Windows 365 testing partners outline opportunities for the channel

Microsoft partners involved in the testing of Windows 365 and the cloud PC speak to CRN about the benefits it could bring to the channel

Microsoft used its Inspire conference this month to announce the launch of Windows 365 - a new cloud service that allows users to stream Windows to any device.

The vendor says the move has created a "new hybrid personal computing category called cloud PC" to allow hybrid working, which has risen dramatically as a result of the pandemic, to be carried out more easily.

CEO Satya Nadella compared the launch of the new service to when "applications were brought to the cloud through SaaS", with the company also claiming the move will bring new opportunities to its partner ecosystem - allowing them "to continue to make more possible".

It will become generally available to all businesses on 2 August, first on Windows 10 and then on Windows 11 when it launches later this year, with several Microsoft partners having already carried out testing of the product to feed back responses from customers and their own employees to Microsoft.

Among those partners are Content+Cloud and Crayon, who both say they are excited by the possibilities and opportunities it will bring to the IT channel.

Here are three areas they claim will allow partners to benefit from Windows 365 and the cloud PC…

Greater simplicity and accessibility

"What we saw is that it was a very good fit for us alongside Azure Virtual Desktop, because it's much more accessible for the customers, especially the SMB market," Ingar Kopperud, manager for enterprise client management at Crayon in Norway, said.

Kopperud, whose expertise is also used to help Crayon's operations in other countries, says Windows 365 and the cloud PC will be "really easy to set up", meaning more customers are likely to use Microsoft's latest offering.

Dan Coleby, modern workplace product director at Content+Cloud, agreed, telling CRN he thought the simplicity of Windows 365 means more partners can get involved in selling and managing the service.

"Where you've got a partner who's been working with an SMB focus, and they themselves are a bit smaller, they might have shied away from delivering virtual desktops in the past because certainly technologies like Citrix were notoriously difficult to understand," he said.

"Even Azure Virtual Desktop has got quite a lot of complexity to it, so you may find that there was a certain part of the community that avoided it in the past but now, because of the relative simplicity, they might be more tempted to get into that space and deliver Windows 365 solutions to customers, because they can more confidently do so without needing to go and hire lots of expert resources."

As well as smaller partners, Coleby believes smaller customers will be more inclined to take up Windows 365 because it will not require the investment other virtual desktops have needed.

Managing Windows 365 and adding services

But the greater simplicity and accessibility for customers does not necessarily mean that there will be less opportunities for partners, despite a reduced need for expertise, according to Coleby.

He said that while Azure Virtual Desktop requires more professional services around the offering, there is still plenty of opportunity for partners to benefit from the shift to Windows 365.

"What you're getting here is like a virtual version of a brand new PC that you go and buy. You still need to configure the Windows operating system on that, you still need to manage and secure that, you still need to deploy applications to it and manage those applications," he explained.

"And you still need to provide the user with support services around that. So, there's still lots of opportunity for partners like us to provide additional management support services."

Windows 365 will also create more possibilities because of the "extended number of endpoints" that will require added services such as security, an area that Coleby identified as one partners can "scale into" as it is adopted by customers following its release.

Kopperud said he had already seen "quite a few" of the company's customers that use the Apple Mac adopt Windows 365 so that they can "use the stuff that Microsoft is best on".

And alongside adding services, Coleby added that partners will be able to "make money from selling the natural licenses to the customers" too.

Increased demand for hybrid working and virtual desktops

Launching Windows 365, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of Microsoft 365, said that hybrid working had "fundamentally changed the role of technology in organisations", and that the Windows 365 would help employers "solve the challenge" of a disparate workforce.

Coleby echoed these thoughts, claming the move towards hybrid working will result in a shift towards virtual desktops, creating a big opportunity for partners looking to get involved in Windows 365.

"We know everyone still wants to be working at home and reaping the benefits of that where it's appropriate," he said.

"So I think there's a good opportunity for customers who've never really worked with virtual desktops before to start thinking about the virtual desktop as an offering, where they're enabling that hybrid way of working in a different way for users."

The shift to hybrid work will also see businesses wanting to "modernise" from previously used technology like Citrix and on-premise solutions, Coleby added, while claiming that "Windows 365 is a great way to achieve that modernisation quickly and painlessly for customers".