Crayon: Crayon reaffirms commitment to partners amid AI and data disruption

Crayon has assured its channel partners that it is "still here" and wants to see partners thrive at a time when disruption with data and artificial intelligence requires an open mind and an ability to evolve.The distributor wants to see partners "thrive" and continually engage with them to understand and add value where they can, said Warren Nolan, Crayon's APAC senior vice president strategy and channel.Nolan told ARN it wanted its partners to know that the distributor is "here to help and "they know" that Crayon is "different than what they might experience elsewhere"."We care and we want to work out where we can add value to them," he said.When approached about how local channel partners have reacted to news of the sale between SoftwareOne and Crayon, Nolan said he had not heard anything negative."To be honest with you, I've had no partner question us in regard to that, other than whether or not it's going to happen," he said. "We all know what we've read in the press, and that's as much as we can say."ARN reported in December 2024 the two had agreed to a merger, forming a combined entity with a total revenue of 1.6 billion Swiss Francs (CHF) (A$2.85 billion) and presence across more than 70 countries and around 13,000 employees.Under the agreement, SoftwareOne will launch a recommended voluntary stock and cash offer to acquire all outstanding shares in Crayon in accordance with the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.Nolan said Crayon and its partners were focused on the disruption in the market around data and AI, with customers having "FOMO" if they haven't got an AI solution or application."The reality is that they're not necessarily ready for that," he said. "That's where the disruption is coming, where the opportunity is coming and where our partners need to be prepared to listen to their customers."At the same time, Nolan cautioned, they need to be pragmatic around customer readiness and how they can help them get there."In there lies the opportunity for the partner, the ability to assess whether the customer's environment is ready," he said. "If their data management, organisational architecture, etc., needs to be reviewed and restructured, that presents an opportunity."Security is the next step in helping customers, as Nolan explained, in today's world of privacy issues and breaches, a lot of security is about protecting against antagonists and bad actors trying to get in."The reality is that if you allow unvetted, non-compliant installation of data and AI third-party applications, you're actually enabling data to be sent out," he said."If you don't have the right protocols, policies, and security measures in place, you become vulnerable."That's where partners need to be open and prepared to evolve their business-by providing those services."Nolan said the distributor has security services that it offers partners and that's becoming increasingly more and more in demand."Where we provide security assessments for their customers on their behalf," he said. "Not every partner is incorporating or building out a security practice, per se, but they're partnering with other partners and partnering with Crayon."This speaks to a growth mindset in the ability to be open to bring others into the conversation around security if it not partner's specialty, but they know their customer needs it."[Be] able to bring in another provider [and] be the conduit of that service," Nolan said. "As [the] trusted advisor, that's what I'm doing."Nolan said that disruption is all around, but it was also an opportunity. He believes what's happening with data and AI is encouraging people to question their environment and their solutions fit for purpose.That disruption is something that confronts the whole industry and not just its "partners in the channel"."You need to be open to change and changing expectations of our customers in terms of what they require from us," he said. "Their business has changed and their customers... whether it be a retail business... or how they go to market." "That disruption is creating opportunity, and we just shouldn't get bogged down in it's only a data and AI, opportunity. It's what else is happening as a result of that disruption."Crayon is also looking to help their partners managing their software, Crayon APAC executive vice president Rhonda Robati said during her keynote speech at the Risk and Resilience conference."I know many of you in the room use the tool we have today called Prism, and I know some of you are looking at our Cloud IQ platform," she said. "I know that Prism hasn't delivered all that you wanted."We didn't develop it over the last year or so, we've been focusing on building this next-generation tool."This tool has been rolled out, deployed, and executed with its partners in Southeast Asia.For Australia and New Zealand, its teams are starting to work with partners, asking for their help with this new platform."We're pretty excited about it delivering everything you need," she said. "It allows you to procure the software you need and get all the data required to make informed decisions for your business and research."