With technology at our fingertips, making IT purchasing decisions with points of comparison has become the norm for businesses. Information on almost everything is just a swift click away. But with so many options available on the market, coming up with a well-rounded decision on a solution isn’t always easy.
In today’s digital world, businesses are increasingly relying on cloud management platforms to streamline and automate their cloud operations. The right cloud management platform can help businesses manage their cloud infrastructure more efficiently, increase visibility, reduce costs and improve security.
There are many platforms in the market that claim to do that — however, not all cloud management platforms are created equal. While platforms have similar capabilities when you look at marketing, beneath the surface, there can be provisioning errors, empty product portfolios, manual processes and other serious issues lurking. Choosing the right cloud management platform is critical to avoid these issues and ensure that your organization is set up to evolve into the future. When you are looking for advanced capabilities to accelerate digital transformation or expand your business globally, for example, you don’t want to be limited by what your platform can’t do.
Figuring out where to start can be the biggest hurdle, which is why we’re giving you a rundown of what you need to consider when choosing a cloud management platform based on each step of the buyer’s journey and beyond.
1. Login and Security
One of the primary concerns with any cloud-based platform is security. When evaluating a cloud management platform, security should be a top consideration to protect your data, prevent fraud and preserve your company’s reputation. You want to find a platform that offers premium-grade features like Least Privileged Access Role Management, Granular Delegated Admin Permissions (GDAP), Role-based Access, and Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) to ensure that your access, data and applications are secure.
2. User Account Management and Agreements
Onboarding and beginning with a Cloud Management Platform starts with creating an account. The best platform option should offer self-service account management, agreements that are easy to sign, and efficient onboarding for new users. More importantly, the ability to set up a cloud account with the native provider should be integrated into the platform. That allows you to view cloud provider program terms, unlock cloud provider programs associated with the services you want to resell and accept click-through program terms — all in real-time — without the need for human intervention.
3. Catalog Development and Product Portfolio
Next in the Buyer Journey, you will put together a comprehensive catalog of offerings. When looking for a platform, consider one that offers robust catalog development tools.
The breadth and depth of the vendors available on a cloud management platform is also an important consideration. You will want to ensure the platform you select offers a wide range of vendors and products to choose from. Some platforms pad their portfolios with an overabundance of marketing pages, which you find out about when you go to provision the product. Instead of being able to seamlessly provision the product directly, you find that you are taken outside of the platform or have to go through a more manual process to order.
If your business is multi-cloud, consider the Hyperscaler (AWS, Microsoft, Google) relationships the cloud management platform has to offer, as well as how sophisticated and long-standing the distributor relationships are.
4. Access to Programs
Programs are curated groups of product offerings. Best-in-class platforms provide the ability to request to join a vendor, horizontal or vertical program digitally through the platform. Once you have joined the programs, you can view and configure products and do custom pricing based on your specifications (cost up and/or MSRP down). Finally, you can sell the program products via self-service white label storefronts for end-users.
5. Quoting and Pricing
Quoting features are essential to the sales cycle and Buyer Journey. Platforms should allow partners to easily generate a quote based on an end-user request, provide clarity on pricing conditions and dependencies and allow customers to add products easily from a quote to a basket to immediately purchase. Add-ons that match the base product should be presented to the customer as well, so the platform must be capable of validation to ensure a smooth customer experience (while optimizing upsell opportunities for you)!
When it comes to pricing features, look for a platform that provides clarity in understanding pricing and the ability to compare products and plans. Also, you should be able to define custom pricing, charges, discounts and set budgets.
6. Ordering and Provisioning
Ordering and provisioning are, of course, critical components of a cloud management platform. You’re looking for a smooth provisioning experience, including a direct connection to vendor data (scheduled synchronization against native providers or on-demand native provider sync options). This significantly improves the quality and accuracy of the data and reduces the number of provisioning errors you would encounter.
Also, the platform’s ability to develop and enforce eligibility and serviceability rules for cloud services is critical. Eligibility and serviceability rules in cloud provisioning help determine whether a user or service is eligible to provision cloud resources and whether the requested resources can be provided effectively. Some examples of rules include quota limits, geographical restrictions, system compatibility and resource dependencies. If these eligibility and serviceability rules are not enforced, you may have unexplained errors, and your provisioning will not be successful — resulting in a less-than-ideal user experience, to say the least.
7. Subscription Lifecycle Management
Subscription lifecycle management features are essential for ensuring that you can easily manage cloud subscriptions. We recommend looking for a cloud management platform that allows you to add or remove seats, manage cancellations and auto-renewals, upgrade or downgrade subscriptions, and offers co-terminosity/synchronization and proration options, quickly and seamlessly.
If you are a reseller or MSP, your needs are pretty specific, and you’ll want a platform that streamlines lifecycle management with a simplified view into all your clients’ current products and subscriptions.
8. Reports
The number and customization options for reports are also important when evaluating a cloud management platform. A good platform offers a wide range of reports and the ability to customize those reports to your specific needs. You should be able to generate reports by multiple criteria, such as vendor, program, cloud provider, billing and subscription data and in multiple currencies. Reports ought to be easy to work with too, exportable to the format of your choice, such as a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file.
9. Billing Management
Billing management features are essential for managing your business. A study from IDC suggested companies lose 20 to 30% of their revenue due to inefficiencies every year. An effective billing management solution can go a long way in alleviating that loss.
Billing consolidation options, automated billing of customers and customization for invoices with PO numbers and other information are must-haves.
10. White Label Storefronts
Not every platform gives you the option to stand up a white label storefront, so you can provide your customers with easy access to shop and buy from your brand. Some platforms allow you to change the logo on the platform and call that white label customization. Best-in-class platforms provide you the ability to stand up and customize a storefront with a custom URL, logo, colors and company information — out of the box and with no additional costs. This functionality allows you to easily extend your reach and get closer to your customers by allowing them self-service access to explore, configure and manage products, as well as understand their invoices with detailed billing information at the touch of a button.
11. International Capabilities
If your business operates globally, you’ll need a cloud management platform that supports multi-language and multi-currency options. Look for a platform that offers support for multiple countries and currencies to ensure that you can manage your cloud services effectively. To determine if your platform is truly global, ask if there are local resources by country to support your international business, or if they simply provide support resources from the U.S. for all countries. Also, ask if the platform is a global multitenant platform. That means the same code runs in each of the countries it serves, and any feature/update is automatically available worldwide.
12. API and PSA
Having the ability to integrate seamlessly with existing applications and a cloud management platform is very beneficial. Remove manual integration and double handling of data by allowing integration between multiple systems with a suite of API capabilities out of the box. Can you leverage your investment of existing PSA technology and extend the benefits of a cloud management platform by having them work together?
13. Integrated FinOps
Integrated FinOps features are essential for managing your cloud costs effectively. Cost management reports and dashboards help you manage your cloud costs effectively and improve overall operational efficiency. You should have end-to-end visibility, budget and spending alerts, resource optimization recommendations, margins by cloud provider and more. Easily subscribe to daily, weekly, or monthly updates to deliver this information to your inbox automatically.
14. N-Tier Digital Supply Chain
If your business has multiple tiers of users, you’ll need a cloud management platform that can manage multiple (“n”) tiers effectively. In short, with n-tier architecture, you can add new tiers using a common, single source of data. This means less manipulation and issues with data integrity, thus making it easier to scale and maintain. It allows all parties to access a single platform to provide a complete view of their usage.
Considering TD SYNNEX’s StreamOne® Platform
StreamOne® is the foundation of TD SYNNEX’s digital business orchestration strategy, putting ecosystem partners in control through data-driven decisions, rich customer insights and solutions aggregation. It addresses the challenges of transactional, subscription and consumption-based IT service models and simplifies the management of multiple cloud providers in a single platform.
StreamOne® is designed to provide the best cloud management experience across the entire Buyer Journey. To learn more about StreamOne®, visit our website.
