
Insights
Tech Buying Budgets for SMBs on the Rise
SMBs across the APAC are not just increasing their technology investments—they are making strategic, forward-thinking moves to position themselves for long-term growth.
Partner Spotlight Series
In this Partner Spotlight, the Crayon editorial team sat with founder and CEO of Cytrack Intelligence Systems, Nick Milan to explore his channel growth objectives as a Microsoft Gold ISV and how these are supported through Crayon’s ISV Innovation Hub program.
Founded in 1995, Cytrack is a mature Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that offers a modular suite of software, API’s and services that build upon and extend the capabilities of cloud telephony platforms. Its mission to enable businesses of all sizes to deliver exceptional customer experience has established Cytrack as a leader in telephony integration and omni-channel contact centre technology.
Cytrack has been successful at growing its business through integrations with world leading vendors. Its products are OEM’d and distributed by industry giants such as Ericsson-LG, Panasonic and Avaya in over 25 countries.
In parallel, Cytrack is pursuing a channel development strategy by building relationships with the IT and MSP partner community. Specifically, Cytrack aims to raise its presence with partners in the Microsoft channel and the Crayon ISV Innovation Hub presents a clear route for achieving this goal.
I have worked with quite a lot of distributors over the years in various countries and what stuck out was despite Crayon being such a big organisation, we had awesome access to the right people who ensure there are dedicated resources available. We really must shout out to Sahara Gaw, who is our account lead for the ISV Innovation Hub – what a winner she is!
Crayon’s experience working with the Marketplace has been instrumental in helping us to offer smooth and easy processes for our customers and partners. They have been prepared to deeply look at certain challenges in backend processes even if it involved their own changes. That is really important, as while the Microsoft Marketplace is an amazing resource, it requires thought and planning to get flexibility and a great outcome for partners and customers.
They actively market our business internally to their account managers and to their channel partners. We have been involved in many innovative and interesting partner events that have driven engagements on many exciting opportunities. The whole team put a lot of effort into making our relationship a success for us, for them and most importantly for their partners.
One thing I have observed as well is how happy their partners are with Crayon and the relationships the account managers have with those partners. That’s a really important indicator for me and gives me the faith that this will be a tremendous success for us too.
Through the program, we were able to connect with the right people in Crayon to build a flexible and smooth process for the partner and customer that extends from the Microsoft Marketplace to the Crayon partner portal.
We get access to industry professionals who know the Microsoft channel including IT and MSP partners. Having access to that deep experience and guidance on what’s important to Microsoft sellers, how they like to work and what works best means we can sound out ideas and get to the best solution quickly.
As mentioned, the marketing support has been key. Being involved and exposed to many marketing and informative events has enabled us to build a very engaged partner community.
Well, first of all – get involved! The ISV Innovation Hub team will take you on a well-planned journey of best practice for your business and it offers defined outcomes for success.
I do advise others to consider Microsoft’s resources about how to get your products on the Marketplace and also the blueprints they provide on the type of seller and deployment guides you should have in place, and the best practice processes to follow. Microsoft gave us excellent support on that journey and that set us up very well for our engagement with Crayon.
More and more businesses including partners are leaning into online Marketplace’s so integrations with distribution platforms such as Crayon’s PRISM plays a crucial role in modern business engagement. Partners can be assured of cost efficiency, convenience, reliability and trust and streamlined commercial transactions. This makes it simpler for MSPs, IT resellers, systems integrators and others in the channel to provide their customers with exposure and access to innovative solutions such as Cytrack.io – that’s good for the partner and that’s great for us.
Crayon partners can now take advantage of a comprehensive range of solutions from Cytrack, which build on and extend the power of Microsoft Teams. This includes competitive and flexible Microsoft Teams Calling Plans, CRM integration, voice recording and compliance and reporting and analytics.
Cytrack’s partner program provides a wide range of resources, including sales tools, promotional movies, e-learning modules, PowerPoint presentations, and more—designed to help partners effectively market and deploy their solutions. Cytrack also offers Not-For-Resale (NFR) license programs, allowing partners to use their products for demonstration and internal training purposes.
To further support our partners, the Cytrack Assist program provides comprehensive project management, deployment assistance, and training. Whether you’re looking to upskill your team or streamline your product offerings, Cytrack’s resources and Assist program deliver the guidance and tools necessary to help partners drive growth and deliver value to their customers.
We identify ourselves as a focused Microsoft ISV and were honoured as a Microsoft Australia Partner of the Year award winner for Platform Innovation & Excellence. Cytrack has sponsored and exhibited at many annual Microsoft Partner shows both in Australia and US, we had successful integrations with Skype for Business that we built into Microsoft Teams
We published our solutions into the Microsoft Teams store and Marketplace. However, we were still not getting traction with the Microsoft channel. We also felt that we were inexperienced in marketing our business and how to approach it.
Crayon’s ISV Innovation Hub offered us a way to engage through a team that is deeply experienced in working with Microsoft, and a way to connect with an existing network of Microsoft specialised MSPs and resellers.
Insights
SMBs across the APAC are not just increasing their technology investments—they are making strategic, forward-thinking moves to position themselves for long-term growth.
Podcast
Crayon's Global Lead for Hosting Partners, Andreas Bergman joins Microsoft's Hybrid Cloud Partners podcast to share cloud trends from around the world.
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Business
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Guides and eBooks
Top insights from our latest eBook for ISV and SaaS partners.
Guides and eBooks
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News
Crayon expands its ISV Innovation Hub in Asia Pacific, offering APAC Independent Software Vendors unparalleled support in cloud readiness, AI integration, and market expansion.
Blogs
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Case Studies
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Case Studies
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Case Studies
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If you want to learn more about emerging ERP opportunities, download Crayon’s eBook
What are the most critical business objectives and solution adoption priorities for SMBs in our region? Download the latest Forrester study to find out!
Our APAC channel business is now part of a global organisation. That means there is a whole new world of value on offer for our partners. We can help you to tap into all of it.