SoftwareONE Goes Multi-cloud With Strategic AWS Relationship

‘Ninety percent of our customers are working with multi-cloud environments. We need great relationships with the major cloud providers. We already have years of experience with Microsoft, and now we are expanding to AWS. Our goal is to offer the customer support with AWS that we offer with Microsoft,’ says Ashley Gaare, president of SoftwareONE North America.

SoftwareONE, a major global provider of solutions and services aimed at customers’ cloud strategies, on Wednesday unveiled a strategic multi-year relationship with Amazon Web Services.

The move gives SoftwareONE a second major cloud platform on which to build services for clients, said Ashley Gaare, president of SoftwareONE North America, the Waukesha, Wis.-based headquarters for the solution provider which has its global operations in Switzerland.

SoftwareONE, No. 17 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, knows it needs strong cloud services organizations to support customers’ digital transformation activities, Gaare told CRN.

[Related: Commvault Signs Microsoft Partner SoftwareONE As First Metallic MSP]

“Ninety percent of our customers are working with multi-cloud environments,” said Gaare (pictured above). “We need great relationships with the major cloud providers. We already have years of experience with Microsoft, and now we are expanding to AWS. Our goal is to offer the customer support with AWS that we offer with Microsoft.”

Prior to signing the new AWS strategic relationship, SoftwareONE worked with AWS, but in what Gaare called “pockets” that were reactive to customer requirements.

“Now the AWS relationship is strategic,” she said. “We have plans and targets to meet. In the past, we made acquisitions that brought in pockets of AWS relationships. But this new agreement changes the scale of our relationship with AWS.”

SoftwareONE is ready to quickly move forward with AWS, Gaare said.

“We made the decision to build an AWS practice well over a year ago,” she said. “Through acquisitions, we already have AWS-certified people on our staff. Going forward, we will grow that through new hires and investment in talent. This is all part of our strategic planning. So we already have the certifications. Now we’ll focus on the growth side.”

Gaare declined to speculate when SoftwareONE would sign a similar relationship with Google Cloud Platform, but did say one would likely come.

“Google is the third big hyperscaler,” she said. “I can’t speak to the timing. But it fits in line with our vision to be cloud-agnostic and work with the three top hyperscalers.”