Westcon expects Merry Christmas

Distributor claims its pipeline remains strong but will look hard at its vendor line-up as the recession bites

Westcon has broken the run of downbeat distribution news by asserting that its business pipeline remains strong in the run up to Christmas.

Westcon was one of the first major distributors to adjust the size of its UK workforce to fit the tough market conditions, putting around 25 staff on a 30-day consultation process in October (Channelweb, 14 October). Broadliners Bell Micro and Northamber were among those to follow suit in the weeks that followed.

Simon Minett, chief operating officer of Westcon Group Europe, told CRN: “Less than 2 per cent of our workforce across Europe were impacted by this. It was just a matter of rightsizing our business and readjusting as the market shifts - it is a different market we find ourselves in today than at beginning of the year.”

Minett waved off suggestions that Westcon had encountered a slowdown in its Nortel and Avaya business.

“We will adapt our business in line with the market but right now we have a strong pipeline and I can see a strong pipeline until December. Revenue growth is still strong and we are pulling in some large deals on Nortel and Avaya,” he said.

Minett claimed Westcon was even seeing robust growth in some areas, including on partnerships with global systems integrators and service providers. The distributor recently signed a reverse logistics contract with BT, for instance.

He also denied that Westcon had stopped taking on new products.

Minett said: “We will take on new brands where they are deemed appropriate. But we will focus on brands that complement our business and deliver profitability. We may rationalise some vendors that are not delivering the profits or seeing the growth we expect, but there is nothing unusual in this.”

Some employees involved in the consultations were re-housed, Minett confirmed. This includes Guy Koster, who has been moved to a product management role within Westcon Convergence after the new product-focused Technology Solutions Group he headed up was effectively dismantled.