Putting the Partner Brand in Front of Windows Intune Customers

J.J. Antequino, over at Microsoft's U.S. SMB&D TS2 Team Blog, has a couple of helpful posts this week for partners evaluating Windows Intune, Microsoft's new cloud-based systems management and security toolset.

In one post, Antequino explains how partners can activate their customers' Windows 7 Enterprise licenses, one of the killer values in the Windows Intune package.

In the other, Antequino walks partners through the process of "branding" the end-user experience. Windows Intune allows partners to manage desktops on behalf of their partners and view all their customers in a unified dashboard. (The product also targets in-house IT departments in addition to managed service providers and partners looking to extend their businesses into MSP-type engagements.)

According to a screenshot on the TS2 blog, partner contact information appears at the bottom of the interface for the Windows Intune Center, which is installed on all computers managed by Intune. Partner information appears below large boxes for Windows Update, Windows Intune Malware Protection and Microsoft Easy Assist. The partner-branded information says, "Your computer is managed by" and has room for the partner's company name, phone number, e-mail and URL.

It's not exactly white-label or top billing for partners, but it's certainly visible enough on an uncluttered interface. Will that branding help your business? Is it enough for now to offset the fact that Microsoft is still the one billing the customer? Let me know at sbekker@rcpmag.com.

Posted by Scott Bekker on April 21, 2011 at 11:58 AM