Telstra's cloud channel manager has joined Artis Group

Sydney-headquartered solutions provider Artis Group has named Mark Duckworth as its national manager for cloud productivity.

Duckworth was Telstra's national channel manager for cloud solutions for almost three years. Prior to that he was the telco's senior channel specialist for more than four years.

Duckworth has also worked for Microsoft and will be responsible for driving Artis' Microsoft cloud solution provider business across the country.

Artis chief executive Chris Greatrex said: "We've got the 'A team' and we've hired the guy that effectively introduced Office 365 into Australia in order to best service our customers."

Duckworth had two passages through Microsoft. The first was between 1998-2000 as a business development manager, and his second time was between 2007-2009 as Dynamics business partner manager. During his second run at Microsoft, Duckworth was responsible for achieving 115 percent of the Microsoft Dynamics partner team target for the 2009 financial year.

Artis, a Microsoft gold partner, is also introducing a technology and innovation fund (TIF) that customers can use towards services, licences, software development and hardware. TIF is made possible through the Microsoft CSP program.

The solutions provider also has an online application development and support centre (ADSC) with 24-hour availability.

"The TIF leverages direct robust support service from our ADSC which alleviates IT challenges, greatly enhances their overall business productivity and gives them the comfort knowing that Artis is their trusted provider," Duckworth said.

The executive said this was the right time for businesses looking for a complete integrated business solution "encompassing Office 365, Dynamics CRM, Financials, Analytics and Azure all integrated and supported by the one provider".

Artis wants to take its Microsoft cloud business solution to mid-market customers.