Microsoft, NetSuite Partner FMT Enters Salesforce Territory With Red Sky Buy

FMT Consultants, a Microsoft and NetSuite partner, plunged into the Salesforce ecosystem last month by purchasing Red Sky Solutions. The two Southern California solution providers have now integrated their practices to bring to market a more-comprehensive portfolio.

By extending the practice across three leading business software suites, FMT will better serve mid-market customers increasingly looking for partners that can help them select from a wider set of solutions to meet their specific needs, FMT CEO Eric Casazza told CRN.

FMT did not disclose the price it paid for Red Sky.

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FMT, based in Carlsbad, Calif., has been in business for 23 years, and is a longtime Microsoft partner, offering Office 365, SharePoint, PowerBI, and Azure solutions.

In 2014, the company added NetSuite to its portfolio, expanding its ERP and CRM practices.

In recent years, FMT has observed that many of its customers, especially those subscribing to Oracle NetSuite, were simultaneously using Salesforce. That trend highlighted the potential benefits of an acquisition to incorporate the CRM leader's products, Casazza said.

"Many of the customers that come to us don’t know what they need," Casazza told CRN. "They're moving off QuickBooks or another CRM solution. They know they need something."

It used to be only large enterprises could afford to deploy a robust business suite of the kind offered by Oracle or SAP. The mid-market had to rely on integrators bringing together best-of-breed applications.

But the cloud has changed that dynamic. Mid-market companies are increasingly thinking about the platform, Casazza said.

Microsoft, with its Dynamics 365, and NetSuite, with integrated ERP, CRM and e-commerce, have been delivering on that front. Salesforce has also expanded its products in recent years to offer comprehensive solutions, Casazza said.

FMT sees many of its NetSuite customers also using some Salesforce products, and vice-versa for Red Sky customers, he said. Microsoft customers are more likely to stay fixed on the software giant's integrated platform.

The Red Sky acquisition presents a "great opportunity for us to work with [customers] as a single-source partner, and advise them on what makes the most sense for them and implement that for them," Casazza said.

Being able to offer a diversity of solutions is "always helpful," he said, "because you don’t know who the winners are going to be."

FMT will keep Red Sky's offices in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has brought on board that company's 15 employees, he said.