Barhead Solutions, winner of the 2018 CRN Fast 50

Barhead Solutions’ directors Ken Struthers and John Orrock are no strangers to business applications or software-as-a-service - their last company was Salesforce partner Cloud Sherpas.

The pair ran that company from 2012 in Australia, until it was acquired by Accenture in 2015.

Their sophomore venture is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, and to say that decision has paid off would be an understatement.

The team have had a massive year, growing revenue by an astonishing 452.3 percent to $11.1 million, picking up key wins and enjoying global recognition along the way.

Explaining the company’s success to CRN, Struthers said “hard work and heavy lifting” were critical, but two other high-level factors contributed to the business’ 2018 surge.

One was Microsoft itself.

“Microsoft has significantly changed their platform, to the point where enterprises are now taking it seriously as a competitor to Salesforce,” he said.