January 28, 2025 • 21 mins
Don’t let migrating to the cloud intimidate you. Leverage AWS offerings and team up with Ingram Micro.
Shelby Skrhak speaks with Casey Piegzik, sr. partner solutions architect at AWS, about:
- The definition of the AWS optimization licensing assessment (OLA)
- Where Ingram Micro supports the OLA process
- Why partners should consider leveraging the OLA
To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramMicroUSA #B2BTechTalk
Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Spreaker.
Shelby Skrhak speaks with Casey Piegzik, sr. partner solutions architect at AWS, about:
- The definition of the AWS optimization licensing assessment (OLA)
- Where Ingram Micro supports the OLA process
- Why partners should consider leveraging the OLA
To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramMicroUSA #B2BTechTalk
Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Spreaker.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of technological advances before they've become mainstream.
This episode is sponsored by Ingram Micro's Expantage, the next
level way to transform your business's potential and reshape how
customers see you through advanced transactional data.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro.
I'm your host Shelby Skirhawk, and our guest today is
Casey Piasac, Senior Partner Solutions Architect with AWS.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Casey, Welcome, Hi Shelby, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you well. Today we're talking about the AWS Optimization
Licensing Assessment or OLA and a little bit about that.
But first, Casey, tell us about yourself and how you
made your way to AWS.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
So I've been with AWS for a little over two
years now. I'm a Senior Partner Solutions Architect and I've
spent about twenty six years in the Partner channel prior
to my experience at AWS, where I actually work in
the Partner Channel team, I support distributors and one of
my primary partners is Ingram Micro and I spent eleven
(01:21):
years at Citric Systems prior to my time here at AWS,
and then prior to Citrix, I spent about ten years
working for a partner.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So you have seen things on the other side of this.
You've seen it on both sides.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Really, yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
During my partner days, the partner that I was working
at is actually a downstream partner of Ingram Micro. So
I've got It's funny how life comes full circle where
you know you're working at a partner building a practice,
you know, purchasing through distribution, working with Ingram Micro, and
then now now on the AWS side, I get to
(02:01):
take that experience and you know, when I'm working making
decisions with Ingram and AWS, you know, I'm able to
really put my feet in the shoes of the partner.
What was it like when when I was working as
a partner, and what are some of the things that
could have benefited when I was working there? So it's
it's definitely full circle. It is.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It is. Well, that is tremendously helpful and you're able
to see it. Then, So let's start off then with
kind of one oh one then, So I mean, tell
us what the we've We've had several episodes about this,
but for those that are kind of just tuning in,
what is the AWS Optimization Licensing Assessment?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, So the Optimization Licensing Assessment or OLA, since we
lower acronyms in tech, it's really a data driven approach
that helps the customer make decisions a lot of times
when customers are looking at Okay, I'm on prem today
and I'm looking to move to the cloud, what does
life look like there? Is it just a lift and
(03:02):
shift of my workloads? What does the cost look like?
Are my licensing transferable? What the OLA does is help
demystify all of that. It helps them provide them the
data for right sizing those workloads when they move to
the cloud, helping to reduce costs in areas that makes sense,
and explore flexible licensing options. And I think customers really
(03:27):
find value in that when partners are able to leverage
because it's not just you know, the partner's opinion. The
partner gets the vendors backing on this is what this
is what AWS believes is the right choices for you,
and here are your options for moving and here's some
ways that can help you actually reduce costs In.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Some cases, do you find that the fear of the
unknown is really that first step and so being able
to have an assessment like this where this is really quantifiable.
I mean it will tell you, like you said, the status,
licenses and what the actual cost could be all of
those factors. I mean, that's pretty reassuring for a partner, right.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, especially if it's your first time moving moving some
workloads into the cloud. Having that data of being able to,
you know, really look at things not just a not
just a marketing slick or a PowerPoint slide going hey, move,
move your workloads here, but an actual here's what your
costs will will typically look like. And and not only
(04:29):
that of looking at way when you move to the cloud,
you have a different set of tools that you have
available to you that can help, you know, modernize those workloads,
reduce some of that power behind them, and then look
at licensing in ways that you might not have been
able to do before. You know, with AWS, we have
over two hundred services available for our customers today and
(04:52):
you get to take advantage of all those when you
when you move to AWS. So looking at things differently
than just my on prem vironment, maybe I'm leveraging virtualization today.
You have a whole different set of tools that allow
you to modernize those workloads and also take advantage of
newer services that you can't on prem Like how do
(05:13):
I position myself for artificial intelligence and gen AI?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Right?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Like?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Where do I go with that today? And how do
I get my data in a place where I can
leverage those sets of tools to help create those solutions
that provide business agility to you to my business.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, well, I want to talk about you know who
this is for, but focusing in on the OLA itself,
the licensing part of it. I mean it's in the name.
How important is or I guess how misunderstood is the
importance of licensing when you're looking to go from on
prem to the cloud and understanding what is required to
(05:55):
get there.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, I think that is just as important to me
as the workloads itself. I think it's a it's kind
of a two two parter conversation. It's you know, you're
you're looking at those existing workloads, what does that take
to move that you know, compute storage, you know, power
the same applications and data that you had running on
(06:17):
prem in the cloud, And how can I do that
in a more efficient way? And then there's the licensing component,
like you mentioned, where are there ways that I can
optimize today?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Now now I can have certain you know, services and
potential options that I might not have been able to
utilize before. And the licensing components you know, could help
you reduce costs quite significantly. So I think that's a
two prong approach where you have to look at your
your hardware spend if you were will right, your your compute,
(06:50):
your storage, your you know, how many servers do I
need in my data center to keep this running? What's
my refresh cycles look like today for my data center?
And then how can that how can I optim and
modernize those workloads in the cloud to slim those down
to make them more efficient? And then what services can
I use to help, you know, reduce some of my
licensing spend? And that's a huge part of it, right,
(07:12):
because you want to you want to look at all
of that in the assessment phase and not just you know,
your your server licensing, your database licensing, but also if
you're a virtualization customer today right using products like VMware,
what does that look like? How is your contracts currently
set up and you know, during that phase will help
(07:34):
you look at all that and and that's a great
tool for partners because it allows them to be able
to not just come with you know, their unique perspective
and migration capabilities. But but you have vendor data now
that you can you can leverage, which is which is
very helpful during the early sales stages, right.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I mean it's data directly from I guess prior migrations.
It's it's not just like you said the sales deck
about what's possible in theory, it's really the nuts and
bolts of it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, so who then is this for? I mean one,
you know, obviously moving from on prem to the cloud
or a hybrid environment is you know, that's a conversation
in and of itself, but specifically for utilizing the o
l A. Is it for the big guys, is the
partners that have multiple, multiple you know, customers that are
(08:29):
making this shift or is it for more more smaller business.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, we typically you know, see a lot of heavy
usage in the in the SMB space.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We usually like to.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
See you know a minimum of around twenty five servers
to start with. But you know, I think the tooling
around you know, the OLA can can help almost any
customer in any situation.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And the OLA itself, I guess talk about why Ingram
Micro then, I mean OLA is an AWS product that's
I assume available for any any customer, not just with
Ingram Micro. Is that right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I'm glad you asked that question. I've been waiting for
that one.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Shehlp me.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So why I think Ingram provides an amazing service around
the OLA.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The OLA is a menu.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Option in their cloud readiness assessment, and what that vehicle
entails allows them to help meet partners wherever they're at
with their capabilities and helping customers solve business problems. And
whether that's leveraging the OLA, whether that's looking at other
programs that might be a value to the partner and customer,
(09:42):
like map assess or which is our migration accelerator program,
you know, the varying degrees of complexities that might be
around migrating that workload, and not even just programmatically like
the OLA, but also looking at things like the partners
still livery capabilities.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Maybe there's a certain.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Piece of this that partner might not have experience it
and can lean on Ingram for services. And one of
the things that I love working with Ingram today is
Ingram has invested heavily into professional services globally and one
of the things we said in motion this year with
our strategic Collaboration agreement is helping to really bolster those
(10:26):
numbers and capabilities in all regions of the world. And
that's where I think Ingram can really help a partner.
So if you look at something like the OLA, you know,
statistically ALLLA, since it's a data driven component of an
assessment and gives customers, you know, real insight into what
things are going to look like, take demystify some of
(10:49):
the questions or fear that they might have, or things
that they heard and maybe that's not the case, or
or things they didn't consider and now we're talking about
those and have the on the table. Typically we see
you know, about a fifty percent conversion rate right from
an assessment to a migration leveraging aws's OLA. But the
(11:10):
way Ingram leverages the OLA with their Cloud Readiness assessment,
we see those numbers bump into the seventy percentile. And
that's that's really awesome. I mean, that's that you almost
have a twenty percent higher success rate just by leveraging Ingram,
and it's because they're looking at all those things they're
they're taking a consultative approach when working with a partner.
(11:32):
That's like when I was working at a partner and
I was, you know, leveraging Ingram and distribution.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know, it was more transactional in those days.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm buying products, I'm looking for discounts, I'm using distribution
as a purchasing mechanism. But today the way Ingram Micro
has really invested in their professional services and consultative approach
to business, it's like having a true partner on your
side to help you enhance and accelerate your business. So
if you're going through those assessments and there's pieces of
(12:03):
those that you might not have experience with, or even
you're tapped out, you've got so much business and you
know you can't take this on this project on right away,
you can lean on Ingram to help you pull those
across across the line. Ingram doesn't work directly with customers,
so there's no fear of Ingram stepping in or anything
like that. They work on behalf of the partner, so
(12:24):
it's a great offering that Ingram has that that OLA
is just just a piece of So all these all
these different components like VMware assessments, storage assessments, database assessments,
these are all line items in the cloud readiness assessment,
if you will.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
That's a lot and I think that's you said a
fifty percent conversion rate.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
That's impressive, it is, and that just that just kind
of it shows the power of you know, the data
that the customer can look at and say, Okay, well
I didn't you know what, this makes more sense to
me now or you know, I thought it was like this,
but it's really like that, And I think that's helpful
in itself. But when you see that number uptick by
over twenty percent when you're using a partner like Ingram,
(13:08):
that's a testament to the value that they're bringing to
the table when you work with them.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So partners that are already looking they're already working with
Ingram Micro and they're looking at this. I guess if
maybe you would want to drive the point home for
that partner listening right now, why do you need this?
Why should you be looking at this AWS journey and
a OLA?
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Yeah, So the OLA is really going to help give
you the data to make the decisions when working with
customers around their licensing and their application and data workloads
today and helps you paint that picture of what it
could look like. And more importantly, partnering with Ingram during
(13:54):
that phase and leveraging their skills and consultative approach around
the US assessment will help you look at all those
other places of your business when delivering to your customer
to maybe bring new ideas to the table. Have you
considered this service, have you considered migrating to you know
this this database infrastructure, or even leveraging professional services in
(14:19):
a way to accelerate your business as well and offer
services that you might not be today. That's the key
to and even beyond the assessment journey as a partner,
when you're working with your customers, leaning on Ingram to
develop your own practice with AWS, leveraging other areas of
their business focus like accelerated development, where Ingram helps partners again,
(14:45):
you know, demystify the partner journey with AWS and help
you achieve competencies and partner tiers that you know you
aren't able to get to today quickly and really help
you put a plan it's like almost like a financial
advisor help you. You know, let's figure all this out,
see where you want to get to, what are your plans,
and let's accelerate how you can get there as fast
(15:06):
as possible. That's some great programs that AWUS has with
Ingram as well as Marketplace and Hyperscaler Marketplace, getting your
listings out for everyone to see on those public marketplaces
and you know through Ingram Advantage. Those are awesome programs
and if you get in contact with your Ingram Cloud advisor,
(15:30):
they can help connect you with the right people and
programs to get your business moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Let's look a little future future thinking, future looking and
look at the I guess the why as a big picture,
I guess where do partners need to grow into. I
mean you mentioned at the at the top of the
episode Ai and jen Ai. What's the big picture hit there?
You know, why do they need this and to be
(15:56):
able to have this capability and this agility really to
take their business forward.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, that's a great question, Shelby. So when we look
at you know, customer business value of migraines of the
cloud and more specifically migrating to aws we see a
lot of different categories and improvements that that you get
moving to the cloud.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
There is cost savings that you can incur from hardware spend.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
There's you know, productivity gains, operational resilience, business agility, security improvements.
That are all you know, inherent values of migrating to
AWS and the cloud. But the one I like to
specifically focus in on is I think the business agility.
When we look at the evolution of compute and data today,
(16:43):
we've gone through a lot of different you know changes
in from mainframes to distributed computing with physical machines, to virtualization,
to containers and server lists, and now we're in the
ai H right where now we have all this disparate
data everywhere. How do I access that data? How do
(17:04):
I make my business more efficient and leverage and get
that information into the right hands. I mean, if you
think about where all those data sources are today from
you know, chat sessions within folks or document management repositories,
or you know all these different places databases from applications.
You have all this data everywhere, so that that we're
(17:27):
in the data age now, and when you move your
applications to the cloud, it allows you access to services
where you can create this this culture of innovation where
you can you know, reimagine some of that the workloads
that you have, take advantage of you know, micro services,
and also access that data in new ways that not
(17:48):
only can enhance how you know, your your corporate employees
access and interact with each other, but also your customers.
How do your customers get information from you today? And
how can you create new new ways to provide self
servicing mechanisms to resolve issues faster and get to that
data quicker. And that's where I think the you know,
(18:11):
the real crux of jen AI is today, and that's
that's really about how can how can businesses access that
data in a more efficient manner than they than they
have in the past.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
And you hit it. I mean, with the amount of
disparate information out there, we are in the data age,
and so you need to be able to have that
to connect the dots.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Really, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And a lot of businesses today, their executives, their board
members are looking to their you know it practice and
business unit owners going what's your AI plans for this year?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Engaging you know Ingram's cloud advisor team and helping partners
get to a place where where they get comfortable and
familiar with all of these services and help and help
customers figure out what they're what their AI plans should be,
What what should the future look like? How can we
reimagine these workloads that you're running today in a way
that props you up for stronger business agility, right and
(19:11):
maximize the cloud benefits? What what I think what sometimes
you know folks look at is it's it's almost like
you know storage, I can take my things from over
here and I can move it over there. Right, So
this it's not just about lift and shift migrations anymore,
or take these workloads exactly the.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Way they are and move them into the cloud.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
It's really looking at those workloads and how can we
do better today? How can we drive that business agility by.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
By modernizing those workloads?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And that that's that's where the spirit of every partner
should be today, trying to help their you know, partner
alongside their customers and help them really evolve their businesses
and ways they haven't been before.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Right. Right. Well, for listeners who have any questions, maybe
they have something specific they want to ask you about
or you know, just kind of start this journey. How
can they reach out?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Sure, so first I would tell them, you know, reach
out to your Ingram Cloud advisor. I know, We're going
to put a link in the chat too. If you're
not already any Ingram partner today or you don't have
an assigned Ingram Cloud advisor, you access that form in
the link and Ingram will get We'll get back to
you and get your point in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Excellent Caseie. I appreciate your time and your insight today.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, thanks Shelby, Thanks for having me. This was fun.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, and thank thank you listeners for tuning in subscribing
to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro. If
you haven't subscribed, be sure to do so and don't forget.
You can find all of these episodes on the Ingram
Micro Exvantage platform. Until next time, I'm Shelby Scarehawk.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You've been listening to B to B Tech Talk by
Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro Exvantage.
B to B Tech Talk is a joint production between
Sweetfish Media and Ingram Micro. To listen to this episode
and many others, visit ingrammicro dot com,
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of technological advances before they've become mainstream.
This episode is sponsored by Ingram Micro's Expantage, the next
level way to transform your business's potential and reshape how
customers see you through advanced transactional data.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro.
I'm your host Shelby Skirhawk, and our guest today is
Casey Piasac, Senior Partner Solutions Architect with AWS.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Casey, Welcome, Hi Shelby, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you well. Today we're talking about the AWS Optimization
Licensing Assessment or OLA and a little bit about that.
But first, Casey, tell us about yourself and how you
made your way to AWS.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
So I've been with AWS for a little over two
years now. I'm a Senior Partner Solutions Architect and I've
spent about twenty six years in the Partner channel prior
to my experience at AWS, where I actually work in
the Partner Channel team, I support distributors and one of
my primary partners is Ingram Micro and I spent eleven
(01:21):
years at Citric Systems prior to my time here at AWS,
and then prior to Citrix, I spent about ten years
working for a partner.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So you have seen things on the other side of this.
You've seen it on both sides.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Really, yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
During my partner days, the partner that I was working
at is actually a downstream partner of Ingram Micro. So
I've got It's funny how life comes full circle where
you know you're working at a partner building a practice,
you know, purchasing through distribution, working with Ingram Micro, and
then now now on the AWS side, I get to
(02:01):
take that experience and you know, when I'm working making
decisions with Ingram and AWS, you know, I'm able to
really put my feet in the shoes of the partner.
What was it like when when I was working as
a partner, and what are some of the things that
could have benefited when I was working there? So it's
it's definitely full circle. It is.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It is. Well, that is tremendously helpful and you're able
to see it. Then, So let's start off then with
kind of one oh one then, So I mean, tell
us what the we've We've had several episodes about this,
but for those that are kind of just tuning in,
what is the AWS Optimization Licensing Assessment?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, So the Optimization Licensing Assessment or OLA, since we
lower acronyms in tech, it's really a data driven approach
that helps the customer make decisions a lot of times
when customers are looking at Okay, I'm on prem today
and I'm looking to move to the cloud, what does
life look like there? Is it just a lift and
(03:02):
shift of my workloads? What does the cost look like?
Are my licensing transferable? What the OLA does is help
demystify all of that. It helps them provide them the
data for right sizing those workloads when they move to
the cloud, helping to reduce costs in areas that makes sense,
and explore flexible licensing options. And I think customers really
(03:27):
find value in that when partners are able to leverage
because it's not just you know, the partner's opinion. The
partner gets the vendors backing on this is what this
is what AWS believes is the right choices for you,
and here are your options for moving and here's some
ways that can help you actually reduce costs In.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Some cases, do you find that the fear of the
unknown is really that first step and so being able
to have an assessment like this where this is really quantifiable.
I mean it will tell you, like you said, the status,
licenses and what the actual cost could be all of
those factors. I mean, that's pretty reassuring for a partner, right.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, especially if it's your first time moving moving some
workloads into the cloud. Having that data of being able to,
you know, really look at things not just a not
just a marketing slick or a PowerPoint slide going hey, move,
move your workloads here, but an actual here's what your
costs will will typically look like. And and not only
(04:29):
that of looking at way when you move to the cloud,
you have a different set of tools that you have
available to you that can help, you know, modernize those workloads,
reduce some of that power behind them, and then look
at licensing in ways that you might not have been
able to do before. You know, with AWS, we have
over two hundred services available for our customers today and
(04:52):
you get to take advantage of all those when you
when you move to AWS. So looking at things differently
than just my on prem vironment, maybe I'm leveraging virtualization today.
You have a whole different set of tools that allow
you to modernize those workloads and also take advantage of
newer services that you can't on prem Like how do
(05:13):
I position myself for artificial intelligence and gen AI?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Right?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Like?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Where do I go with that today? And how do
I get my data in a place where I can
leverage those sets of tools to help create those solutions
that provide business agility to you to my business.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, well, I want to talk about you know who
this is for, but focusing in on the OLA itself,
the licensing part of it. I mean it's in the name.
How important is or I guess how misunderstood is the
importance of licensing when you're looking to go from on
prem to the cloud and understanding what is required to
(05:55):
get there.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, I think that is just as important to me
as the workloads itself. I think it's a it's kind
of a two two parter conversation. It's you know, you're
you're looking at those existing workloads, what does that take
to move that you know, compute storage, you know, power
the same applications and data that you had running on
(06:17):
prem in the cloud, And how can I do that
in a more efficient way? And then there's the licensing component,
like you mentioned, where are there ways that I can
optimize today?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Now now I can have certain you know, services and
potential options that I might not have been able to
utilize before. And the licensing components you know, could help
you reduce costs quite significantly. So I think that's a
two prong approach where you have to look at your
your hardware spend if you were will right, your your compute,
(06:50):
your storage, your you know, how many servers do I
need in my data center to keep this running? What's
my refresh cycles look like today for my data center?
And then how can that how can I optim and
modernize those workloads in the cloud to slim those down
to make them more efficient? And then what services can
I use to help, you know, reduce some of my
licensing spend? And that's a huge part of it, right,
(07:12):
because you want to you want to look at all
of that in the assessment phase and not just you know,
your your server licensing, your database licensing, but also if
you're a virtualization customer today right using products like VMware,
what does that look like? How is your contracts currently
set up and you know, during that phase will help
(07:34):
you look at all that and and that's a great
tool for partners because it allows them to be able
to not just come with you know, their unique perspective
and migration capabilities. But but you have vendor data now
that you can you can leverage, which is which is
very helpful during the early sales stages, right.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I mean it's data directly from I guess prior migrations.
It's it's not just like you said the sales deck
about what's possible in theory, it's really the nuts and
bolts of it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, so who then is this for? I mean one,
you know, obviously moving from on prem to the cloud
or a hybrid environment is you know, that's a conversation
in and of itself, but specifically for utilizing the o
l A. Is it for the big guys, is the
partners that have multiple, multiple you know, customers that are
(08:29):
making this shift or is it for more more smaller business.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, we typically you know, see a lot of heavy
usage in the in the SMB space.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We usually like to.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
See you know a minimum of around twenty five servers
to start with. But you know, I think the tooling
around you know, the OLA can can help almost any
customer in any situation.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And the OLA itself, I guess talk about why Ingram
Micro then, I mean OLA is an AWS product that's
I assume available for any any customer, not just with
Ingram Micro. Is that right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I'm glad you asked that question. I've been waiting for
that one.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Shehlp me.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So why I think Ingram provides an amazing service around
the OLA.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The OLA is a menu.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Option in their cloud readiness assessment, and what that vehicle
entails allows them to help meet partners wherever they're at
with their capabilities and helping customers solve business problems. And
whether that's leveraging the OLA, whether that's looking at other
programs that might be a value to the partner and customer,
(09:42):
like map assess or which is our migration accelerator program,
you know, the varying degrees of complexities that might be
around migrating that workload, and not even just programmatically like
the OLA, but also looking at things like the partners
still livery capabilities.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Maybe there's a certain.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Piece of this that partner might not have experience it
and can lean on Ingram for services. And one of
the things that I love working with Ingram today is
Ingram has invested heavily into professional services globally and one
of the things we said in motion this year with
our strategic Collaboration agreement is helping to really bolster those
(10:26):
numbers and capabilities in all regions of the world. And
that's where I think Ingram can really help a partner.
So if you look at something like the OLA, you know,
statistically ALLLA, since it's a data driven component of an
assessment and gives customers, you know, real insight into what
things are going to look like, take demystify some of
(10:49):
the questions or fear that they might have, or things
that they heard and maybe that's not the case, or
or things they didn't consider and now we're talking about
those and have the on the table. Typically we see
you know, about a fifty percent conversion rate right from
an assessment to a migration leveraging aws's OLA. But the
(11:10):
way Ingram leverages the OLA with their Cloud Readiness assessment,
we see those numbers bump into the seventy percentile. And
that's that's really awesome. I mean, that's that you almost
have a twenty percent higher success rate just by leveraging Ingram,
and it's because they're looking at all those things they're
they're taking a consultative approach when working with a partner.
(11:32):
That's like when I was working at a partner and
I was, you know, leveraging Ingram and distribution.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know, it was more transactional in those days.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm buying products, I'm looking for discounts, I'm using distribution
as a purchasing mechanism. But today the way Ingram Micro
has really invested in their professional services and consultative approach
to business, it's like having a true partner on your
side to help you enhance and accelerate your business. So
if you're going through those assessments and there's pieces of
(12:03):
those that you might not have experience with, or even
you're tapped out, you've got so much business and you
know you can't take this on this project on right away,
you can lean on Ingram to help you pull those
across across the line. Ingram doesn't work directly with customers,
so there's no fear of Ingram stepping in or anything
like that. They work on behalf of the partner, so
(12:24):
it's a great offering that Ingram has that that OLA
is just just a piece of So all these all
these different components like VMware assessments, storage assessments, database assessments,
these are all line items in the cloud readiness assessment,
if you will.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
That's a lot and I think that's you said a
fifty percent conversion rate.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
That's impressive, it is, and that just that just kind
of it shows the power of you know, the data
that the customer can look at and say, Okay, well
I didn't you know what, this makes more sense to
me now or you know, I thought it was like this,
but it's really like that, And I think that's helpful
in itself. But when you see that number uptick by
over twenty percent when you're using a partner like Ingram,
(13:08):
that's a testament to the value that they're bringing to
the table when you work with them.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So partners that are already looking they're already working with
Ingram Micro and they're looking at this. I guess if
maybe you would want to drive the point home for
that partner listening right now, why do you need this?
Why should you be looking at this AWS journey and
a OLA?
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Yeah, So the OLA is really going to help give
you the data to make the decisions when working with
customers around their licensing and their application and data workloads
today and helps you paint that picture of what it
could look like. And more importantly, partnering with Ingram during
(13:54):
that phase and leveraging their skills and consultative approach around
the US assessment will help you look at all those
other places of your business when delivering to your customer
to maybe bring new ideas to the table. Have you
considered this service, have you considered migrating to you know
this this database infrastructure, or even leveraging professional services in
(14:19):
a way to accelerate your business as well and offer
services that you might not be today. That's the key
to and even beyond the assessment journey as a partner,
when you're working with your customers, leaning on Ingram to
develop your own practice with AWS, leveraging other areas of
their business focus like accelerated development, where Ingram helps partners again,
(14:45):
you know, demystify the partner journey with AWS and help
you achieve competencies and partner tiers that you know you
aren't able to get to today quickly and really help
you put a plan it's like almost like a financial
advisor help you. You know, let's figure all this out,
see where you want to get to, what are your plans,
and let's accelerate how you can get there as fast
(15:06):
as possible. That's some great programs that AWUS has with
Ingram as well as Marketplace and Hyperscaler Marketplace, getting your
listings out for everyone to see on those public marketplaces
and you know through Ingram Advantage. Those are awesome programs
and if you get in contact with your Ingram Cloud advisor,
(15:30):
they can help connect you with the right people and
programs to get your business moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Let's look a little future future thinking, future looking and
look at the I guess the why as a big picture,
I guess where do partners need to grow into. I
mean you mentioned at the at the top of the
episode Ai and jen Ai. What's the big picture hit there?
You know, why do they need this and to be
(15:56):
able to have this capability and this agility really to
take their business forward.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, that's a great question, Shelby. So when we look
at you know, customer business value of migraines of the
cloud and more specifically migrating to aws we see a
lot of different categories and improvements that that you get
moving to the cloud.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
There is cost savings that you can incur from hardware spend.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
There's you know, productivity gains, operational resilience, business agility, security improvements.
That are all you know, inherent values of migrating to
AWS and the cloud. But the one I like to
specifically focus in on is I think the business agility.
When we look at the evolution of compute and data today,
(16:43):
we've gone through a lot of different you know changes
in from mainframes to distributed computing with physical machines, to virtualization,
to containers and server lists, and now we're in the
ai H right where now we have all this disparate
data everywhere. How do I access that data? How do
(17:04):
I make my business more efficient and leverage and get
that information into the right hands. I mean, if you
think about where all those data sources are today from
you know, chat sessions within folks or document management repositories,
or you know all these different places databases from applications.
You have all this data everywhere, so that that we're
(17:27):
in the data age now, and when you move your
applications to the cloud, it allows you access to services
where you can create this this culture of innovation where
you can you know, reimagine some of that the workloads
that you have, take advantage of you know, micro services,
and also access that data in new ways that not
(17:48):
only can enhance how you know, your your corporate employees
access and interact with each other, but also your customers.
How do your customers get information from you today? And
how can you create new new ways to provide self
servicing mechanisms to resolve issues faster and get to that
data quicker. And that's where I think the you know,
(18:11):
the real crux of jen AI is today, and that's
that's really about how can how can businesses access that
data in a more efficient manner than they than they
have in the past.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
And you hit it. I mean, with the amount of
disparate information out there, we are in the data age,
and so you need to be able to have that
to connect the dots.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Really, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And a lot of businesses today, their executives, their board
members are looking to their you know it practice and
business unit owners going what's your AI plans for this year?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Engaging you know Ingram's cloud advisor team and helping partners
get to a place where where they get comfortable and
familiar with all of these services and help and help
customers figure out what they're what their AI plans should be,
What what should the future look like? How can we
reimagine these workloads that you're running today in a way
that props you up for stronger business agility, right and
(19:11):
maximize the cloud benefits? What what I think what sometimes
you know folks look at is it's it's almost like
you know storage, I can take my things from over
here and I can move it over there. Right, So
this it's not just about lift and shift migrations anymore,
or take these workloads exactly the.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Way they are and move them into the cloud.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
It's really looking at those workloads and how can we
do better today? How can we drive that business agility by.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
By modernizing those workloads?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And that that's that's where the spirit of every partner
should be today, trying to help their you know, partner
alongside their customers and help them really evolve their businesses
and ways they haven't been before.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Right. Right. Well, for listeners who have any questions, maybe
they have something specific they want to ask you about
or you know, just kind of start this journey. How
can they reach out?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Sure, so first I would tell them, you know, reach
out to your Ingram Cloud advisor. I know, We're going
to put a link in the chat too. If you're
not already any Ingram partner today or you don't have
an assigned Ingram Cloud advisor, you access that form in
the link and Ingram will get We'll get back to
you and get your point in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Excellent Caseie. I appreciate your time and your insight today.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, thanks Shelby, Thanks for having me. This was fun.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, and thank thank you listeners for tuning in subscribing
to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro. If
you haven't subscribed, be sure to do so and don't forget.
You can find all of these episodes on the Ingram
Micro Exvantage platform. Until next time, I'm Shelby Scarehawk.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You've been listening to B to B Tech Talk by
Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro Exvantage.
B to B Tech Talk is a joint production between
Sweetfish Media and Ingram Micro. To listen to this episode
and many others, visit ingrammicro dot com,
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