EfficientEther and 10ZiG partnership
A better Windows 365 business case starts at both ends.
The Cloud PC decision stalls in two places at once: no usage evidence to size and cost it, and an endpoint estate that never joins the case. EtherInsights brings the evidence, and 10ZiG Technology closes the endpoint side.
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The challenge
Why the Windows 365 business case stalls
The Cloud PC model is compelling, but IT leaders and MSPs face three hurdles when the case reaches approval.
The endpoint cost stays exactly where it was
A general-purpose Windows PC in front of a Cloud PC can leave refresh, servicing and support effort unchanged. The endpoint estate never joins the business case, so the saving on paper is smaller than the saving on the invoice.
Sizing starts as an assumption, not as evidence
Without usage evidence, teams can overbuy, undersize or choose the wrong desktop model. The economic benefit erodes before the rollout finishes, and nobody can say which assumption caused it.
Renewal evidence gets rebuilt from scratch each time
Licence, endpoint and support figures are reassembled at every renewal instead of reviewed against a retained baseline. The same work is paid for twice, and the numbers rarely reconcile with last year.
A better Windows 365 business case starts at both ends: evidence for the Cloud PC decision, and a managed endpoint to deliver it. EtherInsights and 10ZiG Technology close both gaps in one defensible case.
The solution
Each part owns one piece of the same decision
A defensible decision shows the current cost, the proposed route, the transition work and the evidence reviewed after rollout. EtherInsights, Windows 365 and 10ZiG each own one part of that case.
EtherInsights The evidence layer
Plan, size and compare cost by user group, review provisioning, and retain configuration evidence through the lifecycle. Show the assumptions, not just the total: cost by user group across the current and proposed routes, an Azure Virtual Desktop or VDI baseline kept visible, and right-sizing evidence that challenges both overbuying and undersizing.
Windows 365 The service and control plane
Microsoft remains the service and control plane. Match Windows 365 Enterprise or Flex to each user group, with Azure Virtual Desktop kept as a visible baseline so the alternative is never argued from memory.
10ZiG The managed endpoint
Choose purpose-built, long lifespan, energy efficient 10ZiG Thin Clients, Zero Clients, or 10ZiG RepurpOS to convert suitable x86 PCs and laptops into secure, lightweight endpoints. Manage the whole estate through the 10ZiG Manager, free with no user or device limit, as a Windows Server or Linux Virtual Appliance.
Take it to the approval group
The whole model on three pages
The co-branded brief lays out the challenge, the operating model, the four-step decision process and the evidence each stakeholder needs. Send it to your finance lead before the next review.
The decision process
Four steps that turn a preference into a decision
Work through them per user group rather than across the estate. Each step produces something the next one needs.
Profile the work
Record applications, peripherals, performance, concurrency, persistence and the current endpoint for each group of people.
Choose the endpoint
Compare 10ZiG hardware with RepurpOS for suitable devices, including the security position and the transition effort each route carries.
Choose the desktop
Compare Windows 365 Enterprise, Windows 365 Flex and Azure Virtual Desktop by user group rather than across the estate as a whole.
Validate and operate
Test the experience, confirm sizing and cost against real usage, name the owner and retain the evidence for the next review.
What the approval group needs
Choose the route by user group, then validate it in your own estate
Current cost, proposed route, transition work and the evidence reviewed after rollout, all on one comparable term.
Evidence each stakeholder can use
- Finance
- Cost per user group, the refresh assumption, transition cost and the review term.
- IT operations
- Endpoint route, Cloud PC sizing, provisioning and the management owner.
- Security
- Endpoint controls, configuration baseline, drift and accepted exceptions.
- Service owner or MSP
- A forwardable approval record, named actions and a repeatable review.
Decision criteria
- Commercial case
- Current and target cost on the same term, with transition work shown separately.
- Operational fit
- Applications, peripherals, Teams experience, performance and manageability.
- Rollout and renewal
- Usage-supported sizing, named owners, review dates and clear terms.
- Forwardable decision record
- User group, route, cost, endpoint, test result, owner, conditions and decision date.
Four questions, one comparable term
What does each group cost today? What will the route cost? What one-off work remains? How will the result be verified? Finance needs the assumptions behind the total, and a review date the programme can be held to.
Who this is designed for
MSPs and IT teams with about 50 to 600 users per tenant, persistent Cloud PCs and ageing endpoints. Evaluate Windows 365 Flex separately for non-concurrent use, and Azure Virtual Desktop for multi-session or RemoteApp.
Solution brief
10ZiG and EtherInsights Solutions Brief
Three pages covering the challenge, the complementary operating model, the four-step decision process, and the evidence each stakeholder needs. Written to be forwarded to a finance lead, not filed.
- Windows 365 business case
- Cloud PC sizing evidence
- Thin client endpoints
- Windows 365 Enterprise and Flex
Build the cost case before you buy
Start with a directional estimate, then validate endpoint, user group and trial assumptions in your own estate. EtherInsights runs the same comparison against your real tenant.
About the partnership
EfficientEther is a UK software company whose EtherInsights platform manages Microsoft 365 and Azure cost and the full Windows 365 Cloud PC lifecycle. 10ZiG Technology builds purpose-built Thin Clients and Zero Clients, 10ZiG RepurpOS for suitable x86 devices, and the 10ZiG Manager console. EfficientEther is part of the 10ZiG Ready partner programme, and the two companies work together so a Cloud PC decision can be sized, costed and delivered without the endpoint estate sitting outside the case.