GFI MAX has launched App Control, a new cloud services management component in GFI MAX RemoteManagement, which enables MSPs to take advantage of the cloud services opportunity with their clients. App Control will initially allow MSPs to manage Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps user accounts, mailboxes, and licenses — all from a single dashboard. This new feature further enables MSPs to shift from device management to managing the broader user experience.
App Control allows MSPs to perform user and group management tasks in both Office 365 and Google Apps from a single, consistent user interface, without the need to login to multiple consoles or to use complicated scripts or APIs when managing customers’ differing IT infrastructures. Support for additional cloud-based services such as sync and share and productivity services will be added on an on-going basis.
†Benefits of this new feature include:
- Enhanced administration and monitoring capabilities help clients to reduce waste on unused cloud services licenses
- Fast onboarding and offboarding capabilities enable MSPs to create, update, or remove user accounts †
- Management of security groups, distribution lists, organizations, and teams from a single screen
- Reporting capabilities allow MSPs to better predict future usage trends and help customers understand their current and future cloud services costs
“MSPs are faced with an accelerating rate of adoption of cloud services in their customer base and until now this has presented more threat than opportunity,” says Dr. Alistair Forbes, general manager of the GFI MAX business unit. “The movement to cloud-based services in the SMB sector is well-established and is not going to slow down. Previously, MSPs have not had access to tools that allow them to embrace these services and be proactive in offering and supporting them for their customers, all while facing the added risk of either increasing unbillable time or weakening their customer relationship. With App Control’s new cloud management features, MSPs using GFI MAX RemoteManagement have the opportunity to create new revenue streams by taking the complexity out of cloud adoption and taking on additional responsibility for a new, critical component of their customers’ businesses. The data available about their clients’ cloud services use will better position MSPs to advise customers on cloud strategies and current trends, increasing their value even further.”
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