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Nerdio overhauls MSP partner program

New Partnerd program sees refreshed tier structures and benefits.

Azure virtual desktop management vendor Nerdio has revamped its managed service providers (MSP) partner program, Partnerd, in a bid to better support MSPs and other IT organisations serving the SMB channel.

The new Partnerd program sees refreshed tier structures and benefits such as product discounts, marketing development funds (MDF), and event experiences. Tiers available for partners include Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Joseph Landes, chief revenue officer and co-founder of Nerdio, tells ARN that in the previous version of the program launched in May 2021, tiers were justified by “each partner’s number of customers using Nerdio and their number of staff holding Nerdio certifications.”

The updated program will see tiers calculated based on a partner’s investment level with Nerdio and partners can buy into a tier above their qualified tier by meeting the required spend limit to increase the amount of internal use licenses, license discounts, go-live engineer deployments, and certifications. 

Each Nerdio partner can also expect dedicated “partner success managers” and a “plethora of event-related benefits to help facilitate in-person learning and industry or customer networking.”

The vendor hopes partners will boost their investments to achieve greater ROI sooner while they are building and scaling their Azure practice.

Meanwhile, Landes revealed that the reason for investing in the overhauled program came down to making "transitioning to Microsoft Azure the obvious choice for MSPs and their clients.” 

“With the advancements Microsoft is making around cloud technologies and programs, it is an invigorating time to be part of the Microsoft ecosystem. We believe the new Partnerd program provides unparalleled benefits that are not available anywhere else in the channel. It will propel a whole new class of MSPs to grow alongside Azure and Microsoft and achieve success as a cloud partner,” he added.

Paul O’Brien, CTO and founder of Lucidity, a New Zealand-based MSP, highlighted their 20-year partnership with Nerdio and belief that the vendor is “unrivalled” in supporting MSPs with resources “to create and manage compelling and competitive Azure offerings.”

“The changes to the Partnerd program reflect not only Nerdio's continued strong commitment to the partner community they’ve carefully cultivated, but also their savvy grasp of what partners must do to set themselves up for success with Microsoft’s partner program,” elaborated O’Brien.

With regards to its Australia expansion plans, Landes told ARN they are looking to increase the number of partners and customers leveraging Nerdio.

“We have thousands of partners worldwide and are looking to help partners who are not yet properly leveraging the cloud out of fear of costs, risks, etc. We are helping partners deliver profitable, sustainable and scalable services with Microsoft Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop,” stated Landes.

To better serve the Australian market, Nerdio had recently recruited Jarred Foley as regional sales manager for A/NZ. 

Prior to joining Nerdio, Foley had served a  six year stint as general manager of Queensland for Fujitsu-owned IT services and consulting firm, oobe, and has also racked up experience at Citrix before that. On top of having Foley as a dedicated territory manager, Nerdio is also “proactively” looking at building out its Australia team.