Post for discussion: Ron Severson, President, Crayon Group.
In Friday's commentary, inspired by Finansavisen's “Share Pod,” Karl Johan Molnes continues to criticize both individuals and companies as he began after Crayon Group's Q4 presentation in February.
I have to ask myself on what basis. We didn't cut down trees in his yard or park in front of his driveway. There's no doubt that Molnes, as an urban economist, knows his numbers, but his expertise in software and cloud market dynamics seems less impressive. Oddly enough, he attacks the business model of both the Crayon Group and companies like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google – trying to create the impression that they don't get paid “south of Lucerne”.
Anyone with some knowledge about global data center consolidation knows that if Molness's claim is true, the world's largest software and cloud services companies would never invest so recklessly in these areas. It would have cost a little more and read the facts, which, by the way, were well described by Jens Rugseth in the “Share Podcast”. According to Gartner Group, Crayon Group is best in its “magic quadrant” specifically for helping customers and partners provision and manage cloud software and services. The Crayon Group operates here in competition with the world's largest consulting firms, outperforming year after year if Molnes has bothered to check here.
Crayon Group currently has 4,500 employees in 46 countries and is Microsoft's fastest-growing cloud partner
Molness's agenda is therefore about something other than fact-based journalism, and he is clearly going after “the man rather than the ball.” The best referees often sit in the stands without having the ability to play and referee the match. Here, Molness appears in a special position in his attack on both the companies Crayon Group and Karbon Invest and the individuals behind them.
When it comes to Crayon specifically, from our perspective, it's easy to be proud to be one of the largest Microsoft partners in the world. Crayon Group currently has 4,500 employees in 46 countries and is Microsoft's fastest-growing cloud partner. Over the years, we have received a number of awards at a global level based on the expertise of our consultants. In 2019, Crayon Group was named Microsoft AI Partner of the Year, based on the work and projects of several large multinational companies competing with several thousand Microsoft partners.
The fact that growth has impacted the company's profitability is the only thing Molnes can take credit for, and it's something we work to improve every day. However, using a cartoonish name for the company's CEO and castigating the owners and board members without a fact-based argument is not only sad, but also calls into question Molness's lack of integrity and journalistic approach.
Ron Severson
Chairman of Crayon Group
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