In January 2014, the Sydney tech start-up, Maestrano, launched with a mission; that mission was to help SME’s focus on their core business by reducing time spent on low-value administrative tasks. With cloud applications already renowned for their ability to provide cost-effective access to information and technology, Maestrano’s founding team sought to take things a step further. To do this, they developed and patented an innovative new work environment where a number of cloud applications could be housed and automatically integrated. Maestrano CEO and co-founder Stephane Ibos told Dynamic Business:
“For the first time, SMEs benefit from these systems working together as they share data and are simultaneously kept up to date. This is done without any need for configuration, setup, software engineering or re-keying of data.
“Integration is difficult and requires lots of science and background knowledge. This is why when we successfully completed our initial product development, we patented the technology.”
In just 26 months, their ethos and technology has driven Maestrano’s expansion into San Francisco, Boston, London, Dubai and Singapore. But while this rapidly growing start-up holds the needs of its own kind [SME’s] close to heart, their strategy in reaching their target may be a little unexpected.
‘The big companies are sitting up to take notice’
In February this year, Maestrano was announced as the first Australian start-up to partner with one of the big 3 accounting firms, PwC. PwC’s Next brings together a number of cloud accounting tools and applications on a Maestrano developed platform. It’s anticipated that more than 10,000 private client businesses could become Maestrano subscribers as a result of this partnership alone.
As the business etches its place in the ‘cloudscape’ as the game-changing solution for SMEs – the big companies are sitting up to take notice. And Maestrano, of course, has every intention to embrace the limelight.
Last week, National Australia Bank (NAB) CEO, Andrew Thorburn, announced the bank’s partnership with Maestrano which will see the development of their newest customer solution – NAB Business In One, a cloud-based digital platform specifically designed for small business customers.
‘Created with a mission to help SMEs in their daily activities’
Speaking about the attention Maestrano has garnered from big market players, Stephane said:
“It is very important and allows us to fulfil our mission. Maestrano was created with a mission to help SMEs in their daily activities.
“Working with large companies allows us to reach a vast amount of SME’s and gives us the opportunity to show them how our technology can save them time, pain and money.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to work with companies that have a proven track record to help us improve our products and technology and support us in improving our overall offering – which in turn is beneficial to all SMEs.”
‘Working with more than 20 large corporations worldwide’
Through their 6 global offices, Maestrano plans to take this strategy forward to grow the business further. Stephane comments that the business is currently working with more than 20 large corporations worldwide – all comparable to NAB and PwC in size and reputation. He hopes this will enable Maestrano to reach and help more SME’s.
Stephane said: “All of them combined will help expose our technology and expertise to more than 3 million SME’s worldwide by the end of 2016.”
According to Stephane, while Maestrano will continue to foster significant strategic partnerships worldwide, it also plans to develop new technologies around data management, decision-making and automation. But he asserts:
“Always in the same spirit.
“For the benefit of the SMEs.”
