TechTalk Partnering with CloudGenie for Small Business Scalability
Strategic relationships deliver opportunities for growth.
By Insight Editor / 20 Feb 2021 / Topics: Cloud
By Insight Editor / 20 Feb 2021 / Topics: Cloud
Collaborating with Insight as an indirect Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) opens new possibilities for serving clients. In this Tech Talk, Trish O’Keeffe, Insight’s director of Microsoft practice, is joined by Anil Sedha, founder and principal consultant of CloudGenie. They discuss how CloudGenie’s relationship with Insight expanded their proficiency in Microsoft software allowed their team to diversify their client offerings.
To experience this week’s episode, listen on the player above, watch the conversation below or scroll down to read a complete transcript. You can also subscribe to Insight TechTalk on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
Audio transcript:
Published February 19, 2020
TRISH
Good day and welcome to today's Insight Tech Talk. My name is Trish O'Keeffe and I'm the director of the Microsoft practice at Insight Canada. And we have a really special guest today, Anil Sedha from CloudGenie. How are you now, Anil?
ANIL
I'm doing good. Thanks Trish, for having me on here.
TRISH
It's a pleasure. So, let's start with, tell us about CloudGenie, please.
ANIL
So CloudGenie is an IT company based in Winnipeg. We focus on cloud computing solutions and the data center overall. And our USB is to bring complex technology to small business.
TRISH
Okay, so what's changed recently with CloudGenie like why manage cloud services? 'Cause I don't think that's how you started life, right?
ANIL
That's true. We started from the data center, but our vision was for the cloud. That's how the company was formed originally. But as we kind of got into the space we realized that customers have some unique challenges. Not all of those can be addressed using the traditional approaches to adopting cloud. So, we decided that we'll get in, and start providing managed cloud services to make the journey easier.
TRISH
And so, when we say cloud, we have lots of choices, obviously. What made you settle on the Microsoft platform? How did CloudGenie end up using Azure and Microsoft 365?
ANIL
So, we all realize that Microsoft is in everybody's office data center, personal devices already. So, it's just a natural progression that they would scale up extend it for remote teams, extend it for branch offices. And technically for themselves also adopt the cloud infrastructure maybe in a hybrid mode.
TRISH
And so, what pieces of the Microsoft technology do you sell?
ANIL
So, we previously focused only on data center, Microsoft Office like server software sequel databases or the desktop software, but lately we've started to scale up. And now we are getting into some of the more complex needs where we are talking to customers about the use of Power BI, assisting them with their technology innovation in various other fields.
TRISH
And I saw recently on LinkedIn that you hired I think an app developer or somebody who's in the app space?
ANIL
Yeah, we did. And we have a couple of applications that we are building and developing right now for our customers. Our customers keep coming to us with some unique type of challenges and they don't have in-house skills. And they want us to focus on building something for business efficiency or productivity gains, and we are trying to leverage Microsoft technologies for that.
TRISH
Okay, so now the big question. What made you want to use Insight as your partner for the Microsoft hosting world?
ANIL
Well, one of the biggest factors that came to my mind was Insight has the ability and the scale to help us at a level where we can get better licensing options. We can have the agility to move ahead. We can address some of the licensing challenges through Insight as well, because again, Microsoft enterprise licensing is far more complex. And even for the SMB sector, if you don't have a strong partner then you can encounter numerous challenges. We realized when we started talking to Insight and a few others. That Insight was a better one or better placed compared to other partners that we were talking to before we made a decision.
TRISH
Thanks. And I know that having worked with you for a little while that there's more than just Microsoft that you buy from Insight. Like, what's that like? What other solutions are you selling that you get from Insight?
ANIL
That's correct. We also are a (indistinct) partner through Insight an indirect cloud partner. And we have been acquiring some of the data center equipment and software from Insight as well. And we look forward to growing this list of purchases or procurements that we are doing through Insight. Because again, there is an umbrella of other products that are available through Insight that can help us grow our business.
TRISH
Okay. Thank you. And what advice would you give to a business looking to grow their cloud solution portfolio?
ANIL
Well, they need to establish a vision before starting with anything else. Where do they really want this journey to go? And again, once they establish that vision, they will realize that they need a strong partner to go onto that journey with them. Because just doing it by yourself is going to take more time, make it more complex and may not offer the right results. So, just like we picked Insight which was a much bigger partner, but the partnership is very strong, we work cohesively. That type of requirement may exist for anybody wanting to grow in the space.
TRISH
And why as a small or medium business in Canada would I want to work with CloudGenie?
ANIL
Well, CloudGenie is focused on innovation, first of all. Our focus is to help the customers not using the same old mechanisms of support, growth or technology deployment. So, we bring value to every project of ours. We don't just sell a customer, a software or a hardware. Even in cases where they just want to talk to us, we advise them of some challenges that they might encounter, the best practices they must adopt, or some factors that they need to consider based on the type of organization they are. Because licensing plays a big part, cost savings and cost efficiency plays a big part. CloudGenie is huge on that. We give excellent advice which saves people thousands of dollars. And on top of it, we also ensure that everybody is fully compliant and secure in deploying those technologies.
So, we provide that guidance that you usually won't get or would get at an additional cost. So, we kind of act as a partner, really.
TRISH
Another thing that you've offered that's really helped our clients. 'Cause we bring a few SMB clients to you is the migration services. What have you learned over time about migration services?
ANIL
Well, originally when we got into this we were reliant on third party, two solutions, and we didn't have enough exposure or experience in that area. But through the partnerships we've learned to rely on native Microsoft technologies. We are able to help provide a very seamless type of support to many of Insight's customers as well where instead of just coming in, doing the migration and walking away, we help them with the pre- and post-migration activities as well. If they have in-house staff, we at least guide them so that they do things the right way. It's not about just deploying technology but also about deploying technology the right way.
TRISH
Okay. So, I think we've come to the end of this Tech Talk, any last words that you, any last words of advice or anything that you want as CloudGenie to let people know.
ANIL
We all need to adopt innovation in every step of the way. So, based on that, changing our own approach to business, to technology deployment is also essential. Partnering up, having the right ecosystems for growth overall and business efficiency is extremely important. So please make wise decisions and have a vision to move ahead versus just focus on the operational side all the time.
TRISH
I have to say Anil, it really is a pleasure working with you and we get nothing but really good comments from clients that we work together on. So, thank you very much.
And if anyone's thinking of either starting a cloud business and want to partner with Insight or you're a small, medium customer and you're looking to move to the cloud. But you don't have the ability or the in-house technical skills or you just need some help. Please think about CloudGenie. When this is done, you'll have a link to how to find another way to talk to Anil.
Thank you, Anil.
ANIL
Thanks very much. We highly appreciate all the support and help we get from Insight and we look forward to an even stronger partnership going forward.
TRISH
We do, thank you.
ANIL
Thanks.
[Music]
Director of Microsoft Practice, Insight Canada
Trish has worked at Insight Canada for more than 20 years. She began her IT career in the traditional sense — in desktop and network support. Proving that a career in IT can span more than managing infrastructure, Trish moved to the operations side, managing procurement and logistics for Insight internally, including building and growing the Insight configuration center in Montreal. Her current role is enabling digital transformation and cloud growth for Insight clients across Canada.
Principal Consultant and Founder of CloudGenie Corp
Throughout his more than 20 years of IT experience, Anil has led IT transformation initiatives as a senior IT manager. Using his knowledge, CloudGenie was formed to bring complex cloud technologies and cloud-based innovation to the SMB sector. CloudGenie specializes in datacenter technologies, hybrid cloud computing and IT security solutions.
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