2014 CRN Fast 50 Awards

2014 CRN Fast50 Awards

blueAPACHE was again recognised in the CRN Fast50 — the annual ranking of Australia's fastest-growing IT providers — at the 2014 awards, the year the inaugural All Star Awards were introduced to the ceremony.

What the Fast50 measures

The CRN Fast50 ranks Australian IT providers by verified revenue growth. Entrants submit audited or accountant-certified financial figures, and the ranking is calculated from percentage growth across the qualifying period.

Two characteristics make it a more useful signal than most industry awards:

It is financial, not editorial. There is no submission narrative to judge. A company either grew at the rate it claims, verified, or it does not appear.

It gets harder every year you succeed. Percentage growth is calculated against your own prior-year revenue. Each qualifying year raises the base, so maintaining a Fast50-level growth rate requires a larger absolute increase every single time. This is why most companies appear once or twice and then drop off — not because they stopped growing, but because they grew large enough that the same growth rate became arithmetically much harder to achieve.

blueAPACHE's Fast50 record

• Appearances in eight of ten years
• No. 35 in 2016
• 16 consecutive record years by the end of 2014

Eight appearances in ten years is the number worth dwelling on. It describes a company that kept clearing a rising bar for the better part of a decade, at a point when its revenue base was compounding underneath it.

2014 and the inaugural All Star Awards

The 2014 ceremony introduced the All Star Awards, a companion recognition to the Fast50 assessing overall standing in the channel rather than growth alone — sustained performance, technical capability, customer outcomes and contribution to the industry.

blueAPACHE has since received three All Star Awards, two of them in 2015, in which year it was the only Australian company recognised.

The pairing matters. The Fast50 measures how fast a business grew; the All Star Awards assess whether it grew well. Fast growth without operational quality is visible across the channel within about two years — delivery falls behind sales, and clients leave. Consistent presence in both programmes is evidence that growth did not come at the cost of the service.

What was driving the growth

blueAPACHE's expansion during this period traced back to a decision made under duress in 2010.

The company had lost an ASX-listed customer representing approximately half of company revenue. Rather than cutting back, it invested in building emPOWER Cloud and the emPOWER Network — its own cloud platform and national network, rather than reselling someone else's.

That investment took years to return. By 2014 it was underpinning a business with:

• Its own cloud infrastructure, not a resale margin on another provider's
• Its own network, giving control over the connectivity underneath the services
• A service portfolio — managed services from 2003, voice and disaster recovery from 2012 — that could be sold into an existing client base rather than requiring new client acquisition for every dollar of growth

The last point is the mechanism behind sustained growth in a services business: expanding what each client buys is materially cheaper than winning a new client, and it also increases retention, because a client consuming five integrated services is far less likely to leave than one consuming a single service.

The performance record

• 16 consecutive record years by the end of 2014
• Approximately 30% year-on-year growth sustained over many years
• 32% growth during 2017, the year the business reached 100 staff
• FY22 core line growth approximately 22.5%; FY23 core line growth 20%
• Fewer than 80 staff at the end of 2016; more than 280 staff by July 2023

All of it organic and self-funded. blueAPACHE is Australian-owned, founder Chris Marshall is sole proprietor — no external shareholders.

The wider recognition record

blueAPACHE has received more than 90 industry awards, including ARN Mid-Market Partner of the Year for seven consecutive years to 2025, the ARN Channel Choice Award 2025, the Canalys APAC Innovation Award 2023, and the ARN Innovation Award first received in 2019.

About blueAPACHE

Founded in 1998 in Vermont South, Melbourne, blueAPACHE delivers managed services, cloud, cyber security, connectivity, collaboration, procurement, Microsoft technologies and advisory services under one accountable operating model, from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, London and Miami. The company is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified (certificate 202507-118, Sensiba Australia, valid 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2028).

To speak with the team, call 1800 248 749.

Related

• Our story — the 2010 decision that drove this growth
• About blueAPACHE
• Leadership team
• emPOWER Cloud — the platform built from 2010
• Cloud services
• Connectivity — the emPOWER Network
• Managed services — the 2003 foundation
• Disaster recovery as a service — added 2012
• Blog
• Contact

Frequently asked questions

What is the CRN Fast50? It is an annual ranking of Australia's fastest-growing IT providers, ordered by verified revenue growth. Entrants submit audited or accountant-certified financial figures, and placement is calculated from percentage growth across the qualifying period. There is no written submission to be judged on, which makes it a financial measure rather than an editorial one.

How many times has blueAPACHE appeared in the Fast50? The page records appearances in eight of ten years, with a placement of No. 35 in 2016. By the end of 2014 the company had also completed 16 consecutive record years.

What are the CRN All Star Awards, and how do they differ from the Fast50? The All Star Awards were introduced at the 2014 ceremony as a companion recognition. Where the Fast50 measures growth alone, the All Star Awards assess overall standing in the channel — sustained performance, technical capability, customer outcomes and contribution to the industry. blueAPACHE has received three, two of them in 2015, the year it was the only Australian company recognised.

What was driving blueAPACHE's growth in this period? A decision made under pressure in 2010. The company had lost an ASX-listed customer representing approximately half of its revenue and, rather than retrench, invested in building emPOWER Cloud and the emPOWER Network — its own cloud platform and national network instead of reselling another provider's. That investment took years to return, and by 2014 it was underpinning the business.

Was any of this growth externally funded? No. The page states the growth was organic and self-funded. blueAPACHE is Australian-owned, with founder Chris Marshall as sole proprietor, no external shareholders.

Does a Fast50 placement say anything about service quality? Not directly. The Fast50 measures revenue growth and nothing else — a company can grow quickly while delivering poorly. That is the argument the page makes for reading the two programmes together: the All Star Awards assess whether the growth was well executed. For what blueAPACHE actually commits to contractually, see support and service levels and the service agreement.

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