Westcoast opens up on cloud strategy after Nebula launch

Distributor admits its own Welsh datacentre has not performed 'as it would have hoped' as it launches Nebula cloud scheme

Westcoast has claimed its new Nebula Programme offers resellers different and more business-focused support with the cloud, but has admitted its own Welsh datacentre "has not gone as well as it would have hoped".

In 2013 the distributor set up its own IL3 datacentre in Wales to give resellers access to Microsoft Lync, Exchange and SharePoint on a pay-as-you-go basis.

But Mark Davies, Westcoast's cloud services director, told CRN the datacentre has not performed as well as other aspects of its cloud offering.

"From a reseller perspective, we have a range of services we deliver from the datacentre, [but] they have not gone as well as we would have hoped," he said. "We have SharePoint and Lync within the datacentre and a range of customers across the services. Do we have anywhere near the numbers we have from Office 365 through the [Microsoft] CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) programme? Definitely not."

Davies, who joined the firm in May from Cobweb Solutions, said this could be because of the perception that it stepped on resellers' toes.

"Having a datacentre probably would create value into some partners, but a lot of partners would have their own datacentre space already, and may have seen it as a bit of conflict for them.

"I suppose there has been this whole thing about UK datacentres and that's been really important, but it has only been important in certain verticals and distribution doesn't play into one vertical, it plays across a massive one. So they wouldn't have been able to target the specific verticals they wanted to."

But Davies said he would be surprised if the datacentre was closed down as it houses all of Westcoast's own infrastructure.

Not product pushing

Today Westcoast unveiled its Nebula Programme, which will initially feature five cloud partner training days around the country, and then include in-depth roundtables and webinars to help partners with the challenges of cloud adoption.

Davies said distributors often host training days where vendors will be invited to speak, inform the partners about their own products, and then the vendors will pay for the day.

"That feels very product [focused] for me, and not business focused," he said. "So the aspect of the Nebula Programme was how do we help them understand the changes [the cloud] will make to their business? How does it affect their balance sheets, commission sheets and all those common challenges that people are not going into any depth with? And those challenges are not as straightforward as people say they are."

Davies said the Nebula training days will not be focused on any particular vendor, and will instead feature talks from a range of external speakers who are experts in fields such as digital marketing and staff training. The days will be more focused around the practical applications of the cloud rather than changing resellers' perceptions of it, he added.

In February, Westcoast became the first UK distie to sign up to Microsoft's CSP programme and Davies said the distributor is "exactly where we expected to be" with it, and currently has about 160 partners signed up.

Earlier this week Westcoast signed an agreement with German distribution giant ALSO to make its Cloud Marketplace available to Westcoast resellers. Davies said ALSO was a "natural fit into what we wanted to do".

When asked if agreements with ALSO and initiatives such as the Nebula Programme mean Westcoast is leading the way with the cloud, he said the distributor is doing things differently.

"What we are trying to address with the Nebula Programme is some of the concerns partners have," he said. "I don't feel enough of the channel is feeling the pain today with the way the cloud affects their business. They will feel that more over the next 18 months as it takes away from transactional business and that's why we want to start this education piece now."