blueAPACHE partners with ControlUp on managed services

blueAPACHE has formed a strategic partnership with ControlUp, making blueAPACHE ControlUp's strategic delivery partner in the region.

Under the arrangement, blueAPACHE will embed ControlUp ONE into its managed services and offer the platform as a standalone product for mid-market organisations. The agreement is aimed at customers across the region, with blueAPACHE progressively rolling out the model in Australia.

The partnership centres on software that gives IT teams real-time data on device health, application performance and user experience. blueAPACHE said the addition will change how its service desk handles customer support by giving agents access to a user's recent experience history before a ticket is raised.

That includes visibility into performance trends, prior incidents and the condition of end-user devices. The system can also detect some issues and trigger automated fixes, reducing the number of cases that need manual intervention.

The agreement reflects a wider shift in managed services as providers move from reactive support to more automated operations. For mid-market customers, that often means greater pressure on service providers to identify and resolve problems before they disrupt staff or business systems.

blueAPACHE is using ControlUp ONE as part of a broader reworking of its managed services business. The move is intended to push beyond traditional monitoring and patching into support based on the experience of each user and device.

Michael Zuppa, chief executive officer at blueAPACHE, outlined how the company sees that change.

"This is about being able to visually present value back to customers in a way that is meaningful to them. Customers no longer simply want incidents resolved. They want problems detected and, wherever possible, fixed before they are even aware there was one. We are lifting managed services to an even higher standard beyond just monitoring, with capabilities that are contextual and centred on the actual experience, application performance and device health of every user, not just incidents and patch management. This is what customers should expect from their managed services partner," Zuppa said.

ControlUp, which sells software for digital employee experience and endpoint operations, said the arrangement goes beyond a conventional reseller agreement. It is integrating the platform into blueAPACHE's operating model rather than simply adding another product to a sales catalogue.

For customers that run their own IT teams, blueAPACHE will also resell ControlUp ONE directly. In that form, the product will be offered for endpoint monitoring and automation, alongside patch management and application layer management.

Operational shift

Managed services providers are under pressure to prove they can run large environments with more automation and stronger visibility into day-to-day end-user issues. That is particularly relevant in organisations with distributed workforces, virtual desktops, and a mix of managed devices and applications.

blueAPACHE said it chose ControlUp partly for its strength in virtual desktop infrastructure, an area where the Australian company already has experience through work with Citrix and Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop environments. It also cited ControlUp's expansion into endpoint technology and managed services.

The service provider is running ControlUp ONE in its own environment before taking it to customers. That approach allows it to test and refine features internally before they are used in client settings.

Regional role

The companies described the arrangement as a mutual investment, with blueAPACHE contributing integration and operational expertise and ControlUp providing the software platform. The partnership also gives ControlUp a delivery partner in the region as it seeks to expand in the mid-market.

Bob Johnson, SVP, global partners and alliances at ControlUp, said the company sees blueAPACHE as well placed to help build that presence.

"blueAPACHE is exactly the type of partner we need in this region. They understand what it takes to deliver managed services at scale, and they have the technical depth to embed our platform properly rather than just resell it. Managed services are moving quickly from reactive support to proactive, AI-driven endpoint management, and we are seeing demand for managed extended experience grow quickly across the mid-market. Partners and alliances are how we meet that demand. blueAPACHE is a strong partner to build that capability here," Johnson said.