Wednesday 17th July 2024
After an extensive Private Preview, Bytes are pleased to announce the General Availability of MPO on July 17th in the UK and Canada.
The Microsoft Commercial Marketplace is the ultimate platform where customers and partners converge, fostering modern partnerships. With a surge in monthly active users from 4 million to 6 million in the past year, and a staggering 700% year-over-year increase in visits to the AI & ML category, the data speaks volumes about its growing influence and shows us the Marketplace cannot be ignored!
What is MPO?
MPO is a groundbreaking process within the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace that unites Microsoft’s Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Partners and Customers. This collaboration drives application modernisation for our joint customers, balancing agility and innovation with governance and guardrails. It’s a partner-managed, marketplace-delivered solution.
How can customers benefit from MPO?
The benefits of MPO can be broken down into 4 main areas;
Streamlining of Procurement
One of the key benefits of MPO is the ability to accelerate supplier onboarding for thousands of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and SaaS vendors. This streamlined process ensures that businesses can quickly integrate new suppliers into their ecosystem, enhancing efficiency and productivity.
MPO provides support across all procurement stages – from finding and demoing solutions to trying and buying them. This comprehensive support ensures that customers can make informed decisions at every step of the procurement process.
By leveraging existing pre-agreed Microsoft agreements, businesses can procure at speed. This includes streamlined invoicing and payment terms, standardized processes, and even standard contracts. These pre-established agreements remove the usual bottlenecks associated with procurement, allowing for faster and more efficient transactions.
Finally, MPO allows businesses to focus on strategic suppliers. By handling the complexities of onboarding and procurement, MPO frees up valuable resources, enabling companies to concentrate on building and maintaining relationships with their most important suppliers.
MACC Decrement and Increased flexibility in deal management
The standout benefit of MPO is the ability to derisk your existing Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC). With MPO, 100% of the license cost is decremented, ensuring that your investments are fully utilized.
MPO also helps you unlock future MACC savings by consolidating your spend. This strategic approach allows you to maximize your budget and achieve greater savings over time.
The flexibility of MPO is another key advantage. It supports flexible deal making and terms, including public offers, private offers, multi-year deals, and through partner options. This flexibility ensures that you can tailor your agreements to meet your specific needs.
Finally, MPO supports all deployment options, providing you with the versatility to deploy solutions in the way that best suits your business.
Accelerate time to Value and Innovation
With the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace you can access innovation from Microsoft’s global ecosystem of Partners, be it start-ups or global vendors. This vast network provides a wealth of cutting-edge solutions to meet your business needs.
MPO enables you to find, try, buy, and deploy the apps that are essential for your operations. This seamless process ensures that you have access to the best tools available, tailored to your specific requirements.
By leveraging MPO, you can accelerate time to deploy, allowing you to quickly respond to the evolving needs of your business. This agility is crucial in today’s fast-paced market, ensuring that you stay ahead of the competition.
Additionally, MPO helps to improve engineering productivity by enabling access to a wide range of ISV tools. These tools can streamline your workflows and enhance your team’s efficiency, driving better outcomes for your business.
Operational Control and Governance
The Azure Marketplace provides robust tools to govern purchases effectively. By utilizing Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), permissions, and policies, businesses can ensure that all purchases are managed securely and efficiently, while blocking Shadow IT purchases.
You can leverage a private marketplace for pre-approved apps. This feature allows you to streamline procurement by only offering apps that have been vetted and approved, ensuring compliance and reducing risk.
Microsoft Certified Apps provide an additional layer of assurance, giving you peace of mind that the solutions you deploy meet Microsoft’s high standards for security and performance.
The Microsoft Commercial Marketplace also offers visibility, control, and savings for SaaS spend in shadow IT. By linking app costs to cloud costs with Azure Cost Management, businesses can achieve better internal cost charging and financial oversight.
Don’t just take our word for it, the Analysts are in agreement, Marketplaces are the future!
How can Bytes help?
Maximize the Potential of the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace!
MPO is just one part of Microsoft comprehensive Marketplace offering. Bytes can support every aspect of the Commercial Marketplace. No matter your requirements or setup, Bytes is here to guide you through everything, from MPO and CSP offers to private offers and all possible payment and agreement terms.
Transform Your Procurement with Bytes
Let Bytes guide you through this transformation, making your procurement more agile and cost-effective than ever before. Bytes offers a comprehensive suite of services to modernize your procurement journey. Our offerings include strategic vendor partnerships, preferential discounts, expertise in cloud marketplaces, and a dedicated procurement advisory service. With Bytes, you can streamline your procurement process and achieve greater efficiency and savings.
A Truly Trusted Advisor
Bytes has been a Microsoft partner for over 30 years and is one of the few to have achieved all seven Microsoft Designations, along with an additional nine specializations. This positions us perfectly to assist you on your procurement journey. As one of the select UK partners involved in the Private Preview of MPO, we had unparalleled access to Microsoft teams, allowing us to collaborate closely and shape MPO into its current form.
However, MPO is more than just a Microsoft initiative. It requires partners with extensive expertise in a wide range of software vendors and a deep understanding of Software Asset Management (SAM) to ensure customers make the best, most informed choices. With strategic partnerships and trusted relationships with over 1,000 vendors, cultivated over 40 years, Bytes offers you easy access to top-tier solutions, industry-leading expertise and the largest SAM team in Europe.
What next?
Engaging with Bytes is as easy as 1,2,3.
1. Starting your Cloud Marketplace Journey? Speak to Bytes around on-boarding to the Marketplace
2. Cloud Commitment Support - Leveraging Cloud Marketplaces. Qualifying into an agreement and enhancing drawdown optimisation.
3. Marketplace Advisory Services - Find the right procurement strategy for your business needs.
To start your intelligent procurement journey, please get in touch with us at [email protected].
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