The combination brings together complementary expertise, technology capabilities, vendor relationships, and services to create a stronger channel proposition for partners across the region
SoftwareOne, a global provider of software and cloud solutions, and Crayon have announced the completion of the integration of their channel businesses across APAC under the SoftwareOne brand, bringing together two established technology organizations to create a broader and more connected channel business for partners across the region.
WHAT THE INTEGRATION BRINGS
The combination brings together complementary strengths from both organizations, including established partner relationships, technology expertise, vendor relationships, and capabilities across software asset management, cloud, cybersecurity, data and AI, and managed and technical services.
The result is a single SoftwareOne channel business with broader capabilities and access to a wider technology ecosystem, while maintaining the partner relationships and customer ownership that have been central to both organizations. For partners, the combination is designed to make more expertise, services, and opportunities available through the relationships they already have.
“This is an important step in bringing together two strong channel businesses with complementary strengths,” said Varun Paliwal, president of APAC at SoftwareOne. “Crayon and SoftwareOne have both built strong partner relationships and deep technology capabilities across the region. By bringing those strengths together, we can offer partners greater breadth of services and opportunities, while retaining the local expertise and relationships that make the channel work.
“For us, the measure of success is not simply the scale of the combined business. It is whether we can create more services opportunities for our partners, help them respond to their customers and support them as they grow. That is what this combination is ultimately about.”
The integration brings together two businesses with capabilities across different parts of the technology ecosystem. SoftwareOne brings its global scale, technology vendor ecosystem, and established capabilities across software, cloud, and IT portfolio management, alongside advisory, managed, and implementation services. Crayon brings established channel relationships and expertise across cloud, software, data and AI, as well as its experience working with partners across APAC. Together, these capabilities create a broader platform for partners to access technology expertise, services, and commercial opportunities.
MORE SPECIALISTS FOR MORE COMPLEX DEALS
The combination also means partners can draw on a larger pool of specialist resources as customer requirements become more complex. This includes solution architects, security and vendor specialists, bid support, practice development, and technical expertise across areas including cloud, security, AI, and productivity. Rather than requiring partners to build every specialist capability themselves, these resources can be brought into opportunities and practices where additional expertise is required.
“Bringing these businesses together gives us the opportunity to put more capability behind our partners. They can continue to work with the people and relationships they know, while gaining access to a broader range of expertise and services.
“Whether a partner is looking to develop a new practice, pursue a more complex opportunity or extend what they can deliver to an existing customer, we can bring additional capabilities to the table. The ambition is to make our partners more capable and help them pursue opportunities they may not have been able to pursue on their own.” [Attribution to be confirmed with SoftwareOne.]
WHY NOW
The combination comes as technology customers increasingly manage interconnected requirements across cloud, software, cybersecurity, data, and AI, and as technology budgets soar. IDC expects ICT spending in the region to reach USD647 billion in 2026, with spending on AI and generative AI projected to reach USD370 billion by 2029, a 38.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
As enterprises move from AI experimentation to scaled deployment, technology partners are increasingly expected to deliver not just access to technology, but the expertise, services, and commercial models needed to turn ambition into business value. This shift, and the complexity it brings, is driving Crayon and SoftwareOne to combine their channel businesses. For partners, this creates significant opportunities to expand their businesses, but also increases the breadth of expertise and services required to support customers throughout the technology lifecycle.
A PARTNER-FIRST SERVICES MODEL
SoftwareOne’s services model supports delivery to, through, and with partners. This includes services that can be delivered under a partner’s own brand, as well as collaborative delivery where SoftwareOne and the partner work together on larger or more complex engagements. This allows partners to extend their offerings without necessarily having to build every capability, hire every specialist, or establish every delivery function themselves.
The model is intended to complement rather than compete with the partner’s own business. The partner retains ownership of the customer relationship, while SoftwareOne provides additional capability where it can add value.
That principle is reflected in SoftwareOne’s broader approach to distribution, which puts partner growth at the center of the relationship rather than focusing solely on individual transactions. The model is built around understanding a partner’s business, growth objectives, target markets, and services, and aligning relevant sales, technical, and advisory resources to those objectives.
A WIDER ECOSYSTEM
The combination also expands the ecosystem available to partners. SoftwareOne operates in more than 70 countries with around 12,000 people and maintains relationships across the global technology vendor landscape. Through this ecosystem, partners can access vendor programs, specialist expertise, and connections with other organizations that can help them pursue opportunities beyond their existing capabilities. The broader ecosystem can be particularly relevant when customers require multiple areas of expertise.
SoftwareOne’s Partner Connections program, for example, connects resellers with specialist delivery partners, enabling organizations to collaborate on opportunities that may be difficult for one partner to pursue independently. Its ISV Innovation Hub supports partners looking to commercialize their own intellectual property through vendor marketplaces, incentives, and development support.
The combined channel will also continue to support partner enablement, including market insight, vendor program guidance, certifications, and practice development. The objective is to help partners turn technology developments and changing customer requirements into sustainable business opportunities.
GLOBAL SCALE, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
For APAC, the combination brings together greater global scale with established local relationships and market expertise. The region encompasses markets with different levels of technology maturity, regulatory requirements, customer needs, and routes to market. A single channel organization can provide access to global technology capabilities and resources while continuing to work through local teams that understand the markets and partners they serve.
“APAC is a region where local context matters. Partners need access to global technology and expertise, but they also need people who understand their market, their customers and the way they operate,” said Paliwal.
“Bringing Crayon and SoftwareOne together gives us an opportunity to combine those strengths. We can bring greater scale and breadth to the relationship without losing the local knowledge and partner relationships that have made both businesses successful.”
WHAT STAYS THE SAME FOR PARTNERS
While the combination creates a broader channel business, the partner’s fundamental role remains unchanged. Partners retain ownership of their customer relationships, while gaining access to additional expertise, services, and technology capabilities through SoftwareOne.
This includes SoftwareOne’s Cloud-iQ platform, which helps partners simplify the operational complexity of managing cloud and software subscriptions through capabilities including subscription management, automated billing, usage intelligence, and business insights. Together, the combined capabilities give partners additional ways to build their businesses, whether by developing new practices, extending services, accessing specialist expertise, pursuing more complex opportunities, or using technology to simplify their own operations.
The integration of the Crayon channel business into SoftwareOne therefore represents more than a change of brand. It brings together two established channel businesses into one organization with broader capabilities, a wider ecosystem, and greater resources available to the partners it serves.
“The most important thing is that the combination creates more possibilities for our partners. We can bring more expertise into their opportunities, more services into their portfolio and more connections into their ecosystem.
“If our partners are able to grow, win new opportunities and deliver more value to their customers, then the combination is doing what we intended it to do,” said Vikas Bhonsle, head of channel for APAC.
SoftwareOne has a presence in more than 70 countries and around 12,000 professionals, with access to more than 7,500 software vendors through its global marketplace. The company provides expertise across software, cloud, cybersecurity, AI, and IT portfolio management, supported by advisory, managed, and implementation services.
To learn more, visit softwareone.com.