Two cloud-centric managed services providers this week made waves with significant announcements. Above all, the activity showcases some different ways MSPs can expand their businesses to meet customer needs and create new revenue streams.

SADA Inks Hefty Partnership Extension With Google Cloud

SADA, an MSP named as one of Channel Partners’ and Channel Futures’ 2020 organizations to watch, is extending its singular partnership with Google Cloud through a multiyear, $500 million agreement.

Last year, SADA ditched its Microsoft business and went all in on Google Cloud — a move that has generated almost 400% growth, SADA CEO Tony Safoian said. The half-billion-dollar contract announced on Tuesday reflects total certainty in the decision to team only with Google Cloud, Safoian told Channel Futures.

SADA Systems’ Tony Safoian

“A commitment of this scale confirms our confidence in Google Cloud … while demonstrating the enthusiasm our enterprise customers are continuing to show for Google Cloud Platform,” he said. “SADA’s launch of new services around Anthos and Smart Analytics, coupled with the expansion of our packaged solution offerings, epitomizes the value that channel companies can bring to customers.”

SADA now is working to launch new solutions and services built on Google Cloud.

For example, it’s prepping faster hybrid and multicloud deployments with Anthos. The MSP recently released Anthos First-Step and Anthos Flat-Rate packages; next, it will debut AnthosLabs workshops, providing hands-on experiences, software and consultative training for IT professionals. That way, customers learn how to implement Anthos in multi- and hybrid cloud environments more quickly, and get tips for managing cloud spend and resources with more predictability and consistency, SADA said.

“What’s most exciting about these … workshops is that customers go from having zero prior experience with Anthos to deploying it to a multicloud environment, all in the span of one jam-packed afternoon,” Miles Ward, CTO at SADA and a Channel Partners/Channel Futures 2020 Channel Influencer, said.

SADA Systems’ Miles Ward

In addition, look for SADA to introduce packages that help enterprises with smart analytics and data warehousing. This will all be done through Google Cloud, of course, yet will include support for Netezza, Teradata and Hadoop migrations to BigQuery. SADA also will host “sprint workshops” around machine learning. The idea is to give clients more immediate ability to make decisions through data-driven insights, and help them innovate.

Finally, SADA will bring Google Cloud AI to contact centers. This will allow live agents to use data to resolve issues and close cases faster, spot trends and identify common topics the contact center is handling.

SADA has beefed up its engineering and technical account management teams to support and deliver these expanded managed services.

“We’re very proud to expand our strategic partnership with SADA,” Carolee Gearhart, vice president, worldwide channel sales at Google Cloud, said. “As a Google Cloud MSP, SADA has proven its expertise in enabling customer success and providing innovative and scalable solutions for the enterprise.”

SCTG Goes Deeper with Digital Realty

ServerCentral Turing Group, a key Amazon Web Services MSP, is broadening its work with data center colocation vendor Digital Realty.

On Tuesday, SCTG said it’s expanding its collaboration on Digital Realty’s Ashburn, Va., connected campus, reportedly one of the fastest-growing data center environments with more than 70% of global internet traffic passing through it.

SCTG is offering connectivity, and custom and hybrid cloud solutions to its enterprise clients through Digital Realty’s PlatformDigital offering, which supports digital transformation.

“Managed service providers must be able to provide direct connectivity to the major cloud providers so their customers can scale their IT infrastructure fast, efficiently and safely,” Jordan Lowe, CEO and co-founder of SCTG, told Channel Futures. “That starts with a trusted data center partner who can provide the highest quality service and the least amount of latency possible for critical applications and worldwide data exchange. Our expanded collaboration on Digital Realty’s Ashburn campus provides a reliable platform for our customers to build upon.”

And because Digital Realty has worldwide reach, end users teaming with SCTG gain important advantages, Lowe said.

“Companies need hyperscale platform connectivity and hybrid solutions to be competitive worldwide,” Lowe added. “Digital Realty is the perfect partner for us because they provide the accessibility, resiliency and availability our clients need to scale quickly and efficiently.”

Erich Sanchack, executive vice president of operations for Digital Realty, agreed.

“SCTG’s clients can be confident they have a solid operational foundation on PlatformDigital for their global digital-transformation initiatives,” he said.