Westcon: We are investing in UC as rivals back off
EMEA boss David Grant discusses his priorities, the convergence of software and comms and why cloud adoption may not match hype
Westcon's EMEA boss has stressed the distributor's commitment to unified communications (UC) in light of rivals shying away from the market.
The company has recently moved its UK headquarters to new digs near Gatwick which include a swanky demo centre, set to open at the start of next month. All of Westcon's manufacturer partners will be given the chance to include their technology and the facility will allow resellers to showcase multi-vendor offerings to potential customers.
"It is not about a single vendor solution, but about a multi-vendor experience and allowing customers to experience that solution," said EMEA vice president David Grant. "Moving away from putting value simply around point products to a much more solution-centric go-to-market [model], that was what was really behind the investment in the Solution Experience Centre."
Microsoft and Avaya were singled out by Grant as key vendor partners. The distributor can play a vital role in helping the software giant's resellers get to grips with the ins and outs of telephony, he asserted. Grant also stressed that Westcon will continue to throw its weight behind the UC market.
"We are certainly seeing a significant interest in Microsoft Lync; in a tough environment where end-user customers are keen to sweat existing resources and assets, Lync now is seen as a disruptive technology," added Grant.
"[Microsoft partners'] challenge is that they do not know enough about the customers' legacy estate of voice solutions. At a time when we have seen headlines about other distributors not investing in UC, we have invested in eight new heads to come into our UK business."
Grant (pictured) maintained that the rise of cloud and as-a-service models need not marginalise distributors, and sounded a note of scepticism about how quickly cloud adoption will grow.
"I think there is certainly a key role [for distributors to play in the cloud], but I think the rate at which some of our technology will shift towards a cloud-based environment is not as rapid as some organisations would have you believe," he said. "It is for any given vendor to define how they take their solutions to market. I do not see there will be much cannibalisation of our business."
Recent FY13 results for parent company Datatec showed that a hike in operating costs caused the Westcon's EBITDA fall 12 per cent annually, despite a three per cent increase in sales. But Grant maintained that the firm's operations in this company are in solid shape.
"From a UK perspective, our business performed very well," he said. "We are also continuing to look at additional revenue streams."