Thank you for an amazing 2015

Thank you for an amazing 2015

As the festive season draws close, we would like to thank everyone who contributed to what has been another remarkable year.

What 2015 was about

Our 2015 focused on continued investment in our infrastructure, services and processes, extending our team and building on our successes.

With new expansion on the horizon, more than 25 new employees, and new services about to be launched, this year has been hugely successful — thanks to the continued support of our clients and partners.

The hiring number, in context

More than 25 new employees in a single year is worth pausing on, because it tells you the scale of the business at the time and the rate it was changing.

blueAPACHE's team reached nearly 80 people by the end of 2016 and passed 100 during 2017. Adding 25-plus people in 2015 therefore represented a very substantial proportion of the organisation joining in one year — consistent with the roughly 30% annual growth the company sustained over an extended period, and with the over-30% growth specifically recorded in 2015.

Growth at that rate is harder to absorb than it is to achieve. Every new person has to be recruited, trained and integrated into client environments they did not build, while the clients themselves continue to expect exactly the service they contracted for. It is one of the reasons the company invests in the internal fixtures it does — the annual golf championship each July marking the founding anniversary, the December company update and staff awards, and the monthly Town Halls where the Customer Recognition and Brand Ambassador awards are presented.

Recognition in 2015

We enjoyed record growth, and it was validated externally on four fronts:

• Seventh CRN Fast50 award — ranking the fastest-growing companies in the Australian IT channel by verified revenue growth
• Second CRN All Star award — blueAPACHE became the only company in Australia to receive two CRN All Star awards that year
• Talkin' Cloud 100 — the global ranking of cloud service providers, weighted heavily toward recurring cloud revenue
• MSPmentor — the global ranking of the top 501 managed service providers, ranked on annual recurring revenue and total revenue

Reading the set together

These four measure two different things, and that is what makes the combination meaningful.

The Fast50 measures growth. A seventh appearance means growth had been a sustained property of the business rather than a single good year — the company went on to make its eighth appearance in 2016, ranked at number 35.

The Talkin' Cloud 100 and MSPmentor both weight recurring revenue heavily. That measures the proportion of the business that is contracted and repeating rather than won afresh each year, which is a structurally different achievement. blueAPACHE reached number four for the Asia and Australia region on the MSPmentor 501 Global Edition, on its fourth appearance.

Ranking well on both at once means the business was growing and growing on a recurring base. The second is considerably harder, and it is what distinguishes a managed services business from a reseller that also does support.

The two CRN All Star awards in one year is the standout of the four — being the only Australian company to achieve it that year is a distinct claim, not a shared one.

What came next

The expansion referenced here materialised in the following year. blueAPACHE expanded its operations into New South Wales and Queensland during 2016, extending the company's presence beyond its Victorian base, and extended its Microsoft relationship to include the Microsoft Devices Program and the Surface range in February 2016.

The governance investment mentioned as "processes" also has a clear line forward — blueAPACHE subsequently achieved ISO/IEC 27001 certification for information security, and holds certification against the current ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard today.

Thank you

Again, we could not have achieved any of this without your support.

So from all of us at blueAPACHE, a very sincere thank you. We wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Over the holiday period

As always, blueAPACHE will continue to support our clients throughout the holiday period. Priority monitoring and emergency support run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the Service Centre and Network Operations Centre remain contactable as normal.

One matter worth noting for planning purposes: the telecommunications carriage providers apply an annual industry embargo over this period, during which no new copper, fibre, NBN or wholesale broadband services are provisioned anywhere in the industry. Support for existing services is unaffected, and fixed wireless services fall outside the embargo entirely. Organisations with connectivity requirements in January should raise timing with their Account Manager ahead of the cut-off dates, which fall in November and early December.

Additional information on holiday operating hours is published separately each year.

Frequently asked questions

What did blueAPACHE identify as the focus of its 2015?

Continued investment in infrastructure, services and processes, alongside extending the team. The page frames all three as connected: the capacity to serve more clients, the services delivered on that capacity, and the governance wrapped around both.

How many people joined blueAPACHE in 2015?

More than 25 new employees. Set against a team that reached roughly 80 people by the end of 2016 and passed 100 during 2017, that represents a very substantial share of the organisation joining within a single year.

Which four awards did blueAPACHE receive in 2015?

A seventh CRN Fast50 placing, a second CRN All Star award, a place on the Talkin' Cloud 100, and a place on the MSPmentor 501. The Fast50 measures revenue growth; the Talkin' Cloud and MSPmentor rankings weight recurring revenue.

Why does this page treat the two CRN All Star awards as the standout?

Because blueAPACHE was the only company in Australia to hold two All Star awards that year. The other three placements are shared with a field of other companies; that one was not.

What is the difference between a growth ranking and a recurring-revenue ranking?

A growth ranking such as the Fast50 measures how much bigger a company got. A recurring-revenue ranking measures how much of the business is contracted and repeating rather than won afresh each year. Placing well on both at once means the growth was built on a contracted base rather than one-off work.

Where did blueAPACHE rank on the MSPmentor 501?

Number four for the Asia and Australia region on the Global Edition, on the company's fourth appearance on that list.

What was the "new expansion on the horizon" referred to here?

Expansion into New South Wales and Queensland, which took place during 2016. The Microsoft relationship was also extended in February 2016 to include the Microsoft Devices Program and the Surface range.

Does blueAPACHE support clients over the Christmas and New Year period?

Yes. Priority monitoring and emergency support run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the holiday period, and the Service Centre and Network Operations Centre remain contactable as normal.

Why can't new connectivity services be provisioned in late December?

The telecommunications carriage providers apply an annual industry-wide embargo over the holiday period. No new copper, fibre, NBN or wholesale broadband services are provisioned anywhere in the industry during that window. Support for services already in place is unaffected, and fixed wireless sits outside the embargo.

What should an organisation do if it needs connectivity live in January?

Raise the timing with its Account Manager ahead of the cut-off dates, which fall in November and early December. Orders placed after the cut-off will not be provisioned until the embargo lifts.

Related

• CRN Fast50 a record seventh time, and a second All Star award — the 2015 result described here, in full
• blueAPACHE receives a CRN All Star award — the first of the two
• An eighth CRN Fast50 feature and a third All Star award — the following year
• CRN Fast50 for a record ninth time — how far the streak ran
• blueAPACHE in the Talkin' Cloud Top 100 — the cloud ranking named above
• Ranked 77 on the MSPmentor 501 Global Edition — the managed services ranking
• Rapidly climbing the global MSPmentor 501 list — the movement year to year
• blueAPACHE and Microsoft extend their relationship through the Devices Program — the February 2016 step referenced above
• blueAPACHE awarded ISO 27001 certification for information security — where the "processes" investment led
• ISO 27001 certification — the current certification and what it covers
• Carrier network embargo dates for 2015/16 — the specific dates for this year
• Annual carrier network embargo dates announced — how the embargo works
• Holiday hours of operation — the operating hours published separately
• blueAPACHE expands its Queensland presence — the expansion that followed
• Our story — the company history this year sits inside

Knowledge Base