Westcon Group feels optimistic
Distributor's new European COO predicts prosperous new year
Networking distributor West-con Group is predicting a positive 2005 following the appointment of Simon Minett as its new chief operating officer, Europe.
Minett, formerly managing director of Westcon's UK subsidiary, Comstor, told CRN his new role will give him more of an overview of the "profitability, efficiency and effectiveness of the firm across Europe".
"We will be working even more closely with vendors such as Cisco, Avaya, Nortel and 3Com developing partners and furthering channel programmes in markets we are focusing on," he said.
Minett said the firm will also be concentrating on the SME end of the market in the coming year, and working to build up its service offering through reseller partners.
"In the past 18 months we have gone through centralisation of resources in terms of people, systems and logistics. Now in the coming year we are poised to capitalise on those investments," he added.
Edzard Overbeek, vice-president, commercial, channel and distribution at Cisco EMEA, said in a statement: "We look forward to working with Simon. His operational success at Comstor and now Europe has effectively demonstrated his ability to further integrate Westcon Group's European operations."