Description

Buying Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Azure direct feels like the simpler choice, until you need support or get locked out of your own tenant.

In this Playbook, Max Clark breaks down what a Cloud Solution Provider (a CSP) actually does between you and the platform: faster support and escalation, help recovering a locked tenant, engineering and migration support, and access to vendor funding you can't reach on your own, usually at little or no added cost.

If you're deciding whether to buy direct or through a CSP, or renewing that decision without ever having checked it, this one's for you.

The Playbook

• (00:00) - The cold open
• (00:51) - What a CSP actually is
• (01:29) - Why Microsoft and Google aren't built to handle support directly
• (01:55) - Where a CSP actually sits between you and the platform
• (02:24) - The market development and incentive funds vendors push through CSPs
• (03:19) - The dedicated admin account problem most companies skip
• (04:17) - The real causes of a tenant lockout
• (05:14) - How being a sub of the CSP changes your escalation path
• (06:11) - The engineering, migration, and configuration work a CSP's own staff can do
• (06:38) - Why CSPs range from pure billing pass throughs to full service providers
• (07:03) - Tier zero versus tier one support
• (08:26) - The difference between support built for end users and support built for admins
• (09:25) - Why CSPs get paid through the platform's margin
• (10:17) - Max's bottom line: why the CSP relationship is worth having almost every time

About Signed
Signed is the podcast for buyers in a market built for sellers. Playbooks are the solo format, 10 to 15 minutes, one trigger, one specific play. New episodes weekly at itbroker.com/podcast. If the trigger in today's Playbook is one you're facing right now, book an intro call at itbroker.com. We help buyers make the right call the first time. Buy tech without regret. Follow: @itbrokerdotcom

Full Transcript
Click here to view the episode transcript.