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We are seeing a flurry of M&A activity in the market, as companies look to rapidly scale and embrace emerging technologies as key drivers towards growth. At a time when skills shortages and other conditions make organic growth challenging, acquisitions represent the best opportunity for organisations to strengthen their position.
This trend makes the CIO’s role in shaping the company’s direction more critical than before. In a recent report, IDC noted: “As a strategic and critical thinker for the organisation, the CIO is uniquely positioned to identify leverage and see opportunities that more linear business leaders might miss.”
One thing that often gets overlooked in the excitement of an acquisition is how it impacts partners. Given that acquisitions come with some substantial change, understanding how to remain in alignment with new visions and business goals can be difficult.
One acquisition that stood out was of cloud distributor, rhipe, by global IT services firm Crayon . It demonstrates how these deals can positively impact not just the business, but its partners as well.
Is M&A a risk to partners?
When M&A activity is announced, it often sparks a mix of excitement and concern among channel partners. As Rhonda Robati, Executive Vice President, APAC, Crayon, said; “If the acquisition goes well, the channel gains access to broader solutions, greater opportunities for growth, and access to new resources.”
“On the other hand, acquisitions may mean an overhaul of existing partner approaches or the streamlining of portfolios; these often have a significant impact on the channel relationship and how they conduct business.”
For channel partners, the question often boils down to how the M&A will affect their ability to serve their customers effectively. Will it lead to a broader portfolio of products and services? Will there be disruptions in pricing models or support structures? Or will it empower them to become a more comprehensive solution provider?
How Crayon-rhipe continue to disrupt traditional distribution models
In the case of the Crayon-rhipe integration, the outlook is positive. By integrating rhipe’s established regional channel expertise with Crayon’s global resources and innovative solutions, the combined entity demonstrates how M&A can create positive disruption and help partners find new ways to deliver enhanced value for partners.
One of the key benefits is the new tools that partners can leverage to succeed within the increasingly digital business landscape. The combined Crayon-rhipe entity has new programmes to uplift channel partners and help them navigate economic uncertainty, stringent budgets, and talent shortages.
This is important as channel partners need to evolve into one-stop shops for their customers. Just as there is M&A among vendors, there is a lot of activity within the channel itself right now as well.
“We’re seeing that partners are actively looking to grow by building holistic solutions so they can provide everything a customer needs, from cloud deployment to IT management,” Robati said. “As a vendor, we produce solutions that can provide this, which becomes enormously beneficial to our partners and aligns closely with their business objectives.”
Through Crayon’s channel organisation, partners can access a more comprehensive suite of services, a global footprint with local expertise, and a partner-centric approach that prioritises the success of its partners. This also means profitable pricing models robust technical support, and opportunities for upskilling.
Disrupting the value of traditional distributors
One of the most exciting aspects of Crayon’s channel operation is the potential to disrupt the value offered by traditional distributors. By unifying leading cloud distribution with global IT services, Crayon aims to redefine what channel partners can expect from their distributor. This includes ramping up the number of new services available to partners such as cloud cost optimisation, a critical need in today’s market.
Crayon’s established track record in IT cost optimisation is now being leveraged to bring new cloud cost optimisation services to the channel. This is just one example of how this integration creates new opportunities for channel partners to differentiate themselves and deliver greater value to their customers.
Commitment to Partner Success
Crayon’s commitment to partner success goes beyond financial gains. The company is investing in expanding partner-focused programs, ensuring that partners have the resources and support they need to succeed, however, they define success. This includes value-adding initiatives such as the Partner Advisory Council (PAC), ISV Innovation Hub, Tech for Good and Enablement Hub, and Partner to Partner Programs .
Crayon has now finalised the integration with rhipe, and partners are receiving the full suite of benefits the integration has been building towards. It’s not always easy to take two substantial companies and merge them in a way that they can forge a new pathway and vision without pushing business partners to the side, but with Crayon it has been a pure case of added value for customers and, through that, the partners.
Learn more about how Crayon can help you compete and win in a cloud-powered world here.