Microsoft New Zealand approves 9 Spokes as One Commercial Partner
9 Spokes will get assistance tapping into key banking markets following a new partnership with Microsoft.
Business insights company 9 Spokes International (ASX: 9SP) has inked a co-sell partner arrangement with Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner program.
As part of the program, Microsoft incentivises their sales team to co-sell the 9 Spokes platform into key banking communities.
Microsoft’s program, first launched in 2017, generated more than $1 billion in partner revenue in just six months.
The model is focused on helping partners like 9 Spokes enter new markets while scaling rapidly.
This is achieved by tapping into the deep customer relationships and technical expertise of Microsoft’s enterprise sales team.
The program will also see 9 Spokes listed on the online cloud marketplace, Microsoft AppSource Marketplace, providing a channel to grow its own platform base of small business users.
The 9 Spokes dashboard display.
Microsoft New Zealand Country Manager Barrie Sheers said the company was helping its partners get to the same space.
“We want to help out partners build intellectual property that creates demand in the market, either by bridging a technology gap or serving a customer need,” he said.
“When a partner solution has been built, tested, proven and credentialed, we can take this offering to markets across the world by tapping directly into our global customer base”
Accessing new markets
The new agreement comes as 9 Spokes continues to evolve as part of a fast-changing banking technology environment.
Last August, the company signed its fourth global banking partner, OCBC Bank, the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets.
Commenting on the Microsoft deal, 9 Spokes newly appointed chief executive officer Adrian Grant said Microsoft would help reduce some of the challenges involved with accessing new markets.
“The depth of their relationships with global banking clients will prove key to bringing the benefits of the 9 Spokes platform to more banks around the world, many of whom are looking for innovative solutions to drive proactive engagement with their own small business clients,” he said.
“The joint-selling partnership with Microsoft also completes our strategy to align with Microsoft, following our movement to the Microsoft Azure infrastructure in late 2018.”