RSA maximizes cloud efficiency and cost savings with Microsoft commercial marketplace

The Microsoft commercial marketplace streamlines technology procurement 

As the speed of business accelerates across the insurance industry, RSA recognizes the imperative to reduce time to market to provide the best possible service to customers and brokers. This requires rapid access to data to deliver quotes faster than competitors. Traditional procurement processes were becoming a barrier to this "need for speed" business strategy. The time-consuming steps of requests for proposals, vendor meetings, and waiting for purchase orders were inefficient and cumbersome.

The marketplace has transformed this process by providing a streamlined avenue to browse a wide range of technology solutions at their fingertips. With just a few clicks, RSA can make purchases and start downloading solutions within minutes. This agility not only enhances operational efficiency but also positions RSA to stay ahead in a competitive market. “Now when we’re in conversations with vendors, the first thing we ask is whether their solution is available in the marketplace” Daniel Ingram, FinOps Lead, RSA.

RSA optimizes cloud spending and earns discounts through cloud commitments

As the demand for SaaS surges at RSA, it remains crucial for the company to strategically reduce costs across the organization. By entering a three-year Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), RSA secured an overall discount on their Azure infrastructure and gained enhanced visibility and control over their cloud spending throughout the contract period.

The marketplace further amplifies the value of the MACC by enabling RSA to fulfill their cloud commitment through purchases from vendors offering Azure-eligible solutions. This creates a win-win scenario, as RSA can easily access a wide range of innovative technologies that align with their business needs while optimizing overall cloud investments, ensuring they get the best value for their money. 

The marketplace improves FinOps forecasting by consolidating purchases into a single Azure invoice 

One of the major challenges with the legacy procurement process is the fragmentation of subscriptions and SaaS solutions across multiple portals and Excel sheets. This disjointed approach makes it nearly impossible to manage budgets and align resources effectively. More critically, organizations struggle with a lack of visibility and control over their cloud expenditures.

By leveraging the marketplace, RSA transformed its asset management process. Now, with a unified view of all purchases in the Azure portal, they have a streamlined approach to tracking each asset. This enables RSA to easily identify responsible owners, allocate costs accurately to the appropriate cost centers, and manage license agreements and renewals, thereby enhancing operational efficiency.

With all the metadata accessible at the click of a button, RSA saves considerable time and gains confidence in eliminating shadow IT. The consolidation of all transactions into a single monthly invoice enables RSA to accurately predict monthly, quarterly, and annual forecasts, simplifying and stabilizing their FinOps cycles, and giving them unprecedented control and visibility across their cloud portfolio. “We know that we're getting the best value and the best cost from marketplace because terms have been negotiated by Microsoft without going through a lot of process in the background.” Matt Lockie, Operations Director, RSA.

Collaborating with partners and vendors through the marketplace accelerates business strategy

With the marketplace, RSA's procurement process can now focus on consuming technology while engaging in strategic collaboration with their vendors. As part of their digital transformation, RSA has made it a top priority to take ownership of their business strategy for both the present and the future. The marketplace has become a crucial gateway for RSA, enabling them to connect with vendors and engage in meaningful discussions. With access to over 500,000 partners and third-party vendors in the marketplace catalog, RSA can easily find the technology they need and reach potential vendors.

This has led to the development of meaningful relationships with various companies, allowing RSA to discuss strategic direction and future roadmaps. These partnerships have significantly accelerated RSA's company strategy, achieving results at a much faster pace than originally anticipated. Projects that were expected to take years are now being delivered within six months to a year. “[Our partners] understand our goals, our strategies, our beliefs, our direction. They've really bought into the values of RSA as an organization.” Matt Lockie, Operations Director, RSA.