Is the Public Cloud Secure?

Public Cloud Migration and Security with WatServ

Is the Public Cloud Secure?

By Otto Aulicino, Director, Information Security
January 18, 2022

For as many years as the public cloud has been around, so has been the debate over whether or not it’s secure.

When AWS launched in 2006 and Azure shortly thereafter in 2008, the public cloud was considered uncharted territory. IT professionals didn’t know whether to trust it or be weary. This was much like in the early 2000s when virtualization technologies became financially possible for smaller organizations, yet many companies chose to stick with physical servers. It was only after years of repeated use and testing did organizations view the technology as safe and worthy of adoption.

We’re seeing a similar trend with the public cloud. As more companies test and adopt the technology, it has matured and established a strong foothold in the market. However, despite the trend towards widespread adoption, some IT professionals continue to approach it with skepticism.

Here are answers to three questions often asked about public cloud security.

1. “When it comes to security, is the public cloud weaker than on-premise implementations?”

This is a large and deeply debated topic. To cut to the chase: No. In our opinion, the public cloud is not weaker than on-premise implementations. Sure, this may have been the case years ago, but today, the public cloud has matured considerably.

The strength of technical and non-technical controls offered by public cloud service providers like Azure, Google Cloud Platform and AWS is significantly higher than most on-premise implementations. Even if you compare the public cloud to large data center providers, the public cloud has more security features implemented lower in the technology stack by default, which are “invisible” to customers (if you consider the shared responsibility model). As a result, customers are required to manage more controls on data center implementations.

2. “In my own data center implementation, I’m in control of security. So, doesn’t that mean I can make it more secure than a public cloud service?”

If you’re in control of your environment in a data center setting, yes, you can theoretically definitely make it more secure than anywhere else. However, seldom do companies do so. In fact, studies show that organizations rarely dedicate enough resources to do even 50% of what the public cloud service providers do in terms of security measures. Additionally, public providers are heavily certified – much more so than most customers or data center providers could ever achieve.

The major security risk of the public cloud lies in the fact that customers often believe once their workloads (or data) are in the cloud, they are secure – which is not true. Customers often forget that security controls are not “out of the box” in the public cloud, and instead are the customer’s responsibility as per the shared responsibility model. If this is not managed properly, it can result in major gaps and vulnerabilities, ready to be exploited by hackers. To put this into context: According to Gartner, by 2025, 99% of the cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault.

3. “Is the public cloud attacked more frequently?”

As its name implies, the public cloud is public. So, by its very nature, the public cloud is more exposed. In one sense, as the public cloud becomes home for big brands and companies, one can argue that these big brands are putting a target on the back of their cloud service provider. Yet, on the other hand, as service providers become a target, they’ve also evolved at an impressive pace. The threat of attacks, intrusion attempts and so on has spurred innovation to improve defense controls to the extent that it’s now hard to match the level of experience outside of a public cloud provider.

In conclusion, if you’re considering a move to the cloud and have questions about its security, you’re not alone. Although the cloud has proven to be the best option for many companies, it’s important to understand public cloud’s shared responsibility model and put in place a robust security plan before making the move. With those pieces in place, the cloud can offer a highly secure, resilient – and not to mention cost effective – environment that will benefit you today and over the long term.

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Need help managing your cloud security and operations? Our team of cloud security experts can help. Contact us today to get started.

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

The 6 Most-Asked Questions About WatServ’s Partnership Program

microsoft dynamics partner WatServ

The 6 Most-Asked Questions About WatServ’s Partnership Program

By WatServ
February 25, 2021

2019 was an exciting year for WatServ, made even more so thanks to our incredible partners.

In fact, we have numerous partners to thank for helping us acquire new clients, including but not limited to:

We deeply value your support and appreciate you choosing us as your partner.

Last year, we were also able to attend several industry events to connect with potential partners and spread the word about cloud technologies and digital transformation. We enjoyed meeting new people and seeing familiar faces at Directions North America in Las Vegas, the IWLA Tech and Ops Conference in Columbus, the User Group Summit in Orlando and many more.

Throughout the year, we had several potential partners reach out to us with questions about our Partnership Program. As a result, we’ve put together this list of FAQs.

If your organization is interested in partnering with us, we hope the following information will provide you with valuable insight.

Six Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About WatServ’s Partnership Program

1. Who is WatServ’s Partnership Program Ideal for?

Our partners generally fall within one of two groups:

  1. Microsoft Dynamics partners seeking industry-leading hosted platforms for ERP and financial applications in either Azure or Hybrid-Cloud
  2. IT consultants helping clients with digital transformations. When cloud migration from on-premise or co-location facilities are part of the digital transformation, WatServ is positioned to deliver.

Partners choose us so they can remain focused on their core capabilities, while trusting us to deliver cloud-infrastructure and advanced managed service solutions. Working with WatServ means partners can leverage our deep experience with cloud migrations and be confident in our technical knowledge given the cloud’s rapid pace of change.

2. What models of engagement does WatServ offer?

We offer two engagement models:

  1. Direct Model – Under this model, we have a direct relationship with the end customer. The partner introduces WatServ to the end customer and we develop contracts, obligations and SLAs. After collecting payments, we remit a revenue-sharing amount back to the referring partner.
  2. White Label Model – Under this model, WatServ has no direct relationship with the end customer and instead acts as a sub-supplier for the partner. WatServ develops contractual obligations, including SLAs, and we bill and collect payments from the partner for the services we provide. Often, partners will “pass through” our benefits to the end customer. Additionally, the partner has flexibility over pricing and may choose to include a mark-up on WatServ’s services. WatServ provides partners with a discount on services, which is equivalent to the revenue-sharing amounts under the Direct model.

When evaluating alternative models, consider the following questions:

  • How would you like the end customer to view the WatServ-partner relationship? Under the white label model, some of our partners still choose to disclose to the end customer their sub-supplier relationship with us. In this case, they prefer the white label model to reduce billing complexity for the end customer.
  • Under the white label model, are you comfortable and able to assume payment obligations for the end customer?
  • How important is it to you to have access to the cloud environment without approval from the end customer (usually a consideration in terms of speed of access)? If it’s important, the white label model may be more appropriate, since you are contractually our customer.

Although the two aforementioned engagement models are the most common, WatServ is open to discussing other needs and requirements.

3. Who owns the relationship with the end customer?

This will depend on the engagement model chosen.

Under the white label model, where WatServ has no direct relationship with the end customer, the partner will own the relationship with the end customer.

On the other hand, under the direct model arrangement, WatServ will own the relationship with the end customer, but only as it relates to the services we provide.

 

4. How does revenue sharing work between WatServ and the partner?

In exchange for partner-referred deals, WatServ will share specified revenues or margins with partners for the following services:
  1. One-time advisory, consulting and professional services;
  2. Private cloud hosting, inclusive of consumption and managed services;
  3. Public cloud managed services;
  4. Software licenses, on-premises type and application-related; and
  5. Value-added services provided by third-party firms.
For more details on specific percentage splits for revenue sharing, please contact us. Please note that WatServ shares private cloud consumption revenue with partners. However, public cloud consumption revenue is excluded from revenue sharing. WatServ also offers special bonuses to reward partners for referring larger-sized opportunities and to celebrate the first five deals closed upon joining the WatServ Partnership Program.

5. How are responsibilities and accountabilities split between the partner and WatServ?

The division of responsibilities and accountabilities are, at a high-level, shown in the following diagram:

 
 
 
 
 
 

WatServ designs, manages and maintains cloud infrastructure that the application(s) runs on, which is inclusive of networking through to runtime. Partners are responsible for the application and data layers.

6. Can you describe a typical opportunity lifecycle when working with WatServ?

At WatServ, we begin working with partners as early as possible in the opportunity lifecycle. This helps ensure accuracy and timeliness of work. The diagram below illustrates a typical opportunity lifecycle:

 
 
  1. Requirements Gathering – Upon learning of an opportunity, the partner shares cloud infrastructure requirements and specifications with WatServ. To facilitate the process, WatServ often provides a requirements questionnaire.
  2. Cloud Planning – After cloud requirements are finalized, WatServ custom-designs the cloud architecture to meet the required specifications. At this stage, WatServ produces indicative pricing, which can be presented to the end customer by either the partner or WatServ.
  3. Proposal Delivery and Acceptance by End Customer – In receipt of WatServ’s cloud solution, and often following additional conversations to resolve any questions, the end customer proceeds with the solution.
  4. Cloud Deploy – Coordinating with the partner, WatServ implements the cloud solution and helps the partner drive the project to go live.
  5. Cloud Maintain – Once the project has gone live and is in the post-implementation phase, WatServ transitions into maintenance mode, where we monitor, manage and continuously optimize the end customer’s cloud environment.

There you have it. Six of the most-asked questions about WatServ’s Partnership Program.

 

Want to learn more? Please reach out to [email protected] and member of our team will be in touch.

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.​

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

Insights from DX3 Canada 2020

DX3 Insights 2020 with WatServ

Insights from DX3 Canada 2020

By Aleks Hara, Director, Cloud Service Sales
March 16, 2020

On March 10, 2020, WatServ was pleased to attend DX3 2020, Canada’s largest retail, marketing and technology conference. Although day two of the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions, our team came away from the event with several insights.

In particular, DX3 painted a picture of the retail industry’s new landscape. Gone are the days when retailers simply had to open up shop and customers would come. Nowadays, customers expect retailers to come to them via personalized advertising and shopping experiences, unique and differentiated touchpoints and customer engagement in the places they’re already frequenting. Every retailer needs to be a technology company in order to survive and thrive in this fast, on-demand marketplace. Failing to connect meaningfully with customers usually ends poorly, as we saw with Forever 21.

DX3 Insights 2020 with WatServ

So, how can a retailer create personalized experiences? How can they understand and connect with their customers authentically? The answer is data. Lots of data. And, lots of meaningful insights derived from the data.

Many of the exhibitors and sponsors at DX3 2020 were technology SaaS providers that offer solutions to ingest, digest and make sense of retailer data using things like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), proprietary algorithms and other software-based innovations. They provide big companies, like Canadian Tire, with tools to make better business decisions, specifically by leveraging data and transforming it into meaningful insights. These insights can be used to drive new ideas for products and services, as well as spark ideas for unique ways of connecting with audiences.

However, for data analysis to work, a retailer must first collect and provide accurate and relevant data. Before it’s ever analyzed and put into algorithms, it’s got to be the right data. The trouble is many retailers aren’t using the latest ERP or CRM tools and either simply don’t capture enough data or don’t capture relevant data points. 

To combat this, many of the technology vendors we spoke with at DX3 discussed the idea that, when leveraging new technology, companies should take a “crawl, walk, run” approach:

  • Crawl– Implement foundational IT systems that capture, store and segment relevant data.
  • Walk– Add AI, ML and other software to make sense of the data and provide strategy going forward.
  • Run– Rely almost exclusively on software results to make quick and agile decisions.
DX3 Insights 2020 with WatServ

How can WatServ help? At WatServ, we play an integral role in the early (“crawl”) stages of transforming and updating database capabilities. By offering cloud technology services – such as putting SQL and Dynamics in Azure – we empower retailers to embrace the latest technology tools, which they can then leverage to process and refine their data. The lessons we learned at DX3 reminded us that a strong foundation, like the ones we provide to our clients, is critical to data-driven business success.

Thank you to everyone we met at DX3.

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.​

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

Top 5 Announcements Revealed at Microsoft Ignite 2019

Microsoft Ignite 2019 with WatServ Highlights

Top 5 Announcements Revealed at Microsoft Ignite 2019

By Abe Kifle, Cloud Solutions Architect
November 15, 2019

This article was written by Abe Kifle, a WatServ Cloud Solutions Architect.

For over 10 years, I’ve been attending Microsoft Ignite, and its predecessor TechEd, and every year I come back inspired by the plethora of announcements and advancements made by Microsoft. 

This year was no different, with more than 150 announcements made at Microsoft Ignite 2019 over the course of 5 days. 

Looking back at the announcements, here are my top 5 picks:

Microsoft Ignite 2018 with WatServ

1. Azure Arc

Out of the many announcements Satya Nadella made during his Vision keynote speech, the one that drew the loudest applause by far was Azure Arc – and for good reason. 

Imagine deploying Azure services and management anywhere – on-prem, Edge, or other Cloud – just as you would do inside Azure to Azure resources. Thats what Azure Arc does. Not only can you deploy services anywhere, but you can also manage, apply policiesand leverage services like Azure Security Center, Azure Sentinel, etc. With Azure Arc, enterprises will have a single glass pane to simplify the management of their complex and distributed environments. 

Microsoft’s Hybrid strategy (Azure Stack, ExpressRoute, AADConnect) was already well ahead of its competitors. With the addition of Azure Arc, as well as the new Azure Stack Hub, Azure Stack HCI and Azure Stack Edge, Microsoft is solidifying its leadership in the hybrid space. In fact, in several sessions I attended, I kept hearing from Microsoft: Unlike others, we believe hybrid is a permanent, not temporary, state.” 

WatServ will be testing Azure Arc in our environment and then helping our customers implement and take advantage of it. 

Microsoft Ignite 2019 with WatServ Highlights
 

2. Azure Synapse

Another crowd-pleaser was the announcement of Azure Synapse. 

Azure Synapse is the next evolution of Azure SQL Data Warehouse. Azure Synapse brings together enterprise data warehousing and Big Data analytics. It gives customers the freedom to query data on their terms, using serverless on-demand or provisioned resources by combining data warehouses, data lakes and pipelines. 

Adding to the buzz, Microsoft showed a demo of Azure Synapse and it was able to query Petabyte scale dataset in less than 10 seconds.  

Microsoft Ignite 2019 with WatServ

3. Project Silica

Microsoft also showcased a new media-storage medium that can survive for hundreds of years with its data intact.  

In an announcement that caught everyone by surprise, Microsoft revealed that it had collaborated with Warner Brothers to store and retrieve the entire 1978 Superman movie on a piece of glass. 

This is a proof of concept for “Project Silica,” a project at Microsoft that aims to use laser optics and AI to store data in quartz glass. 

Microsoft sees this solution as a way to drive down storage costs in the future. “One big thing we wanted to eliminate is this expensive cycle of moving and rewriting data to the next generation,” said a Microsoft lab director. “We really want something you can put on the shelf for 50 or 100 or 1,000 years and forget about until you need it.” 

Microsoft Ignite 2019 Announcements with WatServ

4. Project Cortex

My next pick is Project Cortex. Project Cortex utilizes the Microsoft graph and various MS machine learning/AI models to help users understand organizational content. The content can be structured or unstructured, and Cortex tries to understand it and put it into context. This enables users to click deeper into the content type and ecosystem – whether it’s conversations, tables or documents – and benefit from deeper context applied to the content. 

The intent is to allow employees to quickly find information that’s spread across documents in Microsoft’s various services and make it available both through searches and algorithms in the form of hover-links inside Microsoft products like Office apps, Outlook and Teams. 

Project Cortex not only aims to make connections within MS systems, but also offers connectors using “Microsoft search” to use third-party repositories. 

Three high-level areas of focus include: 

  • Availability of knowledge and expertise for users 
  • Collection and organization of knowledge in a meaningful and contextual way 
  • Classification, protection and management of content 
Microsoft Ignite 2019 with WatServ

5. Azure Stack, Rebranded

Azure Stack, which was announced three years ago, is a product that extends Azure services and capabilities on-premise. Microsoft has since evolved it, and Azure Stack has become a portfolio of services and capabilities of choice—from the datacenter to edge locations and remote offices.

a) Azure Stack Edge:
This is a cloud-managed appliance for edge compute, ML at the edge, IoT and network bursting to the cloud. At Ignite 2019, Microsoft announced and showcased a small, backpack-sized, batteryoperated edge device that could be used to process data and drone video.

b) Azure Stack HCI:
Here we see Microsoft getting into Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI), scalable virtualization and storage, which is useful in modernizing branch office computing. 

c) Azure Stack Hub:
This is the classic Azure Stack – fully-integrated, cloud-native applications using consistent Azure Services on-premise to meet regulatory or technical requirements. 

Conclusion:
While Microsoft Ignite may be over for another year, the excitement that began on November 3-8, 2019 will continue for months to come. At WatServ, we’re looking forward to implementing many of these great Microsoft technologies in our environment first, and then in many of our enterprise customers’ environments. 

Have a question or want to chat about my top picks? Get in touch!

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.​

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

WatServ Achieves Microsoft Gold Status for Cloud Platform Competency

WatServ Achieves Microsoft Gold Status for Cloud Platform Competency

By WatServ
January 7, 2019

Toronto, ON, January 7, 2019 — WatServ is proud to announce that the company has achieved the Microsoft Gold Partner status for Cloud Platform Competency for its use and expertise of Microsoft Azure. This certification allows WatServ to continue growing alongside our customers while leveraging Microsoft’s product stack and partner resources. The designation is awarded to Microsoft partners who have proven their expertise by successfully completing rigorous Microsoft Technical Assessments as well as maintaining core Microsoft Certified Professionals on staff.

Achieving gold partner status for Cloud competency is an important recognition in today’s cloud market. Not only is this certification representative of WatServ’s significant customer volume within the Azure environment, but it also demonstrates the company’s deep engineering skills and technical knowledge in advising clients with increasingly complex cloud environments.

 

“WatServ works with a global network of enterprise clients who rely on the company’s knowledge of Azure and expertise to deliver creative cloud solutions and cloud strategy programs.”

 
 

WatServ’s mandate is to begin each client engagement with purpose. The company invests the time to ask the right questions to the right stakeholders, resulting in the implementation of the right cloud solutions. Dave Lacey, Chief Executive Officer of WatServ states, “WatServ works with a global network of enterprise clients who rely on the company’s knowledge of Azure and expertise to deliver creative cloud solutions and cloud strategy programs. The WatServ team has proven to be a reliable and skilled partner evidenced through the company’s industry experience, successful cloud implementations, and customer support programs. We are honoured to achieve the Gold Cloud Platform Competency for Microsoft Azure and look forward to working with our partners through their digital transformations.”

“By achieving a Gold competency, partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the latest Microsoft technology,” said Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner (OCP) at Microsoft Corp. “These partners have a deep expertise that puts them in the top of our partner ecosystem, and their proficiency will help customers drive innovative solutions.”

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.​

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

WatServ Unveils Brookfield Partnership

WatServ Unveils Brookfield Partnership

By WatServ
December 1, 2015

WatServ is pleased to officially announce the Brookfield Partnership – WatServ is now backed by the private equity arm of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager.

With Brookfield’s support, WatServ will continue to expand its business as one of the largest, most experienced providers of Managed Cloud Computing solutions for Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM applications on both Microsoft Azure and WatServ Private Cloud.

The WatServ name and management team will remain the same, as does our commitment to be best-in-class suppliers of hosted Microsoft Dynamics AX, hosted Dynamics NAV, hosted Dynamics GP, hosted Dynamics CRM. In addition to the existing ongoing expansion of service offerings for Managed Azure, Office 365, and CRM Online, the Brookfield Partnership provides WatServ with the resources to grow its business at a significantly accelerated pace, and, more importantly, with the guidance of an organization with an enviable record of investment success.

WatServ is pleased to officially announce the Brookfield Partnership – WatServ is now backed by the private equity arm of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager.

With Brookfield’s support, WatServ will continue to expand its business as one of the largest, most experienced providers of Managed Cloud Computing solutions for Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM applications on both Microsoft Azure and WatServ Private Cloud.

The WatServ name and management team will remain the same, as does our commitment to be best-in-class suppliers of hosted Microsoft Dynamics AX, hosted Dynamics NAV, hosted Dynamics GP, hosted Dynamics CRM. In addition to the existing ongoing expansion of service offerings for Managed Azure, Office 365, and CRM Online, the Brookfield Partnership provides WatServ with the resources to grow its business at a significantly accelerated pace, and, more importantly, with the guidance of an organization with an enviable record of investment success.

WatServ is based in Waterloo, Ontario, with U.S. offices in Southfield, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and a U.K. office in Reading.

Brookfield is based in Toronto and is a global alternative asset manager with approximately $225 billion in assets under management. The company has more than a 100-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on property, renewable energy, infrastructure and private equity. Brookfield offers a range of public and private investment products and services, and is co-listed on the New York, Toronto and Euronext stock exchanges.

Sagen case study whitepaper

CASE STUDY

Sagen is Digital Ready for the Future with WatServ Providing Cloud & Cybersecurity

WatServ demonstrates best-in-class capability and market leadership through proven technology and customer commitment.​

About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.