W H I T E P AP E R T h e W i n d o w s I n t u n e P a r t n e r O p p o r t u n i t y : A B l u e p r i n t f o r S u c c e s s

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1 W H I T E P AP E R T h e W i n d o w s I n t u n e P a r t n e r O p p o r t u n i t y : A B l u e p r i n t f o r S u c c e s s Sponsored by: Microsoft Darren Bibby March 2011 E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y!"!"#!"#!"!$%!&'''! (!( IT is a business that lives with a higher level of change than most, with new products and periodic release cycles creating opportunities along the way. One of the more dramatic historical shifts in the IT model is currently under way, as organizations are transitioning from an on-premise model, in which all IT services and infrastructure are physically housed at their own site, to a cloud computing model, in which IT services are provided by a separate entity and typically accessed through a Web browser. Cloud computing is having an impact in all areas of IT and can be particularly disruptive to solution providers as they work to find new business models and ways to add value for their customers. PC management, a line of business that offers the advantages of good profitability with an annuity-based model, is now facing disruptions as service providers are beginning to offer cloud-based solutions. One such solution is Windows Intune, a cloud-based, integrated PC management, monitoring, alerting, inventory, and reporting solution. This white paper discusses the impact Microsoft partners expect Windows Intune to have on their PC management practices and business models. It is based on in-depth conversations with 12 Microsoft solution provider partners who have already performed beta Windows Intune deployments. This paper provides the partners' perspectives on new opportunities, risks, and issues associated with Windows Intune. It also offers advice for other partners considering adopting Windows Intune for their business. Nearly all partners interviewed for this project had a positive attitude toward Windows Intune. For partners who do not currently have a robust PC management business, it offers an easy and low-cost way to enter the market, and for partners who are currently active in PC management, it provides a number of opportunities to expand business and improve profitability. Anders Gronlund, alliance manager at Enfo Zipper, stated, "I would say the Windows Intune offering is a great complement to what we are doing." New opportunities include opening PC management to new markets, including smaller businesses that could not previously afford PC management; increasing deal size, particularly for businesses with large numbers of noncorporate attached PCs; and removing barriers to sales and adoption of PC management services. Further, included offerings like Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights and optional Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) upgrade rights provide additional areas "I would say the Windows Intune offering is a great complement to what we are doing." Anders Gronlund, Enfo Zipper

2 of opportunity. In fact, the partners who were able to venture an estimate projected that Windows Intune would help them grow their PC management businesses by an average of 19% over the first full year of operations. S I T U AT I O N O V E R V I E W : T H E C O N T E X T F O R C L O U D - B AS E D P C M AN A G E M E N T For the purposes of this paper, PC management is, quite simply, a service in which the IT solution provider manages the health and well-being of a customer's PCs. Items covered include management of operating systems, virus and malware issues, and patch management and updates. PC management does not generally cover management of applications. Traditionally, PC management has been performed using one of two delivery methods: either by dispatching service engineers to the customer site to physically walk around and visit the PCs under management or by implementing third-party software at both the client site and the solution provider's network operations center, which allows the solution provider to monitor and manage the customer's PCs remotely. IT solution providers are turning to PC management services for many reasons. Some partners are using it to enhance their current managed service offerings, and others are using it as a new line of business. A number of Microsoft partners interviewed for this project have recently adopted PC management as a strategic initiative to respond to marketplace changes and to move away from unpredictable revenue streams associated with project work and secure an annuity, or recurring, revenue stream. "We started offering PC management services two and a half years ago," stated Jerod Powell, CEO of InfinIT Consulting. "It was apparent if we remained a pure IT consulting firm [that] we would go bankrupt because of the changes that were coming. We wanted to go to a recurring revenue stream and not just rely on project-based revenues." Danny Burlage, founder and CTO of Wortell, put it more succinctly: "PC management is definitely a strategic focus for our company." In addition to acknowledging PC management's ability to provide an annuity revenue stream, a number of partners see benefits in PC management services as an entry point into other types of service engagements. Emmanuel Levy, director of Information Systems at ABC Systemes, told us that "PC management is important for us because it is a good radar for us to detect new projects and to identify new systems, operating systems, or applications that need to be updated." Another partner said that PC management services led to other types of follow-on business "100% of the time." "It was apparent if we remained a pure IT consulting firm [that] we would go bankrupt because of the changes that were coming. We wanted to go to a recurring revenue stream and not just rely on project-based revenues." Jerod Powell, InfinIT Consulting "PC management is important for us because it is a good radar for us to detect new projects and to identify new systems, operating systems, or applications that need to be updated." Emmanuel Levy, ABC Systemes PC management is part of a larger IT/infrastructure management opportunity. Most partners interviewed for this project offer it as a standalone service, while others offer it only as part of a larger server/infrastructure management service. 2 # IDC

3 The market for PC management services crosses all geographies and industry vertical markets. The key characteristic defining the market for PC management tends to be organizational size, with partners interviewed for this project stating that their sweet spot for offering PC management services ranges anywhere from around PCs on the low end to several hundred PCs on the high end. Partners find that they have a difficult time articulating the business value of PC management to very small organizations, while larger organizations often perform these services in-house. "SMB is the best market for PC management solutions," said Powell of InfinIT Consulting. "We focus on the enterprise in our consulting business, but enterprises run their own PC management in-house." IDC believes that we are entering a new era of IT, one defined by cloud computing. Cloud computing builds off the best practices of the past decade and allows organizations to obtain compute resources as a shared, standard service, usually with elastic scaling, use-based pricing, and standard UI technologies accessible via standard, published APIs. By removing the dependency on in-house physical infrastructure, cloud computing can drive higher levels of automation, orchestration, provisioning, and deployment. IT organizations must currently deal with challenges such as the global financial crisis and the resulting squeeze on IT budgets, a heightened need to provide flexibility for the organization to rapidly respond to changing business needs, increased global reach as businesses become more geographically dispersed, and a more digitally savvy/demanding workforce. By turning to cloud computing, IT can offload the burden of managing and scaling server, storage, and network resources to a service provider and can turn its attention to providing high levels of service delivery and support to the organization. The solution providers interviewed are well aware of and participating in this trend. "We are on the way to becoming a more cloud-centric business and already offer [other services] using the cloud," said Matthias Bender, business development manager at Data One. "We already tell customers 'You don't need on-premise hardware.'" The strong growth in cloud computing is illustrated by the IDC forecast for public IT cloud services revenue, which in other words contains all software-as-aservice revenue, plus cloud-related storage and server revenue (see Figure 1). "We are on the way to becoming a more cloud-centric business and already offer [other services] using the cloud. We already tell customers 'You don't need onpremise hardware.'" Matthias Bender, Data One 2011 IDC #

4 F I G U R E 1 60,000 50,000 ($M) 40,000 30,000 20,000 10, Source: IDC, April 2010 The shift to cloud computing has wide-ranging implications for IT solution providers both large and small. For some, cloud computing offers a new revenue model and opens new markets, while others risk being disintermediated as organizations turn to cloud providers for compute services that might have been previously supported by a channel partner. PC management services are not immune from this disruption. IT solution providers that provide onsite PC management services now have a new service delivery option, while solution providers that provide remote management using third-party software offerings must adapt their business model to account for cloud-based tools. All partners run the risk that as cloud-based approaches reduce the barriers to PC management, customers may choose to perform the function in-house using cloudbased tools. "We have some concerns like everyone else regarding cloud," stated Olivier Nguyen, director of Program Service Management at Exakis. "It will change our business, and we have to adapt, but I think it's a good thing." Change is inevitable in IT, and solution providers know this all too well. The partners most likely to be successful in this new world will be those who get ahead of the learning curve, embrace the cloud, and adapt their business models accordingly. For Microsoft partners in particular, those who become involved early with Windows Intune put themselves in the best position to control the change and benefit from it. In the view of Nguyen from Exakis, by becoming an early adopter partner of Windows Intune, "you can see what you can do with the tool and better understand how to sell it to the customer and not harm your business." District Computers is another partner "We have some concerns like everyone else regarding cloud. It will change our business, and we have to adapt, but I think it's a good thing." Olivier Nguyen, Exakis By becoming an early partner adopter of Windows Intune, "you can see what you can do with the tool and better understand how to sell it to the customer and not harm your business." Olivier Nguyen, Exakis 4 # IDC

5 working to stay ahead of the curve, with CEO Steve Hall telling IDC, "We're shifting to all cloud and will be offering more remote desktop and hosted remote office services over the cloud." W I N D O W S I N T U N E : A C L O U D - B A S E D A P P R O A C H T O P C M AN A G E M E N T!"! Like many leading IT vendors, Microsoft is working to adapt its products and solutions to the cloud model. From Microsoft Azure to Office 365, Microsoft is aggressively launching a number of services that take advantage of the cloud model to provide greater levels of service delivery to customers. Microsoft is also moving to provide cloud-based PC management services with Windows Intune. Windows Intune is a cloud-based, end-to-end PC management solution, accessible through a Web browser. It integrates health monitoring, malware protection and security alerts, remote assistance requests, inventorying, and licensing reports. The centralized administrative console provides a single "at a glance" view that offers a comprehensive look at PC health, including updates, security, and alerts. Microsoft built Windows Intune specifically with partners in mind and included functionality such as allowing partners to manage multiple customers from a single dashboard. The final commercial release of the product launched in March Key features and benefits of Windows Intune include: Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights. Inclusion of Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights with every Windows Intune license provides customers with a lowcost way to bring their desktops up to date, standardize their PCs on a single operating system, and take advantage of the security and manageability benefits of Windows 7 Enterprise. Integrated endpoint protection. Integrated malware protection is an added benefit of Windows Intune, and several partners stated that their customers could save costs by dropping their existing malware protection subscriptions. Furthermore, there is a benefit to the convergence of management and security with Windows Intune because it enables IT to centrally perform essential management and security tasks from a single, Web-based console instead of switching between separate tools. Asset inventory reporting and management. Windows Intune provides an immediate view of all software deployed on PCs under management. It provides a companywide view and allows the administrator to drill down on the software and hardware configuration of specific PCs. Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) upgrade. For an additional $1 per PC per month, Windows Intune customers also receive upgrade rights for MDOP, a subscription-based suite of add-on Microsoft desktop technologies including asset management, policy control, diagnostics and recovery, and virtualization IDC #

6 Housed at Microsoft datacenters. Windows Intune is provisioned on infrastructure owned and operated by Microsoft and comes with a financially backed 99.9% scheduled uptime service-level agreement (SLA). Global solution. Windows Intune has multilanguage and multiadministrator support to address the needs of global business organizations, and Microsoft offers 24 x 7 support in multiple languages. #!!" For all the potential advantages that Windows Intune offers to customers and solution providers, it also necessitates some changes to the solution provider business model. These changes are not universally popular among solution providers, although several interviewed by IDC stated that they are coming around and now see advantages to the model.! " The largest change is that for the most part, other third-party, on-premise PC management tools are purchased by partners, and the partners must cover the expense of the tools with their PC management revenue. In contrast, with Windows Intune, the customer signs up for the service with Microsoft, and Microsoft bills the customer directly. What this effectively means is that with Windows Intune, the customer must pay not only the PC management fees to the service provider but also a (new) fee to Microsoft. Microsoft partners face the choice of continuing to charge their standard PC management service price, which results in an effective increase in overall fees the customer must pay, or reducing the price they charge to their customers, which reduces their overall profitability per engagement but keeps the customer whole. Another potential downside to the solution provider is a reduction in customers' stickiness; customers using Windows Intune as their PC management tool could easily pick up their service and move it to another Windows Intune capable solution provider. While the challenges to the solution provider business model were viewed as the largest downsides of the Windows Intune model, solution providers interviewed also saw some benefits. One is the lack of hassle involved with billing the customer for the service. Another is that they don't have to pay up front for the rights to use the tool (i.e., the service provider does not have to bear inventory costs). Another benefit to many partners is that with consistent pricing set by Microsoft, partners cannot undercut each other on the price of the product, which a few partners mentioned as a point of contention. Bender of Data One said, "It's important to protect from customers moving from one partner to another just because they charge 2% less." Further, this model provides a new revenue stream to the solution provider: It receives an ongoing "partner of record" fee from Microsoft if it is the partner who helps sell the deal. 6 # IDC

7 In fairness to Microsoft, these changes reflect changes inherent in the cloud service delivery model and not only in business model decisions made by Microsoft. Further, it is a fairly common model in the cloud service industry. P AR T N E R B L U E P R I N T S F O R S U C C E S S $$ % Not every solution provider offers PC management services. Whether they currently focus on project-based services or management of other portions of the customer's infrastructure (such as servers and networks), a number of companies may benefit from and desire to get into PC management services. For these partners, as well as partners looking to ramp their PC management business and who don't want to continue to scale out their on-premise or remote management infrastructure, Windows Intune offers a low-impact, minimal investment, and speedy method of entering the business. A number of Microsoft partners interviewed for this project fit these profiles. Enfo Zipper is planning to spin off a new PC management business and is building its plans around Windows Intune. "We are able to start our new company without having the infrastructure ourselves," averred Gronlund of Enfo Zipper. "We can launch this business without investing in server parks or datacenters or things like that." Another partner, SharePoint360, shares a similar perspective. "We would not have gone into PC management if we didn't have an option to do so from a cloud perspective," said John Honeycutt, director of Sales and Marketing. "PC management is not part of our core business, but if certain customers want to extend the services we offer them to include PC management, then Windows Intune gives us a way to support their request." "We are able to start our new company without having the infrastructure ourselves." Anders Gronlund, Enfo Zipper "We would not have gone into PC management if we didn't have an option to do so from a cloud perspective." John Honeycutt, SharePoint360 &% Windows Intune also offers a number of areas of opportunity to partners with a core PC management practice. These opportunities include: Address new markets, particularly with small businesses. Because Windows Intune provides a way to provide PC management services at what partners characterized as a more affordable price point than if they used on-premise tools, many partners believe that Windows Intune will open new areas of opportunity to them. The area of opportunity cited most frequently is the low end of the market, (i.e., small businesses). One United States based partner made the following observation: "I think [Windows Intune] is going to enable us to offer services to more clients than we could in the past because of the [lower] price point." Gronlund of Enfo Zipper added, "I think we could cover more customers than we could today. I don't think we have realized how big the potential is. It could help us win new deals and bigger deals." "I think [Windows Intune] is going to enable us to offer services to more clients than we could in the past because of the [lower] price point." U.S. partner 2011 IDC #

8 Increase the number of seats under management. Windows Intune does this in two ways. The first is that it can be used to support companies whose employees "bring their own PCs" or other connected devices to the corporate network without it becoming a licensing nightmare. Second, it allows service providers to support noncorporate connected PCs. Several partners reported a growing trend in which employees connect from remote sites, from home, or on the road and as such are not on the corporate network. Current tools are often not able to see these PCs, so partners cannot provide PC management services. Windows Intune can manage any PC as long as it has an Internet connection, even those PCs not behind the corporate firewall. This can increase the total number of PCs managed for larger organizations and increase the revenue opportunity accordingly. Opportunities with optional MDOP upgrade. Partners believe the opportunity for customers to upgrade to MDOP will also offer them opportunities both for the MDOP deployment itself and for follow-on projects in areas such as desktop and application virtualization. "There are potentially a lot of value-added services there focused on the full stack of virtualization application," said Powell of InfinIT. Protect the core business. By allowing partners to expand the breadth of services they can offer, Windows Intune can help make customer relationships "stickier." "We do see this as a stickiness play, especially with customers who are naïve with their IT since they are a higher burden to us from a management perspective," stated Honeycutt of SharePoint360. "Since this tool does PC management in a distributed cloud model, it could help us increase their business with us and become stickier." Inventorying and licensing opportunities. Because it provides PC monitoring and inventorying functions, Windows Intune can lead to a number of related business opportunities. "I want [my sales team] to be able to look at Windows Intune and say 'You can see what you have on each machine,'" said Hall of District Computers. "I want to be part of the planning and budgeting on each machine. I want to say 'Do you care that half your PCs have Office 2003 Standard and the others have Pro?'" Cross-sell hardware. One partner mentioned that Windows Intune will give it greater opportunity to cross-sell hardware. With Windows Intune, it can identify PCs that are close to end of life and recommend upgrading them on behalf of the customer. The opportunity opened by Windows Intune was perhaps best summed up by a U.S. partner who said, "Anytime you can get a monthly relationship with a client, it always opens new doors. There's a whole host of things you can start discussing, especially once the client is not worried about day-to-day maintenance of computers." "There are potentially a lot of value-added services there focused on the full stack of virtualization application." Jerod Powell, InfinIT "We do see this as a stickiness play, especially with customers who are naïve with their IT." John Honeycutt, SharePoint360 "I want to be part of the planning and budgeting on each machine." Steve Hall, District Computers "Anytime you can get a monthly relationship with a client, it always opens new doors. There's a whole host of things you can start discussing, especially once the client is not worried about day-today maintenance of computers." U.S. partner Service providers expect these opportunities to yield very real benefits. Eight of the 12 companies interviewed for this project felt comfortable forecasting the impact of Windows Intune, and these partners expect that it will help them grow their PC management practice by an average of 19% over the first full year of operations. 8 # IDC

9 !' () One of the things that makes Windows Intune unique is that it comes with Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights, which lends very naturally to desktop operating system upgrade projects. Partners pointed out not only that these projects are good business in their own right but also that once the customer's desktops are standardized on Windows 7 Enterprise, many doors open for many other conversations in areas such as security and branch office management. Levy of ABC Systemes said, "[Windows 7] will provide opportunities in consulting, integration, and support." The bottom line is that customers saw the Windows 7 upgrade, like other aspects of Windows Intune, providing the opportunity to open entirely new areas of value they can add for their customers. "There are so many approaches with Windows Intune," said Hall of District Computers. "First, we will use it to manage clients' PCs. Then there's the Windows upgrade and MDOP for only $1 per month. Now we just say 'I can manage your network.' With Windows Intune, you can get a whole new conversation." "[Windows 7] will provide opportunities in consulting, integration, and support." Emmanuel Levy, ABC Systemes "There are so many approaches with Windows Intune. Now we just say 'I can manage your network.' With Windows Intune, you can get a whole new conversation." Steve Hall, District Computers " There was divergent opinion on the impact Microsoft partners expect Windows Intune to have on the economics of their PC management business. While just about all believe it will increase their overall PC management revenue by enabling them to bring in more PC management deals, there was a difference of opinion about whether it would change their economics on any given PC management deal. About half of the interviewees believe that Windows Intune will have little or no impact on their profitability per PC per deal. The other half generally believe that Windows Intune will have a positive impact, either by enabling them to be more efficient and therefore more profitable or by allowing them to charge more for management services per PC. *$+(, ) Several partners interviewed fully expect Windows Intune to make them more efficient in their PC management operations and thus drive higher levels of profitability. Efficiencies cited by partners included: Higher efficiency in PC management labor hours. Interviewees see a reduction in the need to physically dispatch engineers to customer sites. They can also realize savings by ensuring that specialists are sent out only when needed and not for routine PC management tasks that could otherwise be addressed using Windows Intune. Consolidation of management tools. Several partners stated that they will be able to consolidate management tools using Windows Intune. For example, one partner previously required three separate vendor solutions to perform all the functions covered by Windows Intune. Standardization on all-microsoft management tools. Interviewees also cited efficiencies around supporting a complete Microsoft management infrastructure; for example, by combining IT infrastructure management under Windows Intune, 2011 IDC #

10 Microsoft System Center, and Microsoft Operations Center. For potential issues that may arise, partners need contact only one point of support Microsoft to receive assistance. "We can either raise rates because we can prove we can deliver a higher quality of service, or we can charge the same price but reduce our costs and increase our profit because we can do PC management more efficiently," said Nguyen of Exakis. Gronlund of Enfo Zipper agreed, stating, "We will charge the same amount, but the delivery will be smarter, so we will have a lower cost with Windows Intune." Of the four partners who were able to provide a detailed estimate of projected PC management efficiency savings, IDC calculates that they could save from $30,000 to over $167,000 in PC management staff costs (see Table 1). "We will charge the same amount, but the delivery will be smarter, so we will have a lower cost with Windows Intune." Anders Gronlund, Enfo Zipper T A B L E 1!" #$ % &$' () * (( +, Partner A Partner B Partner C Partner D Today Number of PCs currently supported (across entire business) 450 5,000 1,250 1,000 Current PC management model Remote 66% onsite, 33% remote Remote 75% onsite, 25% remote Number of PCs supported per support engineer Number of support engineers required across entire business Fully loaded annual salary per support engineer ($) 37,500 19, ,600 49,000 With Windows Intune Number of PCs projected to be supported per support engineer Number of support engineers required across entire business Potential support engineer FTE savings Fully loaded support FTE annual salary potential savings ($) 30, ,966 45,714 81,667 Source: IDC, 2011; based on partner interviews 10 # IDC

11 These savings are IDC calculations of potential staff cost savings reflecting fewer engineers required to perform the PC management function for each partner's current base of managed PCs and do not take into account any projected growth in the number of PCs managed by these partners. Further, some of the divergent data points in Table 1 (for example, fully loaded annual salary per support engineer) reflect differences in the geographies for the partners in question, level of engineers used to provide PC management, and core model (onsite versus remote management). -. Most of the partners interviewed charge a flat rate on a per-pc, per-month basis, and nine of the 12 partners interviewed shared their pricing levels. The average amount they charge for PC management services today is $50 per PC per month, but the amount ranges fairly widely, with several providers charging as little as $10 15 per month, and two service providers charging between $100 and $120 per month. For the most part, service providers believe that Windows Intune will have little or no effect on the amount they would be able to charge for PC management. One partner believes that it would be able to charge twice as much on a per-seat basis due to the higher level of services it could offer, while another anticipates dropping its price by 10 15% because Windows Intune will allow it to offer PC management services more efficiently. But most do not believe it would change their pricing in either direction. / ) Partners noted that a number of their customers were turned off of PC management engagements by the cost and effort required to deploy hardware and third-party management software at their site. Such installations can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. As a cloud-based PC management solution, Windows Intune requires no such upfront investment and can streamline the sales cycle by eliminating these barriers to customer adoption. "Having these tools in the cloud removes barriers for customers that want to get into managed services," stated Rory Cremin, head of Professional Services at DSS. "Today, the customer may not have the proper tools installed, and to onboard them requires an investment in hardware, software, and services on their behalf, which can be a major impediment to them coming on board. Offering these services via the cloud removes that barrier." Other partners believe that having the Microsoft name attached to the tool will remove further barriers to sales. Hall of District Computers said, "When I deliver a pitch to some clients, they don't know the name [of our third-party tool provider], but they do know the name Microsoft, and I'm sure they would be more inclined to sign up for a service using the Microsoft tool." "Having these tools in the cloud removes barriers for customers that want to get into managed services." Rory Cremin, DSS "When I deliver a pitch to some clients, they don't know the name [of our thirdparty tool provider], but they do know the name Microsoft " Steve Hall, District Computers 2011 IDC #

12 / Partners universally saw value in Windows Intune's ability to reduce the deployment cycle. Removing the need to deploy third-party hardware and software at the client's site can speed up the cycle by weeks or months. Other partners saw Windows Intune providing the ability to speed up other project cycles as well. "We will have the ability to put a plan in place for our client's infrastructure so we can actually do a professional services road map for our customer," stated Gary Melvin, sales director of Brandon Consulting. "It will facilitate that road map." One partner pointed out that as it adopts Windows Intune, it has had to make some changes to its sales organization's compensation structure and overall mindset. In the past, with software sold under the licensing model, customer revenues would come up front in a lump sum, and the sales reps would be compensated on this basis. With Windows Intune and other cloud offerings, the revenue to the solution provider is a monthly annuity, so for reps whose compensation comes as a percentage of revenue, their compensation will be relatively small up front and could stretch out over many years. Though no one has completely solved this issue, some partners have addressed it by changing sales reps' compensation to center more around metrics such as number of seats sold rather than tying it to a percentage of revenue. "Today, our incentives make them prefer selling regular licensing over cloud based," said Bender of Data One. "With cloud computing, we expect a change in incentives away from absolute revenue to number of deals and number of seats." "We will have the ability to put a plan in place for our client's infrastructure so we can actually do a professional services road map for our customer." Gary Melvin, Brandon Consulting "Today, our incentives make them [sales reps] prefer selling regular licensing over cloud based. With cloud computing, we expect a change in incentives away from absolute revenue to number of deals and number of seats." Matthias Bender, Data One 0 " To summarize the effect on the partners' business operations, IDC asked the partners what effect they expect Windows Intune to have on their PC management practice operations. Overall, partners expect it to increase their PC management revenue and their annuity revenue as a percentage of their total business. They expect their gross profit and number of deals to grow as well. They were split on the effect on the deal size in terms of revenue and number of seats, and most felt it would not have much effect on the length of the sales cycle. Further, there was consensus that it would reduce the overall length of the project cycle and would increase capacity utilization, dramatically so for partners not currently offering remote management services and more moderately for partners who do (see Table 2). 12 # IDC

13 T A B L E 2!" #$ &$' -) (' # Key Performance Indicator Change with Windows Intune? Comments Annual PC management revenue Annuity revenue as percentage of total Gross profit PC management can be expanded to new markets, including small businesses and noncorporate attached enterprise PCs. PC management is annuity revenue; increasing the revenue stream increases annuity as a percentage of revenue. PC management can be more profitable than project-based work. Also, standardizing on Windows Intune can yield efficiencies for "Microsoft shops." Number of deals Partners expect more deals, although many may be smaller. Deal size, revenue Deal size, number of seats Sales cycle, days Project cycle, days Partners can charge for additional services. Adding noncorporate attached PCs increases deal size, but going after small businesses reduces deal size. Partners can charge for additional features. Adding noncorporate attached PCs increases deal size, but going after small businesses reduces deal size. Partners already selling PC management solutions will follow similar sales cycle/process. Cloud-based offering can be turned up instantly, increasing speed of implementation versus on-premise management software. Capacity utilization Partners can service more customers in the same amount of time/with the same number of staff. For partners with onsite services, the cloud approach reduces the need to dispatch staff; for others, the all-microsoft solution and the inclusion of patch management provide incremental benefits. Source: IDC, 2011 )1" )1 The good news from the partners' perspective is that everyone interviewed for this project stated that the level of investment required for Windows Intune is relatively small, and all partners stated that they could support Windows Intune with their existing engineering and service delivery teams. In other words, adopting Windows Intune does not require the addition of any new skill sets beyond those required for core PC management capabilities IDC #

14 As a Windows offering, Windows Intune adheres to Windows user interface and usability standards. Partners generally found hands-on experience to be adequate training during the beta, and they will provide some training for their service delivery personnel on Windows Intune, but it will be fairly minimal (i.e., on the order of a few days per engineer). "It fits the model we have today," said one U.S. partner. "We are a deep Microsoft shop, and it has the same look and feel." "It fits the model we have today. We are a deep Microsoft shop, and it has the same look and feel." U.S. partner " Partners believe that Windows Intune will also have a minimal impact on sales and marketing. Sales teams will need some new training on the offering and new classes of customers to target (smaller customers, noncorporate attached PCs), while marketers see an opportunity to target current customers who were previously turned off by the up-front costs required to sign up for PC management services. But overall, partners believe that Windows Intune is simply another arrow in the quiver, or topic in a sales conversation, and that it can be slotted into current promotional, lead generation, and sales activities. "To be honest, it [sales and marketing] won't change at all," said Burlage at Wortell. "It will be the same." "To be honest, it [sales and marketing] won't change at all. It will be the same." Danny Burlage, Wortell )!" Microsoft provides training and resources to help partners successfully promote, implement, and manage solutions based on Windows Intune. Partners can find product information, training, and other resources within the Microsoft partner portal at Some of the available resources include: Windows Intune sales training. Courses are available for sales professionals on how to sell Windows Intune for PC management and how to sell it into small and medium-sized businesses. Topics cover what is included in the product, targeting potential customers, and licensing options. Separate training for valueadded resellers (VARs), scale resellers, large account resellers (LARs), and channel developers is provided. Windows Intune technical training. This training is targeted to IT professionals, and topics covered include installation, troubleshooting, managing PCs in the administrative console, and remote assistance. Product demonstrations. Demos are provided, including how to get started using Windows Intune, gathering hardware and software asset data, and managing multiple accounts with Windows Intune. Windows Intune resources. Additional materials include case studies, data sheet, FAQs, and other sales collateral. 14 # IDC

15 C H AL L E N G E S / O P P O R T U N I T I E S For all the benefits that partners can realize using Windows Intune, IDC still sees challenges for Microsoft and its partners moving forward. They include: Closing the feature/functionality gap. Partners correctly pointed out that they have been working with a beta version of Windows Intune, and as such it had relatively limited functionality, particularly compared with PC management products that have been on the market for many years now. To fully address the needs of customers and partners and gain competitive parity, Microsoft will have to work to quickly close the feature gap. "Windows Intune is good now but not great," said Francisco Ovalle, CIO of Sifra. "Since it's in beta, Microsoft has to make sure they will continue to invest in it and make it better." Partners also mentioned that it would be helpful for Microsoft to publish a road map of future planned functionality. "Windows Intune is good now but not great. Since it's in beta, Microsoft has to make sure they will continue to invest in it and make it better." Francisco Ovalle, Sifra Making it easy for partners to use Windows Intune in-house. Partners mentioned that Windows Intune is one of the (very few) Microsoft products for which they don't get a relatively large number of free Internal Use Rights (IUR) seats; partners get up to 250 IUR seats for products such as BPOS, but they are eligible for only 10 seats of Windows Intune (or up to 25 for partners who meet higher sales requirements). Partners pointed out that this discourages internal use and the hands-on experience that brings. Communicating Microsoft's commitment to Windows Intune to partners and customers. Microsoft is currently in the middle of a large cloud push with services such as Azure, and several partners interviewed for this project mentioned that they had heard from senior Microsoft executives and their individual account reps that Microsoft's primary cloud focus is elsewhere (not with Windows Intune). Microsoft will have to clearly communicate the strategic nature of Windows Intune in the overall Microsoft portfolio and make the importance of Windows Intune clear to partners and how it fits with other Microsoft cloud offerings and future IT management offerings. Overcoming objections to the licensing model. While most partners interviewed for this project did not bring up the Windows Intune licensing model as a roadblock for them or for customers, a few partners did have an issue with it. Unlike other PC management products that the partner licenses from the vendor, in the case of Windows Intune, the customer has a direct relationship with Microsoft and licenses it from Microsoft directly. While some partners appreciated receiving a new revenue stream from Microsoft and that they didn't have the hassle of billing, other partners had an issue with this because they felt it squeezed them out of the relationship with customers and possibly even left the door open for customers to shift their PC management directly to in-house staff and not through the partner IDC #

16 C O N C L U S I O N IT solution providers are indeed living through interesting times. The emergence of the cloud has disrupted service delivery models across the board, and partners are working hard to find their place in the new order. PC management delivery partners are not immune, and with the advent of cloud-based PC management solutions such as Windows Intune, they must understand the impact on their business. Microsoft partners interviewed for this project who had completed beta deployments of Windows Intune were generally positive about the effect they anticipate it having on their business. Partners who currently do not offer PC management or are planning to ramp their PC management practice can use it as a low-cost method of entering the business. Partners who already offer PC management can use it to expand the markets they can serve, provide services more efficiently, and provide complementary services for example, with the Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade licenses. While customers were split on the exact economic impact they anticipate Windows Intune to have, those who were able to provide estimates believe that it will increase their PC management revenue while generally having a positive effect on their overall profitability. Moreover, the level of investment required is relatively small, primarily consisting of a few days of training for sales delivery engineers. The overall sentiment is well summarized by Nguyen of Exakis, who said, "Windows Intune would change our relationship with our customers. We would have more of an ongoing relationship instead of a project in which we install, deliver, and say goodbye." "Windows Intune would change our relationship with our customers. We would have more of an ongoing relationship instead of a project in which we install, deliver, and say goodbye." Olivier Nguyen, Exakis A P P E N D I X : I D C M E T H O D O L O G Y IDC conducted in-depth interviews with 12 Microsoft partners who offer PC management services and who had experience working with Windows Intune during the product's beta testing period (see Table 3). The group included five partners based in North America (four in the United States and one in Mexico) and seven partners based in Europe (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Ireland). The interviews were conducted in December 2010 and January Topics discussed included: Background on partner's business model PC management practice Perceptions and experience with Windows Intune Expected impact on PC management economics using Windows Intune Investments and skill sets required to use Windows Intune Best practices and advice for Microsoft and partners 16 # IDC

17 T A B L E 3 &( &$' ) Partner Respondent Title Country Exakis Olivier Nguyen Director of Program Service Management France Sifra Consultores Francisco Ovalle CIO Mexico Brandon Consulting Gary Melvin Sales Director Ireland InfinIT Consulting Jerod Powell CEO United States District Computers Steve Hall Senior Network Engineer and CEO ABC Systemes Emmanuel Levy Director of Information Systems United States France Wortell Danny Burlage Founder/CTO Netherlands Enfo Zipper Anders Gronlund Alliance Manager Sweden DSS Rory Cremin Head of Professional Services SharePoint360 John Honeycutt Director of Sales and Marketing Data One Matthias Bender Business Development Manager Ireland United States Germany Source: IDC, 2011 External Publication of IDC Information and Data Any IDC information that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from the appropriate IDC Vice President or Country Manager. A draft of the proposed document should accompany any such request. IDC reserves the right to deny approval of external usage for any reason. Copyright 2011 IDC. Reproduction without written permission is completely forbidden IDC #