide for Partners.

For more information on managing customer migration to BPOS, partners can utilize the BPOS Migration Toolkit for Partners.

For ongoing customer management of BPOS and other services, MSPs will want to make sure they have processes in place to facilitate continuous engagement withkeyoperational,financial,andexecutivecontactswith their customer’s organization to maintain a strong relationship and reinforce the MSP’s value. In the cloud-services study, MSPs indicated that maintaining strong, ongoing customer contact is the most important factor for building a successful online-services practice.*

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https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/Business%20Productivity%20Online%20Suite%20Migraton%20Tool%20Kit.docx

https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/Business%20Productivity%20Online%20Suite%20Migraton%20Tool%20Kit.docx



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Additionally, MSPs may want to consider effective practices to maintain a supportive, long-term relationship as the partner of record in a BPOS engagement. BPOS includes technical support for IT professionals, but it is also likely that customers will want to continue using the partner of record as a trusted advisor. MSPs willtowanttodefinethesupportroletheywillplayasBPOS partner of record, as well as any additional support provided as part of a billable, managed service. This may include services like end-user support for the customer.

For more information on managing BPOS customer relationships, MSPs can visit https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/managemembership/ mmpartnerdashboard.

Readiness Checklist

� Document the BPOS customer on-boarding

process.

� Develop clear BPOS service-delivery

definitionsanddeliveryprotocols.

� Develop clear service-escalation conditions

and processes.

� Integrate BPOS into a project-management

solution to track opportunities and

engagements.

� Integrate BPOS into service reporting.

� Integrate BPOS into quarterly business reviews.

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https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/managemembership/mmpartnerdashboard





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Marketing/SalesPosition BPOS within the MSP’s Managed ServicesForMSPs,thefirststepingeneratingdemandforBPOS is ensuring that the partner’s organization is armed with the information it needs to effectively promote the solution as part of the overall portfolio of services offered by the MSP.

Positioning BPOS within the existing managed services in an MSP’s portfolio is dependent on the type of service the MSP provides. Below are some suggestions for positioningBPOSwithinspecifictypesofmanagedservices. In all cases, BPOS can be a self-supporting revenue generator if the MSP becomes the partner of record for the BPOS deployment.

Type of Managed Service Aligning with BPOS

Network infrastructure management.

While managing and monitoring a customer’s network, an MSP can open a discussion aboutthecustomer’sofficeinfrastructure.TheMSPcanaskquestionssuchas“Haveyouhadanydifficultiesmaintainingorgrowingyourofficeinfrastructure?”or“Isyoure-mail,messaging, and collaboration infrastructure giving you the performance and reliability youneed?”Basedonthecustomer’sresponses,anMSPcanhighlightthebenefitsthatBPOS provides related to performance, reliability, and data protection (including backup and security).

Remote desktop management.

MSPs that remotely manage the desktops within their customers’ organizations are in a great position to understand their customers’ challenges related to maintaining and upgrading collaboration and messaging applications. These MSPs can explain how BPOS helps customers reduce the time it takes to upgrade software on each individual client. MSPs can also show customers that, with BPOS, employees will always have accesstothenewestfunctionalityoftheirofficemessagingandcollaborationsoftware.

Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services

MSPs providing VOIP services should look for customers that are interested in cost-effective communications solutions like collaboration, Web conferencing, and instant messaging(IM).Withthesecustomers,MSPscanfindnaturalwaystoopen conversationsaroundthemanybenefitsBPOSincludesforcost-effectivecollaborationand communications solutions.

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Marketing/SalesAlign BPOS Value Proposition with Target CustomersFor MSPs that focus on customers with fewer than 500 seats, the cloud-services study* revealed some interesting insights about the BPOS opportunity and target market. The research found that the SMB market will be the fastest-growing online-services segment for a variety of reasons. For customers with less than 100 seats, the research revealed that common customer characteristics and buying behaviors make a solution like BPOS especially attractive. These characteristics and buying behaviors include no (or limited) IT staff and informal budgeting and decision-making processes. As expected, deal sizes will be smaller in this segment, but the sales cycle with these customers is typically half the length of the sales cycle with a customer with more than 100 seats.

For customers with 100 to 500 seats, the research identifiedcommoncustomercharacteristicsandbuyingbehaviors such as dedicated IT staff and more formal IT budgeting and decision making. As could be expected, deal sizes were larger, but sales cycles were longer.

The same research also found that customers with fewer than 500 seats look for the following characteristics when evaluating an online-services solution:• Technical stability.• Functionality.• Clear value proposition.

MSPs that arm themselves with an understanding of the factors that are driving customers’ business decisions will be in a great position to demonstrate how BPOS can meet these needs.

FormoreinformationonthebenefitsofOnline Services and BPOS, MSPs can review the Online Services Datasheet.

Next, an MSP needs to translate BPOS offerings and the value that the MSP provides through its services intoawell-definedsolutionthatcanbearticulatedanddeliveredtothecustomer.Thegoalhereistodefine:• WhatanMSPwilloffer,andwhyitbenefitscustomers.• How the MSP will provide the service, and why it is uniquelyqualifiedtodeliverit.

• Whatspecific,measurableresultscustomers should expect.

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http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/0/3/70330d5c-ffb9-4713-9246-ee26a21051c9/Online_Services_datasheet.docx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/0/3/70330d5c-ffb9-4713-9246-ee26a21051c9/Online_Services_datasheet.docx



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Partners will want to tailor their BPOS messaging to thedifferentdecisionmakersandinfluencerswithintheir customers’ organizations. End users and line-of-business leaders will be focused on how the solution can make their daily activities easier and moreefficient,sopartnerswillwanttohighlightthefeatures, simplicity, and seamless performance of BPOS when engaging BPOS with these individuals. IT decision makers will be focused on reliability and ease of management, so partners will want to focus thesediscussionsonthesimplifiedmanagement tools, automatic updates, and the business-class security and reliability of BPOS. Executive decision makers will want to ensure that the solution creates business value,sopartnerswillwanttounderscorethefinancial advantages of BPOS and its potential to drive productivity when meeting with executives.

For more information on positioning the value of the BPOS service, MSPs can review the BPOS Business Value Whitepaper.

Readiness Checklist

� Understand the target customer’s

office-infrastructurebusinessneedsand

decision-making criteria.

� Map BPOS offerings and services value to

these needs.

� IntegratetheBPOSofferingandbenefits

into the MSP’s value proposition.

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https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/BPOS-Business-Value-Whitepaper.docx

https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/BPOS-Business-Value-Whitepaper.docx



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Marketing/SalesEstablish and Execute a BPOS Sales Plan Once MSPs have determined how they will integrate BPOS into their existing managed-services portfolio, they are ready to develop their BPOS sales plan. From a sales perspective, BPOS can offer MSPs three distinct advantages:

BPOS Advantages for MSPs

1 Increase the number of overall sales opportunities.

BPOS helps increase the number of overall opportunities by serving as a gateway product to customers that previously may not have been interested in or able to adopt an MSP’s services. BPOS can also enable MSPs to attach additional services to a BPOS deployment.

2 Increaseprofitabilitypercustomer.

A BPOS partner of record receives incremental revenue at very little cost to the MSP (e.g., minimal additional infrastructure costs). This makes becoming apartnerofrecordtoaBPOScustomeraveryprofitableopportunity.Inaddition, when an MSP becomes the partner of record for a BPOS customer, the MSP has an opportunity to sell additional high-margin services to that customer.

3 Increase the overall customer win rate.

MSPs can use BPOS to bolster their competitive advantage when engaging with new and existing customers. When MSPs are selling into customers with limited IT budgets, BPOS can provide a high-value solution to bring that customeronboardanddevelopalong-term,profitablerelationship.

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To take advantage of these opportunities, MSPs will want to add BPOS to their overall sales plan. The sales plan should include:• BPOStargetcustomerprofile.• BPOS focused marketing and demand-generation

budget.• BPOS sales-pursuit strategy.• Updated sales-compensation plan.• Updated customer contracts and SLA terms.

MSPs will want to ensure that their compensation plansincludespecificgoalsandrewardsfordrivingthebehaviors needed to build a BPOS pipeline and drive sales. To motivate sales teams to drive the desired sales behaviors, it will be important to be transparent and straightforward in establishing the key differences in the BPOS model and the related changes in compensation.

Some of the benefits of selling BPOS may include greater sales velocity, shorter sales cycles, additional services opportunities, and multiple-year annuity commissions. Some challenges may include lower commissions for the initial transaction and potential differences in the timing of compensation payments.

CompensationConsiderations• Develop a compensation plan that is aligned to

the components of total solution sales (BPOS plus additional partner services).

• Offer sales incentives (e.g., SPIFFs) to reward new contracts/agreements for partner-of-record status.

• Consider factors like the number of seats, contract commitments and terms, and training.

• Consider an annuity incentive that mirrors the partner’s revenues (e.g., if BPOS annuities are paid quarterly, sales teams could be rewarded quarterly).

• Create a hybrid model with an incentive that is paid when a contract is signed and an ongoing commission to drive both customer adds and retention.

• Clarify the policy if the customer is not retained through the year.

The cloud-services study shows that the average industry close rate for similar services is between 15 and 20 percent. However, with a sound marketing and sales approach, some top partners are experiencing a close rate of nearly 45 percent, underscoring the importance of developing and executing a strong sales plan.*

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For information on targeting customers and prospects, MSPs can review the BPOS Customer Targeting Guide.

For help developing marketing materials and campaigns, MSPs can utilize the Microsoft Online Services Campaign Sales Toolkit.

For a BPOS sales presentation that can be used with customers and prospects, MSPs can leverage the BPOS Customer Presentation Template.

MSPs can also download the BPOS Telemarketing Script.

For BPOS case studies, MSPs can review various BPOS Case Studies.

Readiness Checklist

� Integrate BPOS into the sales plan, which

should include:

• BPOStargetcustomerprofile.• BPOS focused marketing and demand-

generation budget.

• BPOS sales-pursuit strategy.

• Updated compensation plans.

• Updated customer contracts and SLA

terms.

� Leverage case studies to provide a believable

measure of expected results.

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https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/v2%20Customer%20Targeting%20Guide%20-%20LCA%20Approved.ppt

https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/Microsoft%20Online%20Services%20Campaign%20Sales%20Tool%20Kit.zip


https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/Thru%20Partner%20MOS%20Customer%20Presentation%20Template%20FINAL.pptx

https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/partner/Readiness%20Documents/BPOS%20Case%20Study.zip





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Readiness Checklist Summary

Establish a BPOS Integration Plan and Ready the Organization

� Provide initial and ongoing BPOS training for technical and sales staff.

� Leverage the resources on the Microsoft Partner Network to get started.

Integrate BPOS into the MSP’s Financial Model � IntegrateBPOSintotheMSP’sfinancialmodel.

Integrate BPOS Into Customer Engagement Resources and Processes

� Document the BPOS customer on-boarding process.

� Develop clear BPOS service-delivery definitionsanddeliveryprotocols.

� Develop clear service-escalation conditions and processes.

� Integrate BPOS into a project-management solution to track opportunities and engagements.

� Integrate BPOS into service reporting. � Integrate BPOS into quarterly business reviews.

Align BPOS Value Proposition with Target Customers � Understand the target customer’s office-infrastructurebusinessneedsanddecision-making criteria.

� Map BPOS offerings and services value to these needs.

� IntegratetheBPOSofferingandbenefits into the MSP’s value proposition.

Establish and Execute a BPOS Sales Plan � Integrate BPOS into the sales plan, which should

include:• BPOStargetcustomerprofile.• BPOS focused marketing and demand-

generation budget.• BPOS sales-pursuit strategy.• Updated compensation plans.• Updated customer contracts and SLA terms.

� Leverage case studies to provide a believable measure of expected results.

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How Can MSPs Develop Other Services Opportunities around the BPOS Offering?MSPs typically have strong experience offering services that generate recurring revenue streams, and customers moving to a subscription-based model of buying software are more inclined to purchase other services on a subscription basis. Thus, MSPs should always be looking for other opportunities to sell recurring or subscription services that add value to BPOS, such as the following:• Delegatedadministration.One of the newest

features being developed for BPOS is Delegated Administration, which enables customers to delegate BPOS administration to an MSP. For an MSP, becoming the administrator for a customer’s BPOS subscription will feel like familiar territory. Delegated administrators can remotely add and removeusers,configureapplications,andperformother well-known administration functions on behalf of a customer. An MSP with multiple BPOS customers can administer all of its customers’ BPOS deployments from one console on a single Web portal.

• End-usersupportandtraining. BPOS includes technical support for IT professionals but not for end users. MSPs can provide end-user support to their customers. In addition, based on an MSP’s firsthandknowledgeofitscustomers,theMSPcanoffer tailored support options and training to increase customer satisfaction and broaden adoption.

• Business-processworkflowconsulting.SharePointdevelopment,workflow,andcollaborationconsulting give MSPs the opportunity to help grow their customers’ businesses and drive incremental revenue.

• Consultationonnewcapabilities.With upgrade barriers removed, customers will always be using the latest versions of software and will be ready to take advantage of current technologies. MSPs can provide migration, integration, training, and consulting services that are a natural extension of utilizing the capabilities in the latest version of each software application.

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From this starting point, MSPs can begin to identify other services that map to the pre-implementation, implementation, and post-implementation stages of a BPOS deployment. The following table provides a more comprehensive list of services that can be attached to BPOS:

Attaching Services to BPOS

Pre-implementation. • Education• Needs assessment• Design consultation

Implementation. • Application integration• User and content migration• Managementconfiguration

• Customization• Workflowconfiguration• Business-process consultation

Post-implementation. • Training• End-user support• Change management

• Measurement and reporting• Ongoing administration and monitoring

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How Can MSPs Create Demand for BPOS and Drive Sales?Thissectioncontainssomespecificbestpracticesthat MSPs can consider when promoting the BPOS solution and selling related services. These practices include:

Target OpportunitiesOffering BPOS solutions to SMB customers requires identifying and targeting what drives customers to adopt online services as a viable business opportunity. Thecloud-servicesstudyidentifiedsomeofthekeydrivers that attract customers to online services:*• Providing a competitive advantage was the number

one reason that SMBs were attracted to online services. SMBs often look to leverage technology to stay ahead of competitors, but are typically constrained by budgetary issues.

• Limited capital investments and the need to manage cashflowswerealsocitedastopfactors,drivenbythe budgetary constraints that many SMBs face.

• Lower IT-management requirements and ease of integration associated with online services rounded out the top drivers, primarily because of limited IT resources within most SMBs.

TargetOpportunities

InvestinDemandGenerationandMarketing

SelltoBusinessDecisionMakers

TranslateWhatMSPsOffertoWhatCustomersWant

DealWithCustomerConcerns

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Invest in Demand Generation and MarketingMSPs seeking to use BPOS as a gateway product to generate opportunities with new customers will want to review their marketing budgets to integrate BPOS into their messaging and demand generation. Best-in-class BPOS partners have learned that they need to develop more sales opportunities by investing more in demand generation and marketing. In the cloud-services study, it was discovered that best-in-class BPOS partners invest as much as 16 percent of their total revenues in marketing.*

For help developing marketing materials and campaigns, MSPs can utilize the Microsoft Online Services Campaign Sales Toolkit.

Sell to Business Decision Makers MSPs understand the importance of targeting the right contacts within a customer organization when selling services. With BPOS, because there are fewer technical decisions involved and because of the financialbenefits,partnerscanfocusoncommunicating with BDMs. Rather than primarily engaging with technical decision makers (TDMs) on point solutions, MSPs can identify and address more comprehensive business-

productivity and customer-satisfaction challenges by working more closely with business owners and decision makers. The cloud-services study found that 42 percent of partners that are successfully marketing online services worked primarily with BDMs, rather than TDMs.*

Translate What MSPs Offer to What Customers WantIn addition to identifying the right contacts, MSPs that are successful at selling online services focus their discussions on business value of online services, not technical capabilities. These MSPs emphasize the S+S model as a great way to give customers the power of choice. With the addition of BPOS to an MSP’s portfolio, the partner can provide its customers with a more comprehensive offering that delivers the value that BDMs are seeking from technology solutions. This value includes low upfront costs, high return on investment, and low IT-management overhead. With BPOS, MSPs have an offering that addresses the needs of smaller, budget-constrained customers.

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Deal with Customer ConcernsThe cloud-services study found that the top customer concerns that may inhibit BPOS adoption are related to reliability, connectivity, and security (including compliance and privacy).*

Answers to Customer Concerns

Reliability of Service

Microsoft offers a 99.9 percent scheduled uptime SLA. Additionally, in order to protect customer data, all information is regularly backed up to a datacenter in a different geographical region from the hosting datacenter.

Network Connectivity

When using the standard edition of BPOS, customers do not need to provide dedicated network connectivity to the service. Data exchanged between Microsoft datacenters and customer sites are secured with 128-bit encryption (i.e., “https” encryption). Depending on the bandwidth of the customer’s current network connection, some customers might have to upgrade their existing network connection. When using the dedicated edition, a dedicated network connection is required and is the responsibility of the customer.

Compliance In almost all cases, BPOS allows a customer to meet privacy compliance requirements, depending on the customer’s jurisdiction and industry requirements. However, partners are encouraged to visit QuickStart Online Services and run a search on compliance or security for the latest information on this topic and to access related resources including white papers, overviews, and presentations.

Security and Privacy

Each of the services that is part of BPOS has been built to adhere to Microsoft internal privacy standards, as described in “Microsoft’s Privacy Guidelines for Developing Software Products and Services.” This set of standards helps ensure that privacy and data protections are systematically incorporated into the development and deployment of almost all Microsoft products and services. Additionally, each of these services has a privacy statement that describes in detail how customer data will be treated, is enforceable through U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules, and is incorporated into the Product Use Rights of the customer’s license.

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In making this transition, MSPs will likely have some of the following questions:

Q Should MSPs Focus on SMB Customers?A Many of the opportunities related to S+S will be

among SMBs. Traditionally, these organizations have not had the resources to invest in and manage enterprise-level communication and collaboration infrastructures. However, with the value and lower managerial overhead offered with BPOS, many of these customers can now afford to adopt these solutions.

Q Where Is the Optimal Online-services Revenue Opportunity?

A Leading edge online-services partners drive over 60 percent of their revenues from services provided before and during the transactions.* This underscores the value of additional consulting-based offerings that can be wrapped around BPOS.

Q Can MSPs Monitor and Manage BPOS Services for Their Customers?

A Microsoft is currently developing a new online-services feature called Delegated Administration. Delegated administration enables MSPs to manage a BPOS deployment on behalf of the customer. This new feature, along with other BPOS hosted-management solutions already available in the market, provides a way for hosters to add value and develop incremental revenues through a BPOS engagement. BPOS can also be monitored and managed through Level Platform’s Managed Cloud Services platform. For more information, MSPs can visit http://levelplatforms.com/Product/cloud-services.aspx.

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Q What Support Does Microsoft Provide MSPs around the BPOS Licensing Model?

A Microsoft has comprehensive licensing documentation and training available as part of the Quickstart for Online Services (http://www.quickstartonlineservices.com) and the Microsoft Partner Portal (http://partner.microsoft.com). Licensing and technical training is also offered through local Microsoft events and Webcasts.

Q What Is a Partner of Record?A The designation of a partner of record triggers

the fee payments to partners. A program requirement is that fees are only paid to authorized partners designated as the partner of record. Partner-of-record designation is controlled by the customer and can be changed anytime in the customer’s administration center.

Q What Are the Partner Ordering Capabilities?

A Microsoft Online Services now enable partners to initiate BPOS orders on behalf of their customers. Using these capabilities, partners can ensure they get credit for the customers they refer to BPOS and provide value to customers by helping them make purchasing decisions. The Microsoft Online Partner Sales Portal enablespartnerstoconfigureorderswiththeservices and quantities they recommend for theircustomersandsendthepre-configuredorders to customers for completion. Partners can also initiate trials for their customers, ensuring that they will be the partner of record for their customers’ trials. MSPs can access the ordering tool through http://partner.microsoft.com or https://sales.partner.microsoftonline.com.

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Q What Is the Partner Commerce Dashboard?

A The Commerce Dashboard provides partners with visibility into Microsoft Online Services and BPOS sales activity all in one place. It allows partners the ability to get critical status on trials and subscriptions and enables partners to estimate annual fee revenues. Partners can work within the Commerce Dashboard or export the information to Microsoft Excel 2007 to be imported into a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Partners can also use the dashboard to findoutwhichcustomershaveaddedthemastheir partner of record after the initial purchase, and likewise, which customers have removed them as the partner of record.

Q How Do Partners Access the Commerce Dashboard?

A Gold,Certified,andRegisteredpartnersthathave accepted the Microsoft Online Services Partner Agreement (MOSPA) can access the Microsoft Online Services Partner Commerce Dashboard at Microsoft Online Services Partner Commerce Dashboard.

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Q How Can Partners Get Trial Versions of BPOS?

A Partners can sign up for a Microsoft BPOS trial using a Windows LiveTM ID that has registered with the Microsoft Partner Program at http://mocp.microsoftonline.com.

Additionally,Microsoftoffersauniquebenefitto MSPs that have signed the MOSPA on the Quickstart for Online Services site. The “Internal UseRightsBenefitsforPartners”offerspartnersa no-cost version of BPOS for internal use. The benefitincludesuseforupto250seatsforoneyear. After the initial year, MSPs can continue to use BPOS at no cost by referring at least two new BPOS customers annually. MSPs that are unable to refer at least two new BPOS customers each year are still able to take advantage of discounted pricing by paying only $5 USD per seat. Some restrictions apply. Interested MSPs should visit http://mocp.microsoftonline.com.

Q What Is Delegated Administration?A Delegated Administration enables MSPs to

administer the BPOS service on behalf of their customers. Delegated partners can have multiple “agents” assigned to a single customer’s BPOS account, enabling multiple individuals (“agents”) to participate in the administration of the customer’s BPOS deployment. In addition, partners with multiple customers that have delegated administration can manage administration for each customer through a single online portal. For partners, delegated administrationissimplifiedbynothavingtoworry about physical infrastructure, which makes it a great opportunity for MSPs to add another managed service to their portfolios.

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Next Steps for Partners


Once MSPs have decided to offer BPOS solutions and sell related services, what are the steps to getting started?

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To register as a BPOS partner of record, an MSPmustfirstbe registered within the Microsoft Partner Network. To do so, MSPs can join at www.microsoft.com/partner. Registering is free and only takes 15 minutes.

Once registered, MSPs can go to the Quickstart program to register as a Microsoft Online Services Partner (https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx). The Quickstart program enables partners to complete the simple process required to earn fees from being a BPOS partner of record.

MSPs can use the Microsoft Partner ProfitabilityModeler Tool to work out which business models will suit their businesses best. In addition to helping partners select a business model that will suit their business, the tool also calculates when MSPs can expect to see a return on investment from Microsoft Online Services.

Once MSPs have determined that they are ready to make an investment in online services and offer BPOS solutions, training is available for technical, sales, and marketing staff. MSPs can visit http://www.microsoftlearning plans.com/Setup.aspx. Additionally, a wide range of marketing collateral is available, such as images, e-mail templates, branding assistance, messaging, to-customer presentations, and more at Microsoft Ready-to-Go Marketing Services.

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In Conclusion: The BPOS Opportunity for MSPs

In Conclusion: The BPOS Opportunity for MSPs

Unlike some technology offered by other vendors that focus almost exclusively on cloud-based solutions, the future technology landscape of Microsoft will be characterized by a combination of on-premises software solutions running alongside (and integrated with) online services.

With this approach, MSPs can continue managing their customers’ on-premises environments, while potentially growing their revenues by taking advantage

of the new opportunities that are emerging with online services such as BPOS. These opportunities include:• The potential for increased margin and new

sources of recurring revenues.• The ability to drive more potential sales through

a broader set of solutions that attract a wider audience of potential customers.

• The ability to protect existing customers.• The opportunity to engage with BDMs within

customer accounts to generate interest in online services and other solutions.

• The ability to introduce an online-services offering with minimal overhead costs.

* IPED. Microsoft Saas Study. September 2009.

‡ IDC #220192. “Enterprise Mobility in the Cloud.” October 2009.

¥ Yankee Group. “Netbooks Mean Business Channel.” August 2009.

₤ IPED. State of the Market Study. November 2009.

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