Johannesburg, 26 Jan 2023
It is generally considered good business sense to work directly with your product suppliers, for reasons including cost and ease of communication. However, Pilot Software – a supplier of point of sale (POS) solutions to restaurants, coffee shops and independent stores – discovered this was not necessarily the case when working with Microsoft.
According to Peter Weldon, Product Manager for Pilot Software, when it came to scaling up services in the cloud space, the company faced an interesting challenge.
“We found that when using the company credit card to purchase Microsoft Azure services, we were unable to consume more than R50 000 worth. This was due to the SA Reserve Bank placing a threshold on import transactions. When this threshold is reached, the Reserve Bank stops the transaction and Microsoft suspends your consumption – leading to service failure,” he explains.
“This was when we spoke to Crimson Line, a Microsoft Azure partner, to see what they could do to help us solve this payment challenge. An additional issue had been that Microsoft’s billing structure meant that sometimes we were being invoiced more than once in a month. Bringing Crimson Line on board not only resolved this problem, but also enabled us to easily make a direct payment to them if our bill was above the Reserve Bank threshold.”
Theo Wilken, Sales Director at Crimson Line, notes there is even more to the partnership than this. When service challenges arise, Pilot Software can now call someone in their own country and get a rapid result – rather than logging a ticket with Microsoft and waiting for them to respond.
“As we are a Microsoft Gold Partner, Pilot can log a ticket with us and we provide first line support, as well as taking control of any escalation to Microsoft’s second- or third-line support, if this is required. We know the right resource to contact, so we can go directly to the relevant expert at Microsoft, thereby reducing any downtime significantly,” he says.
“As part of our partnership with Pilot, we are working with them to optimise their current cloud environment, to assist in driving further adoption of their solutions and to ensure their security is high quality.”
Wilken adds that the Azure environment is growing at a rapid pace, which means it is imperative to have a partner with the relevant certifications and skills. He suggests that Crimson Line not only has these, but their experience in the arena means they already know what works and what doesn’t in this environment, making optimisation a much simpler and easier task.
“From a Crimson Line perspective, we have the right Azure certifications, and we are a Microsoft Gold Partner, which demonstrates we have the skills and expertise to optimise a client’s cloud and deliver the necessary cyber security protections. This is crucial, as cyber security skills are in short supply, so by working with a partner that has the requisite skills, Pilot can focus on its core business.”
Weldon points out that Azure is a tangible benefit to Pilot’s business because it allows the company to build and scale as it needs.
“Of course, with this great scaling power comes the need for great security responsibility. Crimson Line is the perfect partner, helping us make sure our Azure is safe and secure, thanks to their skills and expertise. Moreover, working with a local partner has not only solved our payment and support challenges, but it has also reduced our costs while providing us with local access and insight.”
Wilken agrees, adding that Crimson Line loves working with partners like Pilot Software because they are open to using Azure IaaS to improve the stability and security of their software. The client has also recently moved their Office 365 licensing to Crimson Line.
“It is always great working with a customer who has a strong solution, but when that customer also has the same mindset and similar motivations to succeed, then it truly is a pleasure to work to with them,” he concludes.
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