Technology Reseller - v12 2018

technolog y reseller.co.uk 13 NEWS : DISTRIBUTORS New Westcon hire to drive partner sales Amanda Gascoyne has been appointed sales manager for Westcon UK & Ireland, with responsibility for winning more solutions- and services-based business for Westcon’s partners. Gascoyne said: “I’m looking forward to ensuring even more partners forge great relationships with our vastly experienced, qualified and service-minded team. By orchestrating the growing Westcon value- added services and technologies offering, partners will extract maximum value from every opportunity and always be in the best position to win, service and develop more diverse business.” www.westconcomstor.com Complete Mitel UCC range offered by Exertis Exertis, a distributor of technology products for the B2B, mobile and retail markets, has announced that the full range of Mitel unified communications and collaboration solutions (UCC) is now available to UK resellers. Exertis was previously a distributor for ShoreTel, acquired by Mitel last year. Gareth Bray, Exertis Head of Commercial – Enterprise, said: “Mitel is the number one supplier of business communications systems in Europe, providing a comprehensive range of on premise solutions to meet the needs of any business. Together with our range of professional services that support resellers from pre-sales to implementation, monitoring and maintenance, we can provide a complete solution for either greenfield or existing customers wishing to scale up their Mitel business.” In its Analysis for Unified Communications (UC) Worldwide, Gartner predicts that global end-user spending on UC will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3% from 2016 to 2021. Bray said: “We are seeing significant growth in UC solutions across all business verticals, driven by the requirement for more comprehensive digital collaboration and interaction with customers. With SMB and Enterprise partners adopting on premise and hybrid, private cloud solutions that use multiple technologies and applications, there is a great opportunity for our resellers to engage with us and offer a Mitel solution.” In addition to Mitel’s product range, Exertis provides professional services that resellers can white-label and use to support their own customers. These range from straightforward ‘break-fix’ to a 24/7/365 complete managed service with pro-active, vendor-agnostic monitoring and incident response services.  www.exertis.co.uk Chargifi appoints Westcoast as UK distributor Wireless charging specialist Chargifi has appointed Westcoast as UK distributor to help roll out its cloud management platform and extend its penetration of the enterprise market. The patented Chargifi platform supports the mass deployment of wireless charging by turning wireless power into a service that businesses can provide to customers for a fee. The wireless charging market is forecast to be worth $25bn by 2023. Westcoast Managing Director Alex Tatham said: “Wireless charging of devices is becoming widespread and will increase its pervasiveness. But that’s not even half the story. Chargifi’s link with wireless networking technology, including Aruba, allows network managers to locate a user by their device and transmit relevant and authorised messages to the device using Chargifi’s cloud-based managed service tools. It may be just beginning, but this market is going to accelerate exponentially.” He added: “Sooner or later we will all be asking why there isn’t a wireless charging point in every meeting room, café, shop, stadium and public venue in the country. That’s because Westcoast’s resellers haven’t got to them yet.” www.westcoast.co.uk @philjones40 Insider... What’s your customer’s strategy? Speaking at an event for the Association for Professional Sales in London last week, I posed the question – ‘What’s your customer’s strategy?’. The talk, Selling to Senior Executives , was about how more effectively to stand out from your competitors and establish yourself as a trusted advisor. To do that, you have really to understand your customer’s direction of travel and the overarching themes of their commercial strategy. When I put the question to them, it was surprising how many salespeople didn’t actually know the answer – even for their most important and largest revenue- earning accounts.  In my opinion, that leaves them vulnerable.   If you are to be relevant in the eyes of your customer and bake yourself in for the long-term, you must be absolutely on-point when it comes to helping them achieve their goals. Expansion?  Cost-Cutting?  Consolidation?  Merger and Acquisitions?  Rationalisation?  Top-line sales growth or bottom line?  What’s it to be?   Until you know those things, it’s tough to nurture a trusted advisor status and insulate yourself from predatory competitor attack.  My advice: get these three questions on the table in your next sales call: 1 What is the strategic direction of the business for the next 3 years? 2 What internal themes and objectives are being talked about for delivery of the strategy? 3 What 3 things can we do to assist in the delivery of your strategy? When you have those answers, begin to craft your account development strategy so that it aligns with the desired customer outcomes. When doing your reviews, demonstrate the progress you have both made and the value you bring. See you out there. Phil Jones MBE , Managing Director, Brother UK Amanda Gascoyne