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​MOQdigital - Thinking outside of the Microsoft box

MOQdigital CEO, Nicki Page, explains how the Australian company held its own on the global stage.
MOQdigital CEO, Nicki Page, honoured by Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto

MOQdigital CEO, Nicki Page, honoured by Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto

Following a week of big picture messaging from the Microsoft hierarchy, grounded in digital transformation and a changing ecosystem, the Australian channel held its own on the global stage, demonstrated through its latest top-performing partner.

Recognised on stage during the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, MOQdigital took out the 2016 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award for Australia, among a global field of leading partners globally.

“This builds credibility with our customers and helps promote the solutions that we build for the market,” MOQdigital CEO, Nicki Page, told ARN.

“The award recognises those that think outside the box, continually innovating and going that extra mile, particularly due to the evolving rate of Cloud technologies.”

While awards and recognition aren’t Page’s primary motivators for getting out of bed every morning, such accolades offer ongoing validation, reenforcing the company’s roadmap for the future.

As explained by Page, MOQdigital’s capabilities range from consulting, building smart Cloud integration solutions and managed services for infrastructure, applications and data.

But while the name MOQdigital is new to the market, the company has been partnering with Microsoft for over a decade, leveraging a long-standing relationship within the Australian channel.

“With every relationship, you get back what you put in,” Page said. “As a CEO I’ve always believed in treating all of our partners exactly the same as we do our customers. Be human first, business person second.

“Our relationship with Microsoft has built up over ten years. We always strive to make a difference for our joint customers and sincerely value the relationships that we have.

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t challenge some of the technology roadmaps and initiatives as any true partnership should but hopefully they appreciate our honesty as together we want the best outcome for our customers’ every time.”

Satya Nadella - CEO, Microsoft
Satya Nadella - CEO, Microsoft

The making of MOQdigital

Fresh from merging Technology Effect, an infrastructure system integrator, with application integration platform, Breeze, the rejuvenated MOQdigital has continued its ongoing expansion in Australia through acquisition, signing off on a double deal in early 2016.

In bringing on board Tetran, an elite managed services company and Skoolbag, an education platform for over 2500 schools in Australia, Page said the acquisitions combine to create an “end to end” service for customers both at home and overseas.

“From the technology user right through to data insights whilst building the recurring revenue through managed services and commercialised IP,” Page explained.

For Page, bringing all of the business devisions together, rebranding as MOQdigital and a reverse listing on the stock exchange under Montech (MOQ) has represented a period of great change for the Sydney-based company.
“Having the right experience at the board level has been critical to our success along with a strong management team all working together to make it happen,” she explained.
“Together with Tetran we were winning business before we completed the merge transaction through our new managed services capabilities, which has allowed us to expand our offering on a global scale, providing 24/7 coverage with operational excellence.
“We’re now building onto Skoolbag’s current deployment in Australia, turning it in to a platform of choice for parents, teachers and schools by adding significant value with new features and integration with partners.”
Looking ahead, Page said growth will be realised through “bedding down and integrating” the combined businesses, leveraging new capabilities across the different states and countries while offering customers more in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
“We also plan to continue to grow our own IP, especially Skoolbag by building out the platform, adding rich features and partner integration in the education vertical,” she added.
To read more, check out the July issue of ARN magazine.
James Henderson attended 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto as a guest of Microsoft.