ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
What is Westcon-Comstor telling its partners to focus on during these challenging times ?
It is a combination of things . Yes , partners must become digitally transformed . They need to review and adapt their strategies to stay relevant and profitable . Of course , traditional business processes still apply , but these are enhanced with others such as the shift towards annuity business .
Developing an annuity strategy is significantly different to how traditional solutions are sold in the channel . This requires channel partners to reskill and upskill their salespeople . And from our experience , customers are now increasingly looking for specialists in a few technologies as opposed to the generalists of the past .
Westcon-Comstor has been ramping up its channel initiatives around cloud services , cybersecurity and onboarding new vendors . Briefly outline how you are working with your channel partners in Sub- Saharan Africa ?
We have made innovative digital tools available to our partners . Westcon-Comstor has recently launched the PartnerCentral site that provides an integrated platform to access all our tools . These include BlueSky that assist significantly on the billing side of things especially when it comes to the cloud . PartnerView extends the ERP system by providing our partners with complete visibility across all quotes , orders , and renewals to ensure no opportunity is missed . It also simplifies purchasing and procurement while providing access to all our vendor portfolios and technical specification sheets .
The digital environment also automatically applies partner discounts to quotes with vendor integration enabling migration of existing quotes from vendor systems . Partners can self-serve online and easily resolve everyday enquiries without needing to contact our teams .
And then there is our academy providing the latest vendor training to supplement what is available on the Comstor Partner Portal and Microsoft Partner Portal .
This integrated environment boosts the productivity of our partners and ourselves as it reduces turnaround time and minimises errors , leading to happier , more successful customers . Vendors and partners can also scale their business and grow their customer base with access to the market through an integrated platform .
We have made innovative digital tools available to our partners . Westcon- Comstor has recently launched the PartnerCentral site that provides an integrated platform to access all our tools .
And then there is the obvious benefit to the customer experience . If the channel is more efficient and productive , it results in establishing long-term relationships with the customers themselves .
Which countries will be a key focus for Westcon-Comstor in Sub- Saharan Africa in 2022 and why ?
Sub-Saharan Africa has a lot of regions . We look at it differently from the vendors who have their own map of the region . However , we are focusing on all our regions as it is important to create and manage a wellbalanced business pertaining to vendor and
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