The various cloud vendors aren’t the only players in the channel leading adoption among organizations. Several cloud channel partners have been busy crafting new services for businesses. Perhaps surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic remains a key contributor to enterprise demand — and partner opportunity. Companies have had to shift to cloud resources at an unexpectedly fast rate to accommodate work-from-home or work-from-anywhere employees. Various studies show that organizations’ digital transformation efforts have sped up amid the pandemic, despite budget concerns. On a practical level, end users cannot slow their own innovation and marketing efforts. And they need cloud tools now more than ever to combat the challenges posed by global lockdowns and restrictions. Cloud channel partners are responding. In this news roundup, find out what several partners are doing to meet customers’ cloud needs in unique ways.

Accenture Buys Enimbos as Part of ‘Cloud First’ Initiative

Global professional services firm Accenture said this week it has acquired Enimbos. The deal marks the latest in Accenture’s 2020 spending spree.

The purchase adds another Amazon Web Services-centric cloud migration and services provider to Accenture. And because Enimbos serves Spain and Portugal, Accenture gains more foothold in Europe, too.

Accenture’s Karthik Narain

“The acquisition of Enimbos brings more cloud-native skills and experience to our growing Cloud First organization,” said Karthik Narain, Accenture’s Cloud First lead. “We’ve learned from more than 34,000 cloud projects that a cloud-first strategy begins with creating a holistic cloud journey that influences many aspects of a client’s business, including their applications, infrastructure, talent and surrounding cloud ecosystem. Cloud-native capabilities are essential to designing next-generation systems that power the innovation that businesses need today at speed and at scale.”

Accenture’s strategy can serve as a template for fellow cloud channel partners seeking to expand. Indeed, the consultancy continues to broaden the cloud platforms on which it specializes, which speaks to a wider end-user demographic.

“Accenture’s acquisition of Enimbos helps clients access a greater breadth of services and capabilities,” an Accenture spokesperson told Channel Futures. “As a global system integrator for Accenture, Enimbos brings more than 130 AWS certifications and has strong relationships with other cloud providers — including Azure, Google, Oracle and Red Hat —  bringing a total of more than 260 cloud-related certifications.”

So far this year, Accenture has snapped up more than two dozen IT companies — Enimbos stands out as just the latest. Accenture did not disclose the transaction’s pricing or terms. The buying frenzy reflects Accenture’s intent to help organizations shift to “cloud-first” operating models. In September, the company announced its $3 billion “Cloud First” initiative.

“COVID-19 has created a new inflection point that requires every company to dramatically accelerate the move to the cloud as a foundation for digital transformation to build the resilience, new experiences and products, trust, speed and structural cost reduction that the ongoing health, economic and societal crisis demands — and that a better future for all requires,” Julie Sweet, Accenture CEO, said at the time. “Accenture Cloud First and our substantial investment demonstrate our commitment to delivering greater value to our clients when they need it most. Digital transformation requires cloud at scale, and post-COVID leadership requires that every business become a ‘cloud first’ business.”

To that end, Enimbos’s employees are joining Accenture’s Cloud First unit, comprising 70,000 cloud professionals from around the world.

“The addition of Enimbos is a significant step forward in our growth strategy in Spain and Portugal, and in our plans to continue enhancing Accenture’s specialized capabilities with each of the native ecosystem partners in the cloud world, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft,” said Domingo Mirón, who leads Accenture’s business in Iberia. “Most companies have not completed their digital transformation and urgently need to fast-track their innovation journeys. Cloud is the key enabler to complete their transformation, and COVID-19 has further accelerated this mandate. This accelerated transition will shift companies to about 80% cloud in the next three years, and Accenture can guide them to capture the strongest business outcomes possible.”

2^nd Watch Takes Aim at Hybrid Cloud via Google Cloud Anthos

Meantime, 2nd Watch, a professional services and managed cloud company, is targeting enterprises that want to use more than one cloud platform.

To that end, the Seattle-based channel partner in late September debuted Hybrid Cloud Solutions with Anthos. Anthos is a Google Cloud-led service that works across on-premises, Google Cloud and other clouds. It lets users move and run applications where they are needed.

2^nd Watch says its hybrid cloud solutions with Anthos include an Anthos workshop; Anthos setup and configuration; usage of Migrate for Anthos to containerize applications; deployment of Istio as the underlying service mesh; configuration management; optimization for security, observability and resiliency; and creation of a post-migration image update process.

“Enterprise IT leaders understand the value of modernizing their applications in order to increase agility and efficiency, jump-start growth…

2nd Watch’s Kris Garvey

…and accelerate time to market,” said Chris Garvey, executive vice president of product at 2nd Watch. “Some modernization may already be occurring in pockets throughout your organization, but the complexity of proprietary IT stack, dependencies on legacy applications, and slow speed of migration can inhibit you from gaining desired outcomes. With Hybrid Cloud Solutions with Google Cloud Anthos from 2nd Watch, it’s never been easier to adopt a modern, multi-cloud application architecture.”

2^nd Watch also recently launched its Cloud Modernization Readiness Assessment service to help companies move their applications to Google Cloud.

ClearScale Debuts AWS Managed Services

Next, cloud systems integrator ClearScale has unveiled its enhanced managed services offering.

The portfolio includes on-demand monitoring, remediation and infrastructure management for organizations on AWS. ClearScale has different tiers so customers can choose the level that best fits their budget and needs. The capabilities also free organizations from having to hire expert IT staff, one of the benefits of using a channel partner.

ClearScale’s Pavel Pragin

“ClearScale Managed Services eliminates the burden of managing cloud operations,” said Pavel Pragin, CEO of ClearScale. “Instead, our customers can focus on what they do best – providing great products and services to their clients. Our expert staff of AWS-certified engineers is available 24×7 to provide timely support and guidance and ensure that their cloud environments are monitored, secure, and optimized with the latest AWS services.”

Lemongrass Takes the Load Off SAP-Centric Enterprises

Finally, Lemongrass, which bills itself as the SAP-to-AWS professional and managed services company, has released a new managed service.

It’s a managed SAP offering integrated with AWS Managed Services. UK-headquartered Lemongrass supports SAP systems running on AWS, and the AMS portion provides provide operations, management and cost optimization of AWS infrastructure. End users therefore may offload critical tasks to Lemongrass and focus on their businesses.

Lemongrass’ Jason Wojahn

“Our clients understand that platforms like SAP are not simple. They can be time-consuming, complex and expensive to maintain and modify,” said Jason Wojahn, president and COO at Lemongrass. “Working with Lemongrass and AMS, our clients gain access to the most reliable cloud platform on the market as well as infrastructure that is managed, optimized and automated by AMS, and SAP systems that are managed, automated, and tuned by Lemongrass.”

Lemongrass is the first AWS partner to take such an SAP service to market. The consultancy has locations throughout the world.