Many organizations have already migrated to Microsoft Azure, and conservatively estimated, over 80% of Finland’s largest organizations use Azure for some areas of their business, for example for virtual machines, software development, integrations, data platforms or advanced analytics, as well as machine learning
Earlier, organizations either had their own data center or they bought data center services from a partner (in hybrid models it still exists and will remain with us to some extent). The pattern was clear, that is, all infrastructure came from one source, and one partner or dedicated team was responsible for all server-, network-, firewall- and service-related issues.
Without diving deeper into the benefits of public cloud, the world has changed significantly since the aforementioned model, with a much shorter go-to-market time for the latest solutions, where there is no need to order a server and wait for someone to carry it down the hall and connect it to the network.
It’s still best to keep the maintenance of the basic infrastructure with one partner in the public cloud, which means that one partner is responsible for all the basic ports and networks with firewalls. However, the public cloud world allows a more efficient and flexible model.
The overall solution for a particular domain, which is in your own Azure subscription (or several), can be purchased from a niche partner in that domain. So even if one partner handles the Azure resources and basic infrastructure issues, it makes sense to outsource certain specific solutions to other partners. That allows this particular partner to handle all the basics, without ordering work from a general partner who does not have deep knowledge of the specific solution in question.
The method described is Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) model. In this model, the niche partner can offer an Azure subscription to a customer, with the costs going through that partner, and the partner also has extensive rights and capabilities to track the costs. The CSP model never commits the customer organization to buy Azure consumption from a particular partner, but the partner can be changed very easily if necessary (unless limited by contracts between the parties).
Islet provides Azure resources to its customers on a CSP model, including SAP on Azure delivery, and of course in the data and analytics area. The ability to take responsibility for the incurring costs, and to use cost management capabilities, improves service levels and keeps costs under control.
It may seem like an extra hassle to buy an Azure data and analytics solution from Islet, instead of buying it from the same basic infrastructure partner. Below is a short list of benefits that, in our experience, this model brings:
Microsoft’s CSP model pricing is cost effective in many ways
- In general, the price can be lower than buying directly from Microsoft with a credit card. In any case, the price is never higher, and Islet does not add its own margin on top of the Azure prices. On the contrary, we often provide our customers a small discount from the list prices.
- The model gives Islet full visibility of the incurring costs, significantly improving predictability and allowing the customer to retrieve actual costs from Islet in the middle of the month and improving forecast accuracy
- Better visibility on costs enables us to optimize the solution from cost perspective, e.g. by scaling the performance levels of different components according to usage, etc. Without real-time visibility, optimization is a gamble and may not lead to desired results.
- The customer gains visibility into the full cost of the solution, i.e. the expert services provided by Islet, and the Azure-based data and analytics solution we deliver, without being burdened by other Azure costs.
Providing support in Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider model
- In general, Islet is better able to support the customer in case of problems and to sort things out directly with Microsoft, without requiring the customer to create issue tickets.
- The absence of third-party intervention allows a much faster and more cost-effective service.
- Easily manageable solution without the need for third party assistance, e.g., for tasks requiring administrator rights or other specific configuration issues.
Liability angles of the CSP model
- Islet has full control over the environment developed and therefore responsibilities are clear.
- If the environment is provided by another partner and not by Islet, Islet’s responsibility is more limited, i.e. only for the application. In this case, the responsibility ultimately lies with the customer, even if the customer has no real control over the situation.
- Islet is able to predict costs and take responsibility for the costs incurred. It is not entirely uncommon for an unattended resource to generate huge costs in case of an error – in such cases the responsibility always lies with the customer in the end, since Islet has little influence on it.
Would you like to hear more about the CSP model and its benefits with our solution deliveries?
