OneBizz bets on a partner-centric approach to bundling Microsoft Dynamics, Office 365 for SMBs

Before WPC 2014 we looked at OneBizz, the new provider of cloud-based Microsoft business solutions for the SMB market. Microsoft then promoted the offering heavily at multiple WPC sessions, noting it as an example of how to deliver Microsoft Dynamics and Office 365 in the cloud for small and mid-sized organizations.

OneBizz is one of a handful of early adopters that have moved quickly to get into the SMB marketplace with an offering that aligns Microsoft's own vision. They exemplify one of the three primary ways Microsoft wants partners to get retooled for a cloud-first marketplace - by offering a bundled solution. (The other primary means that Microsoft discussed at WPC 2014 are to either use managed services or to take a fully do-it-yourself approach.) For OneBizz, the job now is to establish the model as they build out a pool of participating partners who can take the offering into the marketplace.

A new Master VAR and a new type of offering

OneBizz comes out of QBS Group, the Master VAR for western Europe that itself emerged from The IT Channel Company, which also runs Partner Master Class (PMC), a Microsoft partner development center (PDC), and the business training and consulting firm Conceptsales.

As the list of partner development centers (PDCs) globally declined and Master VARs were coming online with varied levels of success, Microsoft approached Netherlands-based The IT Channel Company to form a Master VAR that had some distinctive attributes: they would be regional, they would not be a Microsoft reseller themselves, and they would bring ...