Into the Cloud - Umbrellar powered by Pax8

It's easy to move into the cloud but what about ongoing management? Who's got the time or the experience for that? Short answer - Umbrellar. Adrian and Rob explain how to get the cloud environment you were 'sold' on the brochure and the advantages of having a crack team of cloud specialists at your beck and call.

Umbrellar CEO Dave Howden and Vanessa Sorenson, Chief Partner Officer A/NZ and Managing Director Microsoft NZ, catch up on all the dramatic changes since their last podcast chat - her roles, the pandemic, new data centres for the region and the integration of Australia and New Zealand in the Microsoft world. There's a lot to unpack! They discuss how Microsoft is increasingly focused on making it easier for partners to grow their business through improvements to Marketplace, IP Co-Sell and the April 2022 launch of Microsoft Founders Hub, bringing people, knowledge and benefits together at every stage to solve startup challenges.  Vanessa also shares her passion for corporate citizenship initiatives such as 10K Wahine, Global Skills Training Initiatives, growing Maori and Pacific Leaders through partnering with TupaToa. Vanessa says New Zealand punches way above its weight - but we're not so great at sharing our success stories. With the creation of A/NZ and the soon-to-be-online regional data centre, now is the time to get louder, take more risks and build our industry depth. Take a listen.

Umbrellar's Rob Farnell (Head of Cloud Technology) and Adrian Venter (Head of Cloud Operations ... aka Supreme Overlord 😎) talk tech with Head of Business Operations Nadia Phillips. This engaging conversation covers everything from AI art, Machine Learning, SaaS, Automation and Managed Services.  Uncover how AI is exciting people that wouldn't otherwise have used tech and understand why it won't 'take over' our jobs but rather free us to do more (they even mention the 30 - 40 hour work week could become a thing of the past!). Get the details on what Umbrellar's Managed Service offering really entails and how it has evolved from a "fix things that break" type of service to an economical insurance policy, continually fine-tuning and future-proofing your cloud environment.  Learn more about Azure Virtual Desktop and how it securely gives you the power to work from literally anywhere with anything.  Finally, find out what excites Umbrellar's tech gurus about the future of the cloud. Here's a hint: gaming subscriptions and endless possibilities!

CEO Dave Howden and Head of Business Operations Nadia Phillips share the background story behind the recently announced purchase of New Zealand company Umbrellar Cloud Ltd by US-based cloud technology distributor Pax8.  Pax8 have built a strong reputation on a global level over the past few years and recently set their sights on the Asia Pacific region. After identifying Umbrellar's service regions as areas they could expand into as a means of continuing their global reach and building their client base, the offer was made and the rest is history. So what does this mean for Umbrellar staff, vendors, partners and customers? Listen in to find out that it's actually ALL good news for everyone - and an exciting step forward for cloud services in New Zealand.

David Howden (CEO Umbrellar) and Nadia Phillips (Head of Business Operations Umbrellar) talk to Patrick Quesnel (Microsoft Azure Platform Growth & Development Product Engineering Lead ANZ) and Jimmy Kerr (Launch Lead NZ Datacentre Region) about the upcoming launch of the new Microsoft datacenter region in New Zealand and how this huge investment in cloud technology will help accelerate our digital evolution. Listen in as they deep dive into the details and find out what you can do to be ready when Microsoft officially launches in 2023.