The transition to the NCE started back in 2019 with Azure and now its time to move on to the next step. Microsoft is looking to align all the sales streams and provide a unified experience for cloud purchases. To do so, they introduced a new set of offerings for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Windows 365. To support all these new functional changes, a new set of features is added to the CSP program creating a whole new experience for you and your customers.

NCE Timeline
August 2021: The plan to introduce Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 in the NCE was publicly announced.
October 2021: Microsoft released the NCE technical preview for partners to test the waters, send their feedback and get familiar with this new component.
January 2022: Microsoft officially launched the NCE in its CSP program with incentives and promotional offers for all CSP partners. From January onwards, legacy and NCE worked together.
March 2022: All new purchases were enforced through NCE along with a price increase and ending of promotional offers.
July 2022: Legacy subscriptions must be renewed in the NCE.

Changes in CSP

Product availability:

• New products (Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Windows 365) are available to the CSP while the legacy ones are available with a new phase.

Subscription terms:

• Microsoft is willing to enhance customer’s commitment but also offer more flexibility to partners and customers who do not want to commit.
• Monthly term offers and annual term offers will become available for all products while triennial will become available for some products.

o Monthly-term offers for some products with a 20% higher price , compared to annual.
o Annual commitment offers for all products with price protection provided for the commitment terms.
o Three-year term offers for some products with price protection.

Cancellation

• You can no longer suspend or cancel seats during the term but only at an annual anniversary date.
• You can continue to add seats but you cannot remove seats during the term.

Billing options:

• Microsoft offers multiple payment options for each term to align with market needs and pave the way for annual and triennial purchases.

• • A new monthly term payment option which is 20% more expensive than the annual term.
  • Upfront payment is offered for every term.
  • Monthly or annual payment terms are offered for triennial subscriptions.

These are important changes and may impact the commercial terms you have agreed to with your customers today, and you may need to review your customer agreements. MachPanel’s team is ready to engage with you to plan the move to the NCE. Being your trusted advisor, we will guide and assist you to make the best choice for your customers.

Pricing
Pricing is shifting to be more market centric starting by having a price list for each market country that you sell. The selection of market countries that you sell to gives you the respective number of prices for its market country.

• Price lists are expressed in the currency of that market, for e.g., if you selling to the US, you will then use the prices for the US expressed in US Dollars.
• In the case of selling in two or more countries, two or more respective prices will be expressed.
• Microsoft will issue invoice for you in your local currency.
• For EU, Microsoft will give price lists for each market country in the European union.

Suspension
The new commerce subscription can be cancelled or resumed at any time without cancellation or termination. However, you will continue to be billed unlike in legacy, but the suspension will immediately block the customer’s access to Microsoft 365 services, applications, and files.
Promotions

• Promotions are also applied as a percentage discount to a given subscription with a given payment option and for a limited time duration.
• While in the promotion period, you can add seats to the subscription with the same promotional price.
• When the subscription is to be renewed, the promotion will be applied if its still active in terms of time.

Trials
As in legacy, trials are available for 25 seats and it cannot be changed or cancelled during the trial period.
Trial gets auto converted to paid subscription for an annual term with 25 seats. This can only be changed within the 72hour window.

About MachPanel: Fully automate your Microsoft Offerings with MachPanel.

MachPanel globally trusted Cloud solution provider addresses all the key challenges faced by Microsoft CSPs for seat-based offers in the Microsoft new commerce experience. In parallel to fully automated Selling, provisioning, Subscription management and billing experience, its unique ability to allow you to Package your Microsoft 365 offerings with multiple billing cycles, Commitment terms and most importantly set your own customized margins helps you become a winner.

The post Get up to speed on Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) for CSPs appeared first on MachSol Blog.

We at MachSol Inc., are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the latest build of MachPanel Provisioning System (Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration & Delivery Platform). Latest build v7.0 Build 25 includes an array of new features and performance improvements alongside bug fixes.

The post MachPanel v7.0 BUILD 25, Now Available! appeared first on MachSol Blog.

• DO: Carefully select VM size

For an effective cost saving, it is essential that you carefully select the size of your Virtual machine. With burst-able virtual machines being in the norm, it is always ideal to invest in a B-series machine for almost half the price you’d normally pay for a regular machine.

• DO: Go for reusing what you wish to throw away

People often overspend on the items they need and make them from scratch. It is always a good idea to reuse existing resources or previously dumped items that were created but never used. For example, instead of taking up more and more App Service Plans for web apps, it is always a good idea to reuse plans for web apps that are no longer active or in running order. Similarly Azure cloud functions can be reused from multiple applications in the same company’s applications.

• DO: Go for Automation

Automation is one thing that can lead you to huge costs savings in your entire business setup. It is always great to get your hands on an automation platform and save cloud costs for your organizations.

ALSO READ: The Right Direct CSP | Your Gateway to a Successful Cloud Business

• DON’T: Be Reactive

It is always advisable to not take decision and be reactive. For example, instead of shutting down Virtual Machines that you no longer need, it is always advisable to take informed decision regarding VMs’ specs when you first deploy them. A better approach would be to stay better off with a smaller VM that runs for a bit longer than a large VM which you have to shut down in order to keep your average cost of cloud computing below the bar.

• DON’T: Restrict Azure Cloud Usage

A better way to save costs is to let the developers do with Azure Cloud and let their skills take out the creativity from within. According to Chris Johnson, an Azure MVP, limiting what your developers can do with the cloud goes against what the cloud is all about.

• DON’T: Run resources while you don’t need them

You must think it contradicts Point 4 in the list, but in reality, if you stop extra resources at night time, on weekends, on public holidays or whenever possible, you do get to save a lot of computing. One more aspect of this point is you must delete or get rid of resources like Delete unused EC2/RDS/Elastic ache instances or unattached EBS volumes you no longer need. This way, you won’t be paying extra

MachPanel Automation module for Microsoft Hyper-V

MachPanel is a full-fledge cloud automation platform ideal for business who wish to increase their productivity and unlock the potential of their business in new ways.  MachPanel’s Automation Module for Microsoft Hyper-V is all you need for a complete virtualization experience for your business in your Public, Private and Hybrid clouds. With MachPanel you can offer your clients with fully segregated VPS provisioning, hosting and management with tremendous other benefits including management controls. It is a complete Microsoft Windows 2019/2016/2012 R2 Hyper-V automation solution for your business

Head to MachPanel and automate your business like never before to take your business in the Right direction.

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post Microsoft Azure Cloud costs savings tips | 3 Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on MachSol Blog.

The latest Customer Agreement

The idea behind these changes in agreement is to replace Enterprise Agreements and the Azure Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE). These are two currently active Agreements to purchase Azure services. But the change in agreement is not going to affect the service delivery. “Modern Commerce” is Microsoft modernized vision to simplify Azure pricing and purchasing options.

With the new MCA, customers are expected to stay more in control of their own Azure cloud services and will not require the “level of administrative support” that they currently require. According to Stephen White, a research director in Gartner, the MCA approach will result into lower partner profits “like it eliminates the partner role as licensing advisers on Azure services”.

To move forward in the direction of “automated, digital purchase experience”, Microsoft has reduced a number of contracts and agreements and introduced MCA – a single, non-expiring contract for Azure customers. For those who have experience with purchasing through Microsoft Store for Business, MCA is something they are already familiar with. Going forward, MCA pricing is bound to change in the future because it isn’t providing any pricing protection for its customers.

Options for Azure Provider

This brings us to the question: what are the options left for those who have taken up Azure-only Server and Cloud Enrollment for their cloud business?  One option is to extend the SCE agreement. With that you can get access to services such as Azure, billed every four months at then current Consumption Rate” for the price level of your service with an additional 3% administrative fee. Though, this option isn’t going to last long.

Let’s have a look at some good options for purchasing Azure:

• Purchase via EA

The Agreement change announcement only mentions Server & Cloud Enrollment (SCE), so there is still an option to purchase Monetary Commitment via an EA. Again, officials from Microsoft predict that this option will soon be not available.

• Purchase via MCA

This is the “non-expiring” option that will be applicable from March. It’s an 11-page digital document that you need to accept in order to start purchasing directly from Microsoft.

• Purchase via CSP

This is again a good option. The Microsoft CSP program is a popular preference for purchasing Online Services, especially Azure. Since the MPSA agreement has been phased out, CSP Program simplifies Azure cloud services offering to customers so that they can purchase from CSPs directly.

From now, Microsoft has left its customers with two options to purchase Azure: via MCA (Microsoft Customer Agreement) and via CSP (Cloud Solution Provider). Agreement changes are not-so-interesting but necessary for a fuller picture in the future. MCA is the initial step towards Microsoft’s modernized simplified purchasing vision: “Modern Commerce”.

The post The latest Microsoft Azure Cloud Agreement and Azure Service Provision Options for CSPs appeared first on MachSol Blog.

There are many Microsoft 365 features that help to reduce complexity from cloud solutions. Simplifying cloud complexities is a challenge in today’s business space. For this, there are various ways like the deployment of Infrastructure-as-a-service to make things lesser complex. Deploying Cloud solutions and Tools within your business, gives you efficiency and good results. In this way, CSPs and cloud customers  are able to get maximum benefits of cloud with the existing tools at hand. Choosing form a variety of such solutions available is a difficult choice. Hence, Microsoft has put forth various solutions out of which, Microsoft 365 is a promising one. In the following text, we highlight how complexities can be reduced by implementing Microsoft 365 features in your business.

1. Cloud-connect everything you have

If the approach of Cloud-connect is adopted earlier, there are chances your business would stay ahead of the curve in future. This approach makes tasks easier. This process starts with linking the current on-premises infrastructure to Active Directory with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). This brings security and better mobility to the enterprise’s identity. We showed you how Azure Migrations are simple with 4 steps earlier. If you use cloud-connect ConfigMgr with Intune, you even get access to features such as remote wipe and conditional access. In this way, there is more security to your systems at the same time you can work from anywhere.

1. Gain control and clear visibility

Microsoft 365 admin center is one for the best Microsoft 365 features introduced to date. There is a lot more to offer in the admin center apart from simplicity, compliance, device management and specialist work-spaces. Enabling Conditional access makes the users able to better understand the way device gain access to corporate data. The process of configuration is also not complicated. Hence it reduces complexity to a huge extent.

1. Implement Modern desktop apps

Modern desktops offer Desktop Analytics in a much sophisticated manner than ever before. This very promising if you wish to simplify IT with Microsoft 365 features. It is a powerful tool that provides insights needed to deploy and manage service apps. It also makes IT teams’ work easier by eliminating several days’ work which is done by a few clicks.

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How MachPanel helps you to simplify IT with Microsoft 365 features

There’s nothing better than an Infrastructure providing service that simplifies complexity and give you as best service as it were your own. And MachPanel is exactly that, not really, it’s much more than that! MachPanel is a Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration & Delivery Platform (MSOP) that is trusted globally by best Service providers in the market. It simplifies your cloud solutions and automates your business by offering a complete CSP Automation platform, the prime offerings being Microsoft Office 365 & Azure.

Once you get your hands on MachPanel, it’s your time to simplify IT with Microsoft 365 features. If you still haven’t got MachPanel for business automation, what are you waiting for?

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post A deep dive into promising Microsoft 365 features for business automation appeared first on MachSol Blog.

1. Minimal Infrastructure Requirements

The best thing about such an offering from Microsoft is that CSPs won’t need any extra portion of Infrastructure for DR solutions. Hence all cost and deployment burdens are already avoided once a native DR solution comes into the scene.

1. DR Region Selection Flexibility

Azure geographical clusters play a role in this feature. The customers have a choice to replicate an IaaS based application running on Azure to a region where it is not running in the first place.

1. Simplified Experience

The process of replicating a VM to a different region may not sound simple but for the customers it is presented as a simple process. You just have to select the VM, the region, review app settings submit the selections and it’s done!

1. DR Drills, Anytime!

Drills can be easily performed anytime. The execution of drills won’t affect the applications at the production or to any on-going replication. Hence, the customers can make use of drills with full confidence.

1. Orchestrated Application Recovery

There are Recovery Plans offered within the solution that enable the customers to orchestrate recovery of whole application. This is best suitable in meeting strict recovery time demands that is a requirement of business space.

1. Detailed Troubleshooting and Monitoring

Vault dashboards and email notifications are few monitoring capabilities that let customers easily monitor failover readiness and overall DR health. In this way, you can troubleshoot quickly.

1. Detailed OS Coverage

It supports Windows and Linux systems. In a monthly release cadence, it is made sure that it supports Latest Linux OS version.

1. Support for Updated Features

The solution is updated with latest features form Azure. All features are supported like: managed and unmanaged disks, classic and resource manager virtual machines and large disks.

1. Automatic Updates

As mentioned earlier, there is a monthly release cadence which introduces enhancements of features and in which issues are fixed. Automatic updates can be turned on in order to be updated with the latest updates each month.

1. Network Egress Reduction

A handy feature of ASR is that it keeps on replicating data from source region to its target region. There is an in-built compression technology that helps in reduction of network egress data by up to 80 percent.

MachPanel Automated Module for Azure

MachPanel is a Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration & Delivery Platform (MSOP) which provides CSPs with a variety of options for better business growth. It provides Automaton of Azure business layer in MachPanel Automation Platform for Microsoft CSP Module. With this, CSPs can showcase, bundle and sell their offerings through white labeled customized storefront. It also gives the complete control of subscription plans to the CSPs. Moreover, it also automates all aspects of financial billing and unified and consolidated invoices in order to simplify the billing process for Microsoft Azure CSP Billing.

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post Azure Site Recovery (ASR): Native DR solution for Azure IaaS applications is out! appeared first on MachSol Blog.

Remote Desktop Service 2019 has put forth innovation that revolves around three areas: simplify IT management, improved security and User experience. Let’s have a look at these three areas one by one:

Simplifying IT Management

Scaling deployment needs to be simple in order to make management easier. In the previous releases, management was made easier using Active Directory which had an overall impact on management of Remote Desktop (RD) licensing servers. With this release, customers are given the leverage of RD Licensing servers that are forward compatible for upcoming version of Windows Server. This means the licenses will be easier to manage from a variety of RDS releases. Performance Counters APIs have been added in order to facilitate partners with easy data access so they can build monitoring Dashboards and be able to deliver a consistent user experience for their customers.

User Experience

Much focus has been given to Enhancement of user experience. Modern notification mechanism has been introduced where notifications are added in RemoteApp in the Action Center. This will improved productivity with applications like MS Outlook. Better video stream quality has been added with higher frame rates for which high level redirection of built-in or attached cameras is added. This optimizes the video quality in remote and applications and desktops. Hence users find video-intensive interactions with a better experience. Furthermore, in order to increase image quality for a faster web client experience, bandwidth of CPU usage on client and server has been reduced.

Improved Security

Providing better security is the primary focus on RDS. Previous RDS releases have been equipped with security measures and this version has a few security enhancements too. With a decent Admin Center integration, all local and remote server management is consolidated to a single pane quite manageably. For a trusted end-to-end RDS deployment, a DTLS-based encryption feature is added that is also easy to configure within the system. Further, a web client support for Single Sign-on (SSO) is added for web client users for a streamlined authentication user experience. Lastly, Windows Defender systems have been brought into RDS 2019.

Deployment on Azure

For CSPs, here’s good news. Deploying RDS on Azure provides full flexibility, security and scalability that are advantages of working with Azure. Hybrid deployments are also supported to improve flexibility and ease of adoption. RDS deployments are available through CSP Program. With this, partners can easily sell RDS subscriptions with their CSP program. This eliminates one whole extra step of partners and their clients getting different subscription and licenses through a variety of programs.

MachPanel – A Reliable Cloud Automation Platform for CSPs

MachPanel is a platform for CSPs to enhance their reselling and cloud dealings with more profit and reliable management. It provides complete CSP Automation for Microsoft 365 & Azure as a CSP Indirect Provider, Indirect Resellers and Direct Partners. It empowered CSPs with end-to-end business management by providing Showcase Bundle and Sell, business lifecycle management and Owning and controlling the billing procedures as the customers would want them to be. Not only MachPanel automates CSPs’ business processes but also automates financial operations though customers Direct Billing, automation of Microsoft O365 & Azure and a white labeled customized storefront for selling products.

Get MachPanel and try out the services it offers to fulfill your CSP business needs, with a promising growth and better business scalability.

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post Remote Desktop Services (RDS) 2019 with Windows Server 2019 – what’s new? appeared first on MachSol Blog.

CSP business is quite popular these days. Having a CSP Partner business is not only profitable; it is also sustainable over time. The cloud is the next big thing in business landscape.  In CSP Partner Program, CSPs sell services related to Office 365 and Azure by setting their own margins and profits. The Microsoft CSP Partner program allows for directly managing customers entire lifecycle and utilize the built-in tools to directly manage and support customer relationship.

The Two Programs

CSPs work directly with Microsoft to resell the services to customers. There are two methods by which CSPs can resell services. First is the Direct Method and other is the Indirect Method. Let’s explain the two one by one

Direct CSP

In the direct CSP Partner program, CSPs work directly with Microsoft and resell their services. However, there are a few requirements that need to be met before starting the Direct CSP journey. CSPs who opt for this journey need to have an infrastructure for billing and also have to provide customer support. Microsoft provides little technical support for customers. So Direct CSP Partners need to have a strong base for customers support.

Microsoft has released a few requirements for its Direct CSP Partners where they have to fulfill some billing requirements and maintain infrastructure on-premises. Furthermore, they either need to provide a managed service, facilitate customers with an IP service or provide them with a solution application. These requirements have come into effect after 31^st August, 2018. All those Direct CSP Partners are able to continue their subscription as distributors who have fulfilled these updated requirements. If, however, they have not been able to fulfill, they can still continue as Indirect CSP Partners.

Indirect CSP

For Indirect CSP Partners, processes are quite easier. They do not have to meet strict requirements. They work with a Direct Partner and set their profits and margins and then resell the services from their end. A lot of Providers offer white-label-services that the Indirect Providers can make use of. Most of the heavy lifting can be done through the Provider’s Infrastructure and experience. Indirect Partners do not deal directly with Microsoft; rather their Provider is their guide which provides them with services and products for reselling. CSPs do not have to worry about the initial infrastructure investment cost. This model serves best when you want to focus on the strengthening of your business and make utmost use of cloud capabilities.

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New CSP Direct Bill Requirements

MachPanel and CSP Partners

MachPanel is a reliable Cloud Service Provider. It provides CSPs with necessary bundle to deal with state-of-the-art challenges. With MachPanel, all the CSP requirements can be easily met. It offers complete business automation and Lifecycle management Delivery, you can experience reliable IaaS and SaaS Delivery and ardent customer support. The Control Panel makes you have maximum profits and flexible margins that facilitate your business. MachPanel is the solution by which your CSP business can flourish beyond measures.

MachPanel the Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration & Delivery Platform (MSOP) is an ideal solution that fits for your need, supporting feature that no other control panel can provide.

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post Become a CSP partner and increase profitability appeared first on MachSol Blog.

Cloud Providers take benefits from Microsoft directly and resell their services from Office 365 and Azure. Both these products offer a lot more services that CSPs perceive at the time of subscription. Given below are a few distinct ways to use these products and benefit your business.

1. Secure Remote Access to Network

Azure’s Active Directory has benefitted millions off business users. Employees that work away from their desk, get access control of the whole portfolio, SQL databases, basic cloud and storage space. Different devices can access resources remotely

1. Connect Globally

Azure AD is already integrated with a lot of third party SaaS applications like Salesforce, Google Apps, Dropbox, Office 365 etc. Even custom applications can be added for business use if it is not already integrated with AD.

1. Seamless Migrations

Business fear to move to cloud only because of many obstacles in the process of migration. Not only there is a chance of data loss, there is a lot of complexity in the process as well. Azure AD e 365 offers seamless integration over to the cloud. Apart from that, Microsoft and CSPs also provide on-site customer support for better and smoother migrations and to tackle any run-time issues.

1. Expert Support

Cloud Providers provide excellent customer support. If there are any technical issues at CSPs’ end, they also tackle those in no time. The technical support is present there 24/7.

1. OneDrive Storage

OneDrive offers collaborative document sharing between colleagues and employees and also makes management of digital assets possible. While businesses grow, the storage needs also grow with it. OneDrive offers a scalable solution so that your Storage needs are always fulfilled along with business growth.

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MachPanel: Providing Maximum Business Benefits to CSPs

MachPanel is a Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration & Delivery Platform for Resellers and Providers. It provides you with Microsoft Office 365 and Azure services for better profits and flexible margins.  MachPanel offers easy billing and reporting, a Hybrid Marketplace and integration of Salesforce flow for its resellers. It also provides hassle-free migrations and integration of third party apps. It also offers consolidated Management of Microsoft Office 365 along with On-premise Hosted Subscriptions.

MachPanel Automation Platform for Microsoft CSP makes you able to take maximum benefits of O365 and Azure.

Lets TalkRequest a Demo

The post Unlocking the benefits of Microsoft O365 and Azure appeared first on MachSol Blog.

Azure comprises of Infrastructure and application services. There is no denying the fact that Azure is Microsoft most promising platform for the evolution of cloud. Not only it has a competitive edge, the robustness of this platform has the potential to even divert the cloud industry with its new trends. However, Microsoft still faces issues in making most of tis apps optimal for the cloud. Nevertheless, this barrier makes Azure a great hybrid platform. It blends on-premises and off-premises which allows workload mobility, making things flexible for the businesses.

Evolution of cloud for business benefits

Business, especially CSPs, need to keep them updated of the growing trends in the cloud. Gone are the days when companies asked the question: “Cloud or no cloud?” Hybrid is the answer to this and companies are shifting towards the cloud and hybrid solutions in big numbers each year. Following are a few emerging trends that will evolve the cloud industry in future:

1. Industry-specific Clouds:

These cloud are supposed to emerge industrial markets. These clouds are uniquely trained for domain specific needs. Industries like Healthcare, oil and gas shall have their own specific clouds for a better development of the industry as cloud technology further evolves.

1. Private Clouds

The trend for private clouds has already started and it is one of the best types of computing this industry has to offer. It has a fixed architecture with room for scalability and depends on self-service. It is excellent for security needs of corporate industry.

1. Hybrid with Abstraction

With flexibility and policy-driven deployment the main advantages of hybrid, the main benefit of future clouds is going to be abstraction layer for the software and apps in the cloud. This will enable new software support and services that take businesses towards growth along with their amended data implementation options.

The three Heavyweights of Cloud

Right now, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM are the three big IT vendors in the cloud industry. Google is, however, making efforts to fall in the top three. The top three have the potential to reshape the cloud industry in near future. Multi-cloud environments will emerge as powerful solutions that emerge on the frontline. Within the cloud space, a total end-to-end management of “digital estates” will get possible. A broad variety of cloud-based tools will be available for businesses to cater their business needs.

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MachPanel – A promising CSP Tool

MachPanel is a diverse CSP tool where there is all you can imagine for cloud hosting. With added functionality of Billing and support, excellent reporting and management on the end of clients, MachPanel makes you able to provide excellent service with just a few clicks. MachPanel Automation Module for Microsoft SharePoint caters for your hybrid needs and is also capable to manage and deploy a whole turnkey solution into your organization. It’s a multi-tenant hosting control panel and a Multi-Cloud Service Orchestration Platform. It is a robust solution for the management of multi-tiered end-to-end service delivery. MachPanel is a promising Control Panel of today and in the future of cloud industry.

The post Evolution of Cloud and what to expect from future appeared first on MachSol Blog.