Learn How You Can Succeed With Microsoft CSP Program?

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution For Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

Contents

Contents

What is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)?

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Components of Microsoft CSP Program

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How Microsoft defines its CSP Program

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Types of Microsoft CSP

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Microsoft CSP Program Support

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Key Success of CSP Partners

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CSP Partner Enablement Solution

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Jamcracker Value Proposition for CSP Partners

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Jamcracker CSP Business value Summary

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Jamcracker Supported Microsoft Cloud Services

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Jamcracker Microsoft CSP Integration Overview

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CSP API Infrastructure

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CREST API

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ADD Graph ReST API

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ARM ReST API

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Rate Card ReST API

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Usage ReST API

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Jamcracker Platform Implementation Overview

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CREST API with Jamcracker Platform

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ADD Graph ReST API with Jamcracker Platform

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ARM ReST API with Jamcracker Platform

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ARM ReST API is integrated with Platform to Platform

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Rate Card ReST API with Jamcracker Platform

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Usage ReST API with Jamcracker Platform

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About Jamcracker

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

What is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)?

Cloud computing is changing the profitability dynamics of managed-service providers, system integrators, IT distributors, and VARs globally, by transforming IT spend from capital expenditure to on-demand operating expense.

According to Microsoft-sponsored research by consultants such as IDC, the market opportunity for Microsoft Cloud Services is worth $50 billion over the next few years. Microsoft believes that the revenue opportunity for its cloud solution provider (CSP) partners is at least nine-times that amount. This has prompted Microsoft to formulate a new goto-market strategy via its CSP program.

Microsoft defines its CSP program as a true cloud reseller program, with Microsoft partners shifting from principally reselling Microsoft Cloud Products and Services to managing the entire customer relationship.

Image Sourced from Microsoft CSP Program

Components of Microsoft CSP Program 1. A licensing model and program 2. An annuity stream of revenues, versus traditional one-time-licensing revenues 3. A way for partners to own the customer IT spend lifecycle, from consulting, integrating, billing, and provisioning, to managing and supporting conventional IT and cloud for their customers The Microsoft CSP Program is designed to align the CSP Partner’s core cloud products with the partner business model and their partner’s unique value proposition for customers. This allows Microsoft customers to purchase an overall solution, including Microsoft products, related partner service offerings, and third-party products and services.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

Here’s how Microsoft defines its CSP Program: “The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program enables partners to directly manage their entire Microsoft cloud customer lifecycle. Partners in this program utilize dedicated in-product tools to directly provision, manage, and support their customer subscriptions. Partners can easily package their own tools, products, and services, and combine them into one monthly or annual customer bill.”

In the CSP business model, the CSP Partner is responsible for the customer-management lifecycle. This means that the CSP Partner provides and manages an online marketplace of services from which customers can buy Microsoft Office 365 and Azure products, core partner products, and third-party products and services.

The CSP Partner must be able to bill customers directly and manage collections and customer support without Microsoft’s involvement. CSP Partners control the entire customer relationship, creating new revenue sources. The direct billing relationship provides the ability to up-sell and cross-sell services to customers. Also, partners that control the billing can bundle Microsoft services such as Office 365 with their own services and other third party services. This gives customers the convenience and value of paying a single bill and accessing support from a single source, and it also gives partners control over margin.

Types of Microsoft CSP Partners Direct Partners: The direct partner is what most people envision when they think about the CSP concept. It’s the partner that orders cloud licenses directly from Microsoft and then resells them to a customer in a solution bundle combining services from Microsoft and third parties with their own services. These partners provide: 1.

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Direct billing to customers Support Technical integrations Customer-lifecycle management

Direct Partners are typically organizations that have invested in a direct-business model with customers, providing support services and solutions directly. For MSPs or SIs, the direct CSP model is in line with their current business model.

Indirect Partners: These partners do not get their licenses directly from Microsoft. Rather, they work with Indirect Distributors (described below). Indirect Partners are typically organizations that want to start small or do not want to incur large capital expenditures around cloud business.

These organizations have customer relationships and core services that differentiate them, typically, in an SMB or niche market.

They take the advantage of the support capabilities, investments, etc. from Indirect Distributors. For example, these partners may have white-labeled storefronts to sell CSP services, third-party services, and their own services to customers. Such storefronts run on the infrastructure and platform owned by Indirect Distributors.

Indirect Distributors: Indirect Distributors are the backbone of Microsoft CSP programs, dealing with Microsoft on one side and hundreds or thousands of Indirect Partners on the other side. Some Indirect Distributors, which Microsoft refers to as “cloud distributors,” bundle other products for Indirect Partners to offer. In many cases, Indirect Distributors provide billing and provisioning on the back-end, on behalf of Indirect Partners. In some cases, these distributors also offer white-label support.

Microsoft CSP Program Support Microsoft has provided a CSP API to enable its CSP Partners to integrate provisioning and ordering activities into their own systems. The API supports provisioning new customers, ordering subscriptions and add-ons, and modifying the license count. The CSP marketplace, billing and collections, and customer-relationship management remain the responsibility of the CSP Partner.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

For CSP Partners that lack billing and customer support resources, many of the major indirect distributors, direct system integrators, and MSPs engage Jamcracker to provide the platform to enable the required marketplaces, billing solutions, and customer support operations so that they can act on Indirect Partners’ behalf in the background.

Keys to Success for CSP Partners As the CSP Partners control the entire cloud-services lifecycle for their customers, the key success parameters are different from those of a traditional license-model sale. Based on our interactions with CSP Partners, Microsoft representatives, and CIOs globally, we have identified the following key requirements for a partner to maximize success in the Microsoft CSP Program: o

Faster go-to-market: Accelerate the cloud marketplace rollout from months to days so you can test the market, assess your GTM strategy, and then proceed with a large-scale rollout.

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Bundle and differentiate: Bundle CSP services with your intellectual property and services, third-party cloud, or IT services to provide customers with a comprehensive solution rather than a licensing model.

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Modernize sales and marketing for the cloud business: Fine tune your sales and marketing teams to build your digital brand across social media, industry forums, etc., and emerge as a thought leader in the cloud business.

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Become a trusted advisor: Deploy the operational framework so that you can be the single point of contact for your solution, including Microsoft CSP services, your intellectual property and services, and third-party services, including industry-specific services.

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Guiding the customer: The first 45-60 days of support is critical in most cases for annuity-related customers, driving greater lifetime customer value.

The Jamcracker Platform: CSP Program Enablement Solution Microsoft classifies Jamcracker as a “cloud-marketplacetechnology provider.” This means that Jamcracker works closely with both Indirect Distributors and Direct Partners to enable and automate the Microsoft CSP business model.

Jamcracker uses its market-leading Cloud Management and Governance Platform (“the Jamcracker Platform”), to support CSP Partners by providing the billing, provisioning, and automated customer support and management that is required to become a fully qualified and profitable CSP Partner, all available “out-of-the-box,” within a matter of days.

Microsoft CSP Office 365 and Azure have already integrated the Jamcracker Platform with the Microsoft CSP API (CREST API) to onboard Microsoft Cloud Services; provisioning the licensing; providing customer service; and managing recurring billing. Jamcracker also brings a complete catalog and marketplace of similarly automated services for more than 100 other cloud services, enabling Indirect Distributors and Direct Partners to easily curate unique service-package offerings to end customers and their resellers.

Jamcracker is a global leader in cloud aggregation, delivery, and management solutions. Many of the world’s leading telcos, managed service providers, IT distributors, technology providers, and enterprise IT organizations use the Jamcracker Platform to unify delivery and management of public, private, and hybrid cloud services to their customers, through their channels, and to their employees.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

Jamcracker Value Proposition for CSP Partners Jamcracker brings significant business value to CSP Partners, principally because the Jamcracker Platform already performs and automates all the functionality required by CSP Partners to operate a fully automated and operational CSP business.

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Multi-tier, multi-channel marketplace: Enables CSP Partners to create multitier cloud services marketplaces and sell Office 365 and Azure services, customer core services, and third-party services, either directly to end customers or through their channel partners.

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Localization: The platform supports localization, including languages, currencies, taxation, and other localization features (e.g., date formats).

Jamcracker’s CSP Business Value Summary o

Faster go-to-market: Enables Direct Partners and Indirect Distributors to launch CSP services to their customers and Indirect Partners within a matter of days.

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Unified management console: Provides a unified management console to manage, provision, and support cloud services across private, public, and hybrid clouds from a single dashboard.

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Billing, settlement, and show-back: CSPs can utilize the out-of-the-box Jamcracker Platform billing engine to bill, settle with resellers (for indirect) and show-back the CSP services either as per-usage (e.g.

Azure) or subscription (e.g. Office 365).

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Pre-populated CSP and third-party marketplace: Provides a pre-populated and integrated marketplace of multiple cloud services from Microsoft and third-party cloud service vendors (CSVs), which CSPs can sell from the first day of operation.

Automation and cloud lifecycle management: Provides automated workflows to enable end users, using self-service functionality to manage the entire order-to-cash process and single-sign-on to consume cloud services. CSPs can manage the entire cloud services management process and endcustomers from a single dashboard.

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Enterprise app-stores for hybrid cloud: Enables CSP enterprise customers to create a white-labeled marketplace for corporate-approved cloud services to achieve compliance, governance, and regulatory requirements.

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Role-based access and AD/ADFS integrations: Provides role-based access control (RBAC) and outof-the-box integrations with AD/LDAP and Azure AD for CSPs to cater to the needs of enterprise customers.

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Building and scaling the cloud ecosystem: Enables CSPs to onboard services and create their own ecosystem of cloud services to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

Jamcracker Supported Microsoft Cloud Services Jamcracker has integrated Microsoft Office 365 and Azure products into the master catalog of cloud services. Also, core services from CSP customers and partners can be easily onboarded to the Jamcracker Master Catalog. This means that Direct and Indirect CSPs have the availability of Office 365, Azure, their core services, and more than 100 public cloud services that are managed and delivered via the Jamcracker Platform.

A branded, private-labeled marketplace of cloud services can be sourced and created. The Jamcracker Platform automates provisioning, the order-to-cash process, cloud-services management, and cloud-service delivery and consumption-all from a single dashboard.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

Jamcracker Microsoft CSP Integration Overview The Jamcracker Platform is integrated with Microsoft CSP services with the available set of CREST, ARM, and Graph APIs from Microsoft. The diagram below shows a high-level view of the Platform integration with CSP services.

CSP API Infrastructure

CREST API

As part of the CSP program, partners are enabled with various API sets to build their business portals and required engines. The major ones are:

CSP Partners can use the CSP Commerce ReST API (CREST API) to manage tenants/customers and their cloud subscriptions, i.e., the purpose of the CREST APIs is to allow the Microsoft partner to create and manage tenants/customers and associate various cloud services to tenants/customers. As part of CSP offerings from Microsoft, various cloud products can be subscribed for a specific tenant. Here are few examples:

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CREST ReST API AAD GRAPH ReST API ARM ReST API Rate card ReST API Usage/metering ReST API

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Office 365 Business Office 365 Business Essentials Office 365 Business Premium Exchange online Microsoft Azure

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

AAD GRAPH ReST API The Azure Active Directory (AAD) Graph API provides programmatic access to Azure Active Directory through ReST API endpoints.

This also means they can create users and associate various cloud services that they have subscribed to the tenants. Also, a consent feature is in place to obtain the privilege to work with AAD for a specific tenant.

ARM ReST API

ARM ReST API with the Jamcracker Platform

The Azure Resource Manager ReST API provides a programmatic way for CSP Partners to deploy and manage Azure services. A classic example could be creating a virtual machine, which can be done by ARM ReST API for a specific tenant.

The Jamcracker Platform is integrated with the ARM ReST API in order to create and manage Azure resources like VMs, Storage etc.

Rate card ReST API CSP Partners are enabled with rate-card API to extract the rates of Azure resources.

Usage ReST API This API allows CSP Partners to extract consumption data for an Azure subscription. The API returns all of the usage data incurred for a specific subscription for a tenant.

Jamcracker Platform Implementation Overview The Jamcracker Platform is integrated with the CSP API infrastructure as an out-of-the-box feature set. This section describes the way the Platform is integrated with CSP API sets.

ARM ReST API is integrated with the Platform to perform following operations: 1. Create and manage the lifecycle of virtual machines 2. Block storage/volume management 3. Network-interface controller management 4. Snapshot management 5. Image management 6. Application-stack management.

7. Post-deployment script injections (CHEF/SHELL/POWER SHELL) o o

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CREST API with Jamcracker Platform The Jamcracker Platform integrates with CREST API to manage certain business operations, such as: 1. Create tenant/customer 2. Order cloud products 3. Provision cloud products 4. De-provision etc.

CREST API is attached with Direct/Indirect Partner accounts in the Jamcracker Platform to perform commerce operations.

AAD GRAPH ReST API with Jamcracker Platform The AAD Graph ReST APIs is integrated to manage tenants’ users and assign licenses to them.

The Jamcracker Platform also manages resource groups and availability set selections.

The data parameters to create a virtual machine specific to the Azure platform, such as regions and storage accounts, are also managed using the ARM ReST API. Also, a consent feature is in place to obtain the privilege to work with respective resources on the Azure platform.

Rate card ReST API with Jamcracker Platform The Jamcracker Platform is integrated with the rate-card API to pull the Microsoft pricing details from the partner center periodically to manage the prices of the cloud products.

Usage ReST API with Jamcracker Platform The Jamcracker Platform is built with a cloud-based billing engine, which requires usage data to compute invoices. The usage ReST API is integrated with the billing engine to extract the actual usage of the Azure subscriptions.

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The Jamcracker Platform: Enablement Solution for Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program White Paper Jamcracker.inc

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About Jamcracker Jamcracker is a cloud services aggregation, management, and governance solutions company, with more than a decade of experience providing industry-leading software and services. The Jamcracker Platform powers the cloud across the globe, for enterprise and public-sector markets, technology providers and distributors, communicationservice providers, and managed-services providers.

Jamcracker helps organizations manage, deliver, and govern their own multi-cloud services, along with third-party cloud services. IT organizations and service providers can use Jamcracker solutions to unify and optimize cloud-services delivery for their employees, customers, and channels.

Jamcracker provides the flexibility you need to respond to rapidly changing business requirements. The Jamcracker Platform greatly reduces the complexity and cost of multi-cloud management and delivery. Moreover, our platform automates policy compliance, spend management, and operations management.

For more information on Jamcracker, visit www.jamcracker.com

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