Israeli IT provider expands Office 365 business by 500 percent with new partnership

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Even the most successful cloud and IT service providers have to continuously add new services to remain competitive. Based in Petach Tikva, Israel, Bezeq International (BI) joined the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program to gain new Microsoft Office 365 deployment efficiencies. With these efficiencies, BI has shrunk its Office 365 delivery times from three weeks to 24 hours, which has contributed to a 500 percent surge in its Office 365 sales.

Cement customer loyalty

Seven out of ten Israeli businesses—about 40,000 companies—get Internet access and other IT services from Bezeq International, a leading Internet services provider in Israel. Founded in 1996 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bezeq, the largest telecom group in Israel, BI is today considered a leader in all its core markets: broadband Internet, telephone, IT, cloud computing services, hosting, and information security. Headquartered in Petach Tikva, Israel, BI has four datacenters in Israel and others worldwide.

BI was an early entrant into cloud computing services and provides a wide range of cloud-based back-office and desktop applications and services, all with 24-hour English and Hebrew support. These services include software-as-a-service applications, virtual servers, data backup, disaster recovery, and virtual desktops. BI also offers Microsoft Office 365, a suite of cloud-based productivity applications that run in Microsoft datacenters.

Even with its leadership position and a rich and growing portfolio of IT and cloud services, BI faces tough competition. Many services such as Internet access and email messaging are commodity services with low profit margins. So BI looks for offerings and vendor relationships that provide more customer “stickiness,” or disincentive to move to a competitor.

Deepen strategic relationship

Bezeq International found that stickiness by joining the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program. This program allows partners to more easily sell Microsoft cloud services—such as Office 365, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Dynamics—alongside their own offerings. Partners own the complete customer life cycle for these Microsoft services, from provisioning to management, billing, and support.

“We made a strategic decision to deepen our relationship with Microsoft, and the Cloud Solution Provider program gave us a wonderful way to do that,” says Maya Cohen-Lubitch, Microsoft Product Manager, Business Development Group, at Bezeq International. “This program gives us the opportunity to work with Microsoft directly to greatly expand our Microsoft cloud services business.”

Offer one-stop shopping

BI wants to provide one-stop shopping for its customers, offering not only Office 365 but other Microsoft cloud services and its own services. The company plans to bring its existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Skype for Business Online, and other Microsoft cloud services business under the Cloud Solution Provider program.

“The more Microsoft cloud services that we offer through the Cloud Solution Provider program, the better it is for our customers and for us,” Cohen-Lubitch says. “We’re able to make deployment and maintenance of these services super simple for customers, who are less inclined to move to a competitor with every added service they get from us.”

While BI bundles its core services—such as infrastructure, telecom, and data security—with Office 365, it always leads with customer needs. Sometimes that means leading with Office 365 and other times with BI services. However, in all cases, the BI salesforce finds that Office 365 opens doors for customer conversations.

Provide single-vendor support

Beeper Communications, one of Bezeq International’s Office 365 customers, provides emergency communications services to Israeli security, military, and homeland defense organizations. It chose BI as its cloud vendor because it wanted single-vendor product acquisition, support, and service.

“Bezeq International is a leading supplier that we can trust with our move to the cloud,” says Benny Michailovici, Chief Information Officer at Beeper Communications. “We were looking for a long-term relationship with a vendor that would provide outstanding service and support over many years. By having one vendor for Office 365 and other cloud services, we don’t have to spend time coordinating between multiple vendors, and we get consistent and timely support.”

Deliver Office 365 in one day versus three weeks

Since becoming a Cloud Solution Provider program member, Bezeq International has greatly accelerated Office 365 delivery times. Before, when a customer purchased Office 365 through the Microsoft Open licensing program, it took up to three weeks for BI to deliver the service. “This was a problem, because when customers sign up for cloud services, they want them immediately,” says Cohen-Lubitch. “As a member of the Cloud Solution Provider program, we’re able to deliver Office 365 services to our customers in 24 hours rather than three weeks by using automated deployment tools. Faster delivery is a big competitive advantage for us.”

Faster delivery also encourages BI salespeople to push Office 365 harder. “Our salespeople sell a supermarket of products, and they will promote the products that are easiest to sell and make them the most money,” says Cohen-Lubitch. “Previously, Office 365 was not a mass-market product for us. But with the automated deployment efficiencies we’ve gained through the Cloud Solution Provider program, we can sell it at scale.”

In fact, BI has significantly upped its investment in Office 365 because of the opportunity Office 365 now represents. The company is putting money into marketing, recruiting staff with cloud skills, and even training and incentivizing its technical support teams to upsell customers. If a customer with an Office 365 E1 license calls regarding an email problem, the support technician is trained to upsell that customer to an Office 365 E2 or E3 license.

Increase Office 365 sales by 500 percent

As a result of the company’s accelerated deployments and increased sales emphasis, Bezeq International has watched its Office 365 sales skyrocket. “Our Office 365 sales have grown 500 percent since joining the Cloud Solution Provider program,” says Cohen-Lubitch. Previously, BI sold around 300 Office 365 seats a month. After joining the program, its Office 365 sales rose to an average of 1,500 seats a month—a five-times increase. And there’s plenty more room for growth; Cohen-Lubitch expects to double the company’s current sales.