Businesses today operate in highly competitive, unforgiving markets. Speed to market, operational efficiency and infrastructure costs have become the bellwethers of profitability, sustainability and growth. DevOps lies at the core of each of these, serving a critical role in a company’s operating strategy.

Cloud computing’s intensifying importance and the shift to hybrid IT is forcing organizations to quickly migrate systems infrastructure up and out of the physical data center.

Whether you’re looking to foster existing customer relationships or seek new conversation-starters for prospects, consider tapping into assessments. Sure, assessments are an easy way to upsell and push inventory, but it’s important to think “big picture.” Assessments are key when it comes to enhancing your overall business outcomes. When thinking about analyzing their organizations’ network security, cloud, mobility, data center, IoT or “all of the above” – here’s what assessments can do for both you and your customers.

Tech Data / Technology Solutions’ booth display at this month’s Dell EMC World 2017 had a decidedly aviation-esque theme. As a self-anointed airplane aficionado, the cutaway jet fuselage was one of my favorite event displays in recent memory. Our onsite “cabin crew” offered discussions and demonstrations focused on software-defined storage solutions and the journey to the hybrid-cloud and software-defined data center.

Tech Data's booth display at this month’s Dell EMC World 2017 had a decidedly aviation-esque theme. As a self-anointed airplane aficionado, the cutaway jet fuselage was one of my favorite event displays in recent memory. Our onsite “cabin crew” offered discussions and demonstrations focused on software-defined storage solutions and the journey to the hybrid-cloud and software-defined data center.

It’s probably no surprise, but there was significant buzz at this year’s Microsoft World Partner Conference (WPC) related to partner-led, go-to-market Azure scenarios. There was more than one breakout session focused on the topic, as well as various meetings and conversations across the expo floor. From those discussions, we learned there are three services that really leverage Azure to deliver innovation, solve customer needs and profit from opportunities.

The level of interest in Microsoft Azure from Managed Service Providers (MSPs) is off the chart—it is easily one of our most popular cloud “topics” and building momentum.  And while the typical areas of Backup/DR, Active Directory, and Virtual Machines are driving much of the interest, there are a slew of potential points of leverage for the platform, many of which lie beyond the IT department.