Podcast Microsoft 365 for Small to Medium Businesses, Part 2
How can working with an outside partner simplify your IT modernization journey?
By Insight Editor / 10 Jul 2021 / Topics: Windows 10 Modern workplace Software Microsoft 365
By Insight Editor / 10 Jul 2021 / Topics: Windows 10 Modern workplace Software Microsoft 365
Collaborating with the right service provider can help businesses of all sizes save time and money. In Part 2 of this TechTalk, Elliot Baretz and Jesse Anderson describe Insight’s broad portfolio of Microsoft 365™ support solutions for small to mid-sized businesses.
Missed part one of the conversation? Check out Microsoft 365 for Small to Medium Businesses, Part 1.
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 Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
Audio transcript:
Elliot
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Tech Talk. My name is Elliot Baretz. I'm the national director of the Microsoft Commercial business unit at Insight and I am joined by my friend and colleague
Jesse
Jesse Anderson, responsible for offering development on Elliott's Microsoft business unit.
Elliot
So, Jesse, thanks for joining. I know that this is actually part two of our conversation here, as it relates to Microsoft 365. In particular, what we're trying to do is have that conversation specifically around the small and mid-sized business in all the, you know, very powerful features that it brings and, you know, not just from the technology itself but the financial flexibility. And both those are kind of big core components that we talked about in our first episode. And then that's sort of dovetailed into, I think, a really nice conversation in terms of, as Insight, what do we bring to our customers along with that technology, right? So, you know, what we were saying in the first chat was one of the powerful elements of 365 is, as a small business I can subscribe on a per seat, per month basis and it helps me control my costs. It helps me control my budget. I don't have to pay upfront for a lot of hardware, in terms of servers or anything like that. I don't have to pay up front in terms of annual licenses. I really can only, I pay for what I need. And that's very, you know, today very indicative of that software subscription experience, which 365 is really all about. One of the benefits of working with Insight in this world is that we can bundle in our support services along with that subscription. So, you know, as a customer not only will I get just the technology, but I'll also benefit from support services. And I know that that, you know, we have lots of different flavors there. But maybe you could help us walk through it, right? So, you know, what are some of the support services that come with that here at Insight?
Jesse
Sure. I, you know, there are different ways that we approach that with the customer, but I'll just go, depending on a customer's need we can make sure that we give them their administrators access 24 by seven by 365 score. So, if they have an issue that administrator can call in. If a customer has a business model where they do want their end users calling in, we support that as well, right? We can score end user support 24 by seven, 365. We also, you know, again, Insights an amazing company that the breadth of different services that we can provide to a customer is something I'm really proud of. And we've incorporated that into our offer as well, where if a customer desires, we can also sell to them in a way that in that monthly subscription, they're also getting the delivery of what we call, you know, packaged services. Things like security assessments and reviews. Things like, you know, Azure, Jumpstart, all these different elements that help a customer continue their cloud journey. These are things that sometimes can be an unexpected expense to customers. For us we've built it in so that a customer pays a monthly price, and we can make sure that we can manage that roadmap for them. So, you know, a wide array of services that we can offer.
Elliot
Yeah. Yeah. And, and again, you know, in the small business segment, managing that budget is critical and to be able to already incorporate the value of a specific professional services within that budget. So, you're not incurring outside expenses and still benefit from that value is a huge win. I mean, in the end, a lot of this, you know, support capability that's bundled within our offering around 365 really is about helping our customers in this segment focus on their business, right? And you know, I've had enough experience in the small business segment, even at some point having my own little small business, where I know that, that is, you wake up, think about that business. You go to sleep. You're thinking about that business. There's not a moment in your day where it's just not consuming you. And half the time is because it's your passion. You know, you're in it because you're passionate about whatever it is. And there really isn't a lot of bandwidth to have a second job, you know, would it meaning, you know, be a technology person, right. You know, there really isn't, you know, you really need to have a trusted partner that's going to be able to pick up that part of that scenario of your business so that you can focus on what you do best. Whatever, whatever it is. Whether it's, you know, a restaurant or, you know, landscaping or in the healthcare space, whatever it is, you know, you want to focus on your business and have this trusted experience and we can provide that. And we do for our customers, not just by providing that 365-subscription experience but by bundling in all the support services. Which is, I think a really fascinating, powerful thing that we can do.
Jesse
Yeah, I agree. And again, like I was saying, it's something I think that we're all really proud of. So, you know, I know in our earlier conversation we were talking about the value of Microsoft 365. You know, I think that, that all Microsoft Cloud products, including Azure, right, I'll broaden it a little bit. But for us, one of the things that we have really thought about as we're doing this is making sure that we are helping customers maximize their return on investment and that the offers that we're putting into market are helping alleviate them with the concerns of wasting any money in this move to the cloud. Or finding, you know, helping them find efficiencies. And all of our offers are built around that because we know, exactly to your point, small and medium businesses, you know, they've got enough to worry about it. They've got the value that they want to bring to their customers, whatever that is, and the ability to help them by being there to help them focus on [inaudible] and how they move to the cloud or consume in the cloud. And number two, how we can help them bring value to their organization. For example, that end-user support, I'll start there. That's a massive, sort of burden, to be able to take off a customer for, you know, and be able to bundle it in it as, just a monthly fee for using office 365. And lastly, I'll say like in terms of being able to deliver those services, the more more in-depth services, those are often unexpected expenses for a business, right? That are necessary. And by being able to bundle it in and spread it through these monthly payments, what we have found is we have the ability with small and medium businesses continue to innovate and, you know, reach greater heights in terms of what the technology can do for them without having to worry about what's around the next corner.
Elliot
Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. And you know, one of the things I think is worth talking about in terms of the Insight charter and our relationship with Microsoft, I sort of think of it in two ways. One is, you know, the Microsoft's, you know, we call it stack. You know, you and I have come to learn that expression, you know and if you let yourself think about it, Microsoft covers a lot of ground, right? And you know, you start talking about Azure, which is really this very big conversation and, you know, some small business owners may be familiar with it, most won't, you know, and really what that is is the ability to provide, you know, infrastructure services within the cloud that work in compliment, you know, what's going on with 365. And then it goes beyond that. And there's this wide array of technologies that, you know, take, have a partner that can support and provide global level world-class expertise around, all of that is pretty rare. And, you know, and it's important to know here at Insight, you know, our substance lets us do that. So, you're never going to bring a challenge to Insight, around Microsoft technology, that we can't help you with. You know, because we are world-class. Not only we're world-class, we are Microsoft's, you know, 2020 partner of the year in the United States. Which is huge accomplishment, right? And it speaks to our ability to deliver excellence, to deliver that return on Microsoft investment. Regardless of the size of the organization or what industry they're in. And again, so having that partnership is, that depth, it's like having, you know, Willie Mays on your bench in baseball. You could just pull it out whenever you want.
Jesse
Well, and I think the other thing is that, you know, that at Insight, one of the other things that I think is really important to note too is that we're here to help them demystify all this stuff, right? Because it can be overwhelming, and it can be confusing. And you know that sometimes that can be, you know, sometimes that's what a customer needs, is somebody to come and ask the questions that, what is the starting point for all of this. And our offerings and the way we do this, it's meant to be that journey that we can help customers from any point of that conversation, move to where they want to be in the cloud, right? And I think that that's another, kind of, core component of what we have seen, the value that we, that we have aim bring, and that we've been able to bring to small medium businesses over the last year, is that helped them get that first conversation about how do I start to move in this direction? And that's a really important conversation to have.
Elliot
A hundred percent. Yeah. I appreciate you bringing that up. It's a tremendous commitment that we make and have a strong belief in. And yeah, and I, and I guess that's a great way to wrap up. You know, is just to say, you know, here at Insight we're 100% committed to delivering Microsoft excellence for all of our customers. We're passionate about it. And there is, you know, there isn't a too small scenario. You know, that we're here to help all of our customers. So, with that, you know, I guess we'll call it a wrap, you know, Jesse thanks again for taking the time, you know, to talk a bit here. And I want to thank everybody else that's listening in for, you know, your time. And we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Jesse
Thank you.
Former National Director of Microsoft Business (2019–2022), Insight
Over the last twenty years, Elliott has had an accomplished career within the technology sector; particularly within the Microsoft ecosystem. As a sales and marketing executive, he’s led global, national and local teams with great success — leading to company and industry recognition such as the MC/Icon Award, the Communicator Award and the Business Marketing Association Tower Award.
Senior Manager of Services, Digital Innovation
Jesse has worked in the technology industry for over 20 years, with particular emphasis on strategic Microsoft sales. The past 10 years of his career have been dedicated to helping customers accelerate their adoption of transformative Microsoft technologies, with a particular emphasis on cloud offering development.
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