From Crayon To SoftwareOne: What The Channel Rebrand Means For Partners Across APAC

What the SoftwareOne Rebrand Means for Partners Across APAC

Crayon, a SoftwareOne company, is rebranding to SoftwareOne in October—marking a new chapter in the growth journey of one of the world’s leading software and cloud solution providers, and its channel partners. Operating in more than 70 countries, SoftwareOne hopes the new move will allow them to deliver even greater value for their clients, partners, and shareholders.

CRN’s Matt Harris sat down with Vikas Bhonsle, Head of Channel APAC at SoftwareOne, to talk about how SoftwareOne’s rebrand marks a new chapter of value for the channel ecosystem.

MATT: Crayon is in the midst of a rebrand to SoftwareOne. Could you tell us a bit more around the reasons behind this change, and what SoftwareOne’s vision for the channel is as you begin this new chapter?

VIKAS: If you really look at what we are able to do together as one company, we've built a powerhouse in software, cloud and data. We're now a $20 billion-plus organisation spanning over 70 countries. It's a massive integration for the company. Our intent is to go to market with the combined strengths we bring across data, AI, cybersecurity, digital workplace and more.

What's really not changed for our partners is how we work with them. The same people are working with our partners, we're maintaining the same relationships, and we continue to put our partners at the forefront of everything we do. Nothing in that sense has changed.

We will continue investing in our partners to help them grow their portfolios with hyperscalers across AI, security and business applications. With the larger entity, we now have more scale, deeper expertise, broader services and a much bigger ecosystem that our partners are exposed to. The relationships remain the same, the trust remains the same, but now we can help partners win larger opportunities and accelerate customer success in the market.

Of course, it’s not just a name change. What differences can partners expect to see moving forward, and what does it mean for them?

The change is all very positive. If you look at the portfolio partners now have access to, it's incredibly broad. It spans cost optimisation, FinOps, cloud, cloud migration, security, business applications, data, AI and more. We and our partners have never had access to such a broad portfolio as they do today.

A lot of partners I meet want access to global markets, and we have significantly expanded our geographic reach through the integration. We also have stronger vendor relationships. Between the two businesses, we now have more than 1,000 OEM relationships, alongside our strategic relationships with hyperscalers and tier-one vendors.

Those relationships bring increased investments that help us drive partner enablement, partner marketing and co-selling opportunities across the region. Our value focused model doesn't change, and partners will see more skin in the game from our side. They will also see us helping them build repeatable cloud and AI solutions and helping them create their own IP.

I also wanted to ask you more specifically about APAC. What are some of the current trends and shifts in the region that you’ve noticed, and how is SoftwareOne positioned to best meet these developments?

There are two key themes and everything really sits between them. They also form the basis of our global strategy. Our strategy is what we call "optimise to innovate". At a high level, we help customers take cost out of their operations and then reinvest those savings into innovative solutions such as data and AI.

When I meet customers and partners across APAC, these two topics come up constantly. Customers tell me: "I have a lot of cost. I need to take cost out. My budgets are not increasing, but I still need to innovate. Where will I get the money from?" I haven't been part of a CIO conversation where cost optimisation hasn't come up.

At the same time, AI is no longer a shiny toy. It's moving beyond experimentation and customers are asking what measurable business outcomes it can deliver. They're looking for operational efficiencies, automation, better insights and tangible results.

Customers are also looking at end-to-end modernisation. They want to move to the cloud, optimise their environments, secure them, manage them effectively and then use their data to become truly data-driven enterprises. That's what we're seeing right across APAC.

Ultimately, customer needs are consistent across the market. By understanding those needs more clearly, we can better support our partners and help them create new revenue streams as they respond to evolving customer demand.

With our expanded portfolio, strong APAC presence, deep relationships with hyperscalers and OEMs, and ability to work closely alongside partners, we are well positioned to help them become trusted end-to-end IT advisers and innovation partners for their customers.

So far we've helped partners transform from hardware-focused businesses into cloud and AI-focused solution providers, and we'll continue helping them build the skills and capabilities they need to drive customer transformation.

That's what gives us an edge in the market today.

As Crayon moves forward as SoftwareOne, what message would you personally give to partners across APAC about the opportunities ahead, and how SoftwareOne plans to support the ecosystem in the months and years ahead?

My message to our partners is simple: your success remains our success.

As we move forward as SoftwareOne, we are bringing together the best of both organisations to create even greater value for our partners. The same trusted partner-led approach is now backed by greater scale, deeper expertise and unlimited opportunities across cloud, security, AI and digital workplace.

The opportunity ahead is significant. AI is reshaping every industry, but real success will come from helping customers adopt it responsibly, securely and at scale. We believe the winners will be those who combine technology with strong partnerships, and we are committed to helping our ecosystem build the skills, solutions and services needed to lead this transformation, and our combined capabilities with SoftwareOne position us extremely well to support our partners in this.

Across APAC, our commitment is to invest for the long term co-innovating with partners, enabling new capabilities, sharing opportunities, and helping accelerate customer outcomes together. We don't see partners simply as part of our route to market; we see them as an extension of our team and a critical driver of innovation across the region.

My message to partners is that together we are stronger than ever before after this integration, and we're committed to helping them grow and succeed in the years ahead.

Crayon Channel is becoming SoftwareOne in APAC. Read more here: https://www.softwareone.com/en/now/crayon-channel-is-becoming-softwareone-in-apac-partner-update