Microsoft CSP

Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Logo
i3 Australia joined the CSP program as a CSP indirect reseller through Rhipe.

What is the Microsoft CSP program?

CSP stands for Cloud Solution Provider and the CSP programme enables partners, like i3 Australia, to provide Microsoft’s cloud solutions to its customers. The CSP model is designed for the partner to add value to its customers’ cloud experience via support, billing flexibility and advice. With this programme, a customer effectively has a buy, or pay, as you go consumption arrangement via the partner, rather than directly with Microsoft.

Since joining we have seen the benefits this brings to our customers and it has reinforced why we joined the program. We wanted to provide our customers with an end to end Microsoft cloud experience and CSP enables us to do just that.

CSP Key Customer Benefits

Flexibility

This is probably the biggest benefit to our customers. You only pay for what you want or use. In the case of Office 365, say you had 700 Office 365 licenses and wanted to step that up by 50 licenses for a project or peak in business and drop it again two months later, you can.

You will be billed in a completely logical way that follows your license usage e.g. 700 then 750 for two months and then back to 700. In the case of Azure, you simply pay for what you used the previous month, much like a phone bill.

Monthly billing

Each month you will receive a bill for the O365 licenses you are using and /or the Azure consumption you have used. No need to use your credit card anymore. If you do want annual billing, then please speak to us.

Local support

As a CSP provider we would be the point of contact and receive your support calls in relation to the service. We would look to triage these calls and pass onto Microsoft if required. As your CSP partner we are the point of contact in case of a problem (technical and billing & subscription support).

Licensing support

You can have one partner looking after all your Microsoft cloud licenses and drawing on their expertise and skills to enable you to maximise the benefits of your investment.

No upfront billing

There are no upfront licensing costs unlike EA and Open.

Discounts

Pursuing the CSP route opens up opportunities to gain discounts from RRP. A big win against pay as you go. Remember CSP partners need to take on a level of support, billing and license / subscription management duties. Potential discounts from RRP are dependent on the wrap around services you are procuring from us.

Strong SLAs

By procuring through a Microsoft CSP, you will be gaining access to Microsoft’s strong service level agreement which defines the crucial aspects of the service like responsibility, quality and availability between the service provider and the customer.

Questions & answers

Yes, you can still have full admin control over your Office 365 tenancy and Azure subscriptions.
i3 Australia will invoice you monthly. We get invoiced indirectly on a monthly basis for all the CSP spend attributable to our customers. We just take this data and generate an invoice for your specific spend.
Yes, you will need to sign our cloud service agreement, which in turn means you are agreeing to Microsoft’s cloud agreement.
No. You currently can only license cloud services via CSP.
Yes, you are free to transfer to any other provider of your choice, but we hope the other services i3 Australia is offering and delivering are a good reason to stay.
Yes, as it is a monthly subscription you can enter in any month of the calendar year and stop at any time. Remember, CSP gives you the flexibility to alter your subscription, in numbers and services, per month.
Ultimately yes. Clearly, we all want to avoid this situation. We follow normal processes to retrieve the money for services provided, but we are within our rights to terminate if your invoices are not being paid in a timely manner.
Firstly, speak to us so we can ascertain if CSP is right for you. If it is, we would ask for you to sign our cloud service agreement and provide some commercial arrangement to enable us to bill you. We can then set you up and you are off and going.

How can i3 Australia help? Let’s talk Microsoft Cloud Solutions

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