Westcon UCC boss vows to 'put edge back in the game'

Garry Boon says lack of permanent manager meant it was not fully aligned with vendors

The new UK and Ireland boss of Westcon Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) has pledged to "re-energise" the business and increase its focus on services.

For about a year, the Avaya, Polycom and Extreme Networks distributor was being run on a caretaker basis by Tony Neville, UK and Ireland managing director of the wider Westcon-Comstor group.

Garry Boon (pictured), who took the reins from Neville in September, said his two priorities are to tighten Westcon UCC's alignment with key vendors such as Avaya and to ensure more resellers are drawing on the pre-sales, consulting, build and post-sales services it offers.

Boon joined Westcon following a stint running the global channels of 3D print vendor Stratasys.

"I had spent the last year travelling back and forth to the US and it was time to do a job closer to home," he said.

"The good news is I've picked up a business that is running very well. It just needs re-energising, which is my role."

The first priority is to focus more on the services Westcon UCC offers to help de-risk its reseller partners' entry into new technology areas, Boon said.

He also conceded that the months Westcon UCC had spent without a dedicated boss meant it had fallen out of alignment with some of its vendor partners.

"We have a very strong relationship with Avaya, and I need to ensure we are aligned with them 100 per cent and are a bit stronger in the mid-market, where Avaya are seeing rapid growth," he said.

Competing with the likes of ScanSource Communications and Nimans, Westcon UCC has a headcount of 60 to 70 staff, including about 35 to 40 in sales, based at its Crawley HQ.

Boon said: "We need to make sure the business ethics we are playing to are top notch - I'm not saying they haven't been, we just need to make sure we're setting the bar above other players. We have good foundations, we just need to sharpen up and put some edge back into the game."

Co-operation between Westcon UCC, Cisco arm Comstor and security arm Westcon Security is increasing, but each arm remains autonomous, Boon said.

"As a business, we are moving towards being able to offer some common services and solutions across the group, while keeping that focus and expertise - which is one of the differentiators partners like," he explained.

"There is a depth of knowledge, as opposed to some of the traditional set-ups in distribution where it's very phone heavy and - while there is technical backup - there's not that immediate depth of knowledge."