The two companies have joined forces to offer companies, particularly SMEs and ISEs, managed services for Microsoft Azure public cloud environments (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, AI, big data, IoT, security, etc.) to accelerate their digital transformation.

Grenoble, Paris, September 21th, 2021 – Hardis Group, a consulting firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, and Cellenza, a consulting firm specializing in Microsoft technologies, have joined forces to offer managed services (run) and continuous innovation for the various components of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. By creating Squadra (https://squadra-run.com/), a 50/50 joint venture, the two companies aim to meet a need that is not currently met by offering companies services that go well beyond operational maintenance of Microsoft Azure environments to take full advantage of their potential to create business value.

« Continuous motion run » : going beyond operational maintenance

The creation of this new joint venture was inspired by a twofold observation: companies, particularly SMEs and ISEs, have a growing need for services to ensure the scalability of infrastructure and applications hosted on the Microsoft Azure public cloud, while the run phase is undervalued, even though it is vital when it comes to creating value within this environment and accelerating companies’ digital transformation. “With Squadra, we are committed to providing the French market with an alternative response to the “classic” managed service offerings for Azure environments,” says Simon Berna, Managing Director of Squadra.

Squadra’s flexible, modular services aim to ensure that Microsoft Azure environments are consistently efficient and innovative. There are four main areas of focus:

  • Performance: real-time scaling of IT infrastructure for optimal performance of the information system;
  • Cost control: daily optimization of architecture and monitoring of billing to control costs and environmental impact;
  • Security: governance, platform security, monitoring and alerts, identity management and compliance (GDPR, PCI-DSS, etc.);
  • Innovation: evolution of infrastructure to reflect the needs of SMEs and ISEs, enabling them to achieve their business objectives.

“We are thrilled to welcome Squadra to our ecosystem of Microsoft Azure pure players. This new structure will make it possible to provide added value for the run phase of Azure public cloud environments to take full advantage of them,” says Agnès Van de Walle, Director of Microsoft France’s OCP entity.

Experts in Microsoft Azure environments

Squadra will be managed by Simon Berna, who has spent more than 10 years working for companies specializing in Microsoft environments. At MCNext (acquired by the Econocom group in 2016 to be merged with Infeeny, its Microsoft pure player subsidiary), he rose through the ranks, successively holding the positions of Business Engineer, Regional Director and then Sales Director and member of the Executive Committee that managed the Microsoft partnership. In 2020, he joined Beezy, publisher of a digital workplace application using Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, to establish the brand within the French market.

Squadra aims to develop rapidly and offer its new employees a chance to work on an enjoyable project that requires real expertise.

Thomas Leblanc, Managing Director of Cellenza, and Nicolas Odet, CEO of Hardis Group and Squadra: “With Squadra, we want to shake up the run phase for Microsoft environments to encourage the creation of business value and accelerate companies’ digital transformation, all while limiting the environmental impact of this transformation. Above all, we want to rely on a team of certified and happy runners! Simon shares our views and his solid background in the Microsoft ecosystem will help him meet this new challenge.”