'We beat the main global players' - Microsoft Dynamics partner on winning £7.6m MoD deal

Tisski boss talks to CRN on how it won its biggest contract to date against global players

Microsoft Gold partner Tisski won its largest contract to date because it had a "hunger" that government organisations like to see, according to boss Anna Assassa.

Assassa founded the CRM and ERP specialist in 2011 and the two-year £7.6m MoD deal marks the firm's largest win so far, though Tisski's pre-existing relationship with the organisation did not play a part in securing the deal, she said.

"We had our previous reputation with them - which was great - but they were exceptionally clear with us that they were going out to market and that they couldn't favour us in any way," she told CRN.

"It was a completely out to market bid and there were lots of bidders; we were up against the main global players. So for an SMB to win, we were delighted.

"SMBs in general, have a hunger which is why the government's quite keen to work with them. I think we have that hunger and that focus, and when we win a big contract like this, it's a big deal to us. We need to make sure that we do everything that we said in the response and more to maintain that relationship and give them the return on investment that they want."

The majority of Tisski's business comes from public sector clients, including the MoD and Department for Education and Assassa is keen to continue to expand on this as coronavirus causes disruption in the commercial market.

"We're absolutely maintaining our focus on public sector, it's made a big difference for us and we are widening out the areas we're focusing on, such as fire and rescue services," she explained.

"We still have half an eye on the commercial sector, but I'm not going to put all my eggs into the commercial sector basket right now."

The firm's results for its year ending 31 August 2020 are yet to be finalised, but revenue is set to be around £10.3m, hitting the goal Assassa set last year when speaking with CRN.

The firm's finances are now where they were pre-lockdown which the MD hopes is a sign that businesses are learning to operate successfully in a COVID world.

"You have to focus almost without taking COVID into account and certainly our numbers for our new financial year are back to where they were in March, so I'm hoping that the world is now coping with the coronavirus," she said

"We're going back to our normal plans, things like growing our financial operations practice and moving more into emergency services and making sure that we're really consolidating ourselves there."

Tisski was also named as a Microsoft Inner Circle member for business applications for 2020/2021, which means that is in the "top one per cent" of consultancies for Microsoft business applications globally and was chosen for its business performance and capabilities.

Assassa is keen to take full advantage of this accreditation.

"Being in the Inner Circle means we can do things like influence product development, understand their roadmap and have a say and make sure our customers are represented within the Microsoft hierarchy," she explained.

"It is really quite an honour and has to be a focus for this year and making sure that we're growing with them."