Avnet Technology Solutions (AVT) has unveiled a cloud toolset to help its American and Canadian managed service provider (MSP) and value-added reseller (VAR) partners “govern, consolidate, manage and track cloud accounts across multiple cloud providers.”

The Phoenix-based IT solutions distributor this week launched the Avnet Cloud Toolset (ACT) to help partners support their Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM SoftLayer customers. Avnet said ACT gives its partners better visibility and usage data across various cloud platforms providing insights on how to optimize cloud resources.

ACT provides Avnet partners with:

Avnet also noted partners can use the toolset to track cloud usage charges and generate invoices.

“While our partners have been excited about their growth in the cloud, it has also created some interesting challenges, especially in terms of providing their customers with consolidated billing information with both departmental and enterprise-level spending details,” Tim FitzGerald, vice president of cloud solutions for Avnet Technology Solutions’ Americas division, told MSPmentor.

What should MSPs and VARs expect from ACT?

FitzGerald noted ACT can help Avnet’s MSP and VAR partners simplify and speed up their billing processes.

The toolset could deliver both short- and long-term benefits for both MSPs and VARs, FitzGerald added, because it enables them to become “trusted advisors” to their customers.

“Avnet’s partners have been very interested in the Avnet Cloud Toolset,” FitzGerald said. “By providing their customers with both departmental and enterprise-wide cloud spending information, it positions our partners as trusted advisors who are better able to help their customers optimize their cloud spend. Also, it can help the partner better alert the customer to any governance issues related to the cloud.”

ACT is now available in the United States and Canada.

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