Andrew Allan (CCL-Revera)
Spark-owned CCL-Revera is joining a handful of other local providers with Microsoft M365 Fast Track ready partner status and has also become an AWS advanced partner.
The newly-merged IT services business said it is moving quickly to increase its public cloud footprints, signing up over 100 clients to Microsoft-funded training and support to take advantage of the full M365 portfolio.
One client newly migrated to Microsoft's cloud services is Barnardos, a charity for vulnerable children, which four years ago outsourced its infrastructure to Revera's Homeland IaaS platform.
By mid-year 650 users across 65 sites will be running Microsoft Office 365 productivity and collaboration services.
Other work currently underway includes the deployment of Azure identity and access management services, and a reconfiguration of the organisation’s on-premise Microsoft CRM in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online.
CCL-Revera's new accreditations follow the appointment of two heads to its Microsoft practice, with David Ogborne appointed M365 practice lead and Kath Tate taking the role of programme administrator.
AWS awarded advanced partner status following a recent run of CCL-Revera customer migrations, the growth of its Radar public cloud practice and the company's certification across a range of AWS competencies.
The company’s public cloud practice comprises 40-plus staff split evenly across cloud architects and engineers aiming to act as the “custodian” of IT management and cloud technology for clients.
CCL-Revera CEO Andrew Allan said demand had spiked following the retirement of Windows 7, the shift to the Windows 10 subscription model, and recently released Microsoft security and collaboration services.
"The desktop is often forgotten in the hype surrounding new technologies and especially cloud – but it’s still a key driver in business performance and an important productivity enabler for all clients,” he said.
CCL-Revera is continuing to add public cloud horsepower to support clients’ growing appetite for public cloud services.
“You can’t argue with the price, performance and scale, but redefining legacy applications in the cloud is harder than it looks,” Allan said.
“That’s why we say that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to choose public cloud, but you’ll want a cloud rocket scientist to get you there and keep everything running smoothly.”
Announcing the merger last month, Allan said the move was motivated by a market shift that saw more clients seeking out a single supplier to cover all their bases.
“The merger is based on the thing clients tell us they value most: the safe hands of a custodian."
It brought Revera’s deep platform experience and CCL’s professional services together under one roof.
Barnardos chief technology officer Jaco van der Lith said outsourcing and virtualising the charity's infrastructure on Revera’s IaaS platform four years ago delivered a sensible format for a technology refresh and consolidation, and paved the way for public cloud services.
While Microsoft’s non-profit pricing plans offered Barnardos a strong incentive to adopt cloud services, a number of the organisation’s business applications, including financial, payroll, and file sharing systems, will continue to run on CCL-Revera’s Homeland IaaS platform for the time being.
“CCL-Revera’s IaaS platform continues to do good work for applications unavailable in Microsoft’s cloud,” van der Lith said. “There’s no real financial benefit to change.”
The company's roles as both local IT partner and in-country platform services provider remain a core part of Barnardos’s operation, delivering service desk, support, and a wide area network.
