Tag Archives: Westcon-Comstor

Apprenticeships, News

Westcon-Comstor wins best UK apprenticeship scheme for the third time

Judges of the CRN Sales and Marketing Awards praised Westcon-Comstor’s dedication to nurturing the next generation of tech leaders

LONDON, UK – 19 July 2022 – Westcon-Comstor, the global technology provider and specialist distributor, celebrated a new win at the CRN’s Sales and Marketing Awards 2022, taking home ‘best graduate and/or apprentice scheme’ award for the third year. Launched in 2017 as a direct response to the IT industry’s skills gap, Westcon-Comstor’s apprenticeship scheme has gone from strength to strength, with 76% of apprentices being offered roles within the company in the UK.

The CRN Sales and Marketing awards celebrates teams at the heart of the UK IT channel. The ‘best graduate and/or apprentice scheme’ award recognises Westcon-Comstor’s commitment to local communities and dedication to fostering and developing the next generation of tech talent.

The tech industry is suffering one of the largest talent shortages it has ever seen with quality talent harder to come by than ever. For young people, work is also harder to find with fewer than 16-24 year olds in employment than pre-pandemic. This creates a shared opportunity for Westcon-Comstor and its apprentices, where young people get access to the tech industry and receive first class training, building the skills and competencies that the company needs

Conducted alongside government-approved specialist Global Knowledge Apprenticeships, Westcon-Comstor’s apprenticeship scheme is a strategic and holistic training programme. The 15-month programme is focussed on building both theoretical knowledge and practical experience, and ensures apprentices have time to focus on their studies. The primary goal of the scheme is to offer apprentices full time employment with Westcon-Comstor. After the training is complete, Apprentices also leave the programme with a certification, giving them a head start on the next stage of their career.

Speaking on the benefits of the apprenticeship programme, Shannon Flanegan, Vendor Marketing Apprentice, said, “I felt the role was something I would enjoy, adapt well to, and learn a lot from – and my expectations were exceeded on all three.

“I have developed a huge list of transferable skills, knowledge, and experience using marketing tools which build the foundations of any marketing career.”

Emilio Fantocchio, a Technical Sales Apprentice also said, “I always wanted to go into an apprenticeship instead of university as I wanted to get straight into the working world after college and I believed it would be more beneficial for me.

“I’m very grateful for Westcon as I got this job at a very good time when I needed it most and ever since I started, I haven’t looked back and I’m excited for my future.”

Speaking on the award win, David Grant, CEO of Westcon-Comstor said, “We’re incredibly honoured to take home CRN’s best apprentice scheme award for the third time. It’s a real recognition of our continued investment in and dedication to local communities and leaders of the future.

“Apprenticeships and early start programmes are a critical part of our international hiring strategy. Our focus as a company is to deliver Partner Success, to do this we need to have the right people with best-in-class knowledge and skills. It’s no secret that the hiring market is extremely competitive, particularly in the ever-evolving tech industry. These programmes offer a way for us to build the capabilities and skills we need for the future, while simultaneously offering young people the opportunity to receive first class training and jump start their careers. We’re extremely proud of the work of our teams and this award is further recognition that we continue to invest in providing comprehensive, industry leading training to our apprentices.”

AI, News

Westcon-Comstor Recognized as the Worldwide Partner of the Year 2021 by Juniper Networks

[London, UK] – [9th June] – Westcon-Comstor, global technology provider and specialist distributor, today announced that it was recognized as a Partner of the Year by Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-driven networks. Each year, Juniper Networks recognizes partners who have demonstrated innovative solutions to driving new business, exceptional attention to customer experience and have overachieved financial goals.

Westcon-Comstor was recognized as the 2021 Worldwide Distribution Partner of the Year for its ability to develop innovative data center and cloud-integrated network solutions that integrate Juniper Networks technologies.

Partner of the Year Awards are part of the Juniper Partner Advantage Program (JPA). The Program not only recognizes partners for outstanding performance, but also focuses on partner development through specializations, certification and Enterprise Plus and Deal Registration programs that aim to drive opportunity in the AI-Driven Enterprise.

“Westcon-Comstor has done an incredible job helping Juniper partners and their customers realize the vision of the AI-driven enterprise along with skillfully navigating industry-wide supply chain issues,” said Gordon Mackintosh, GVP of Global Channels and Virtual Sales at Juniper Networks. “Westcon-Comstor is an important partner of Juniper and we are pleased to honor them as the 2021 Worldwide Distribution Partner of the Year.”

“We are delighted to be recognized by Juniper as a partner of the year. Five years ago, we would never have thought this would have been possible. However, our teams across all markets have continued to invest, focus and work together to great effect. We can do so much more together as we expand the relationship further,” said David Grant, Westcon-Comstor CEO.

Business, News

Westcon UK&I celebrates partner success at 2022 Partner Awards

The awards recognise stellar growth and technology adoption amongst partners in a challenging year for the IT channel.

LONDON, UK – 7th June 2022 – Westcon-Comstor, global technology provider and specialist distributor, celebrated another successful year with its reseller partners and vendors, issuing annual awards to top performers at the Green Room in London.

The distributor of Security, Networking, UC and Cloud solutions hosted over 80 UK and Ireland partner leaders to celebrate the many achievements and milestones enjoyed in FY22. Partners saw growth in new technologies and markets, strengthened relationships with vendors and drove impressive sales despite another challenging year with ongoing headwinds from Brexit, the pandemic and component shortages.

“Our annual partner awards are a chance for us to pause and recognise our UK and Ireland partners that have not only achieved impressive growth in such a turbulent market, but also those that have stood apart from the crowd,” comments John Nolan, Sales Director UK&I. “FY22 saw us work with countless partners to introduce new technologies, enhance their projects with training, support and billing services as well as building bespoke managed services offerings. It’s that investment and foresight which has driven the success we celebrate tonight.”

Delivering partner success is a key strategic focus for Westcon. It’s the trusted partnerships, culture, expertise and mindset of the Westcon team, which has consistently made its partners successful for over 35 years.

In today’s rapidly evolving IT channel, it’s also the new, transformative approach, digital tools and data-driven processes that the specialist distributor uses to drive sustainable Partner Success and end customer business outcomes.

FY22 Award Winners

UK Avaya Partner of the Year FY22:

IP Integration

UK Mitel Partner of the Year FY22:

Wavenet

UK Extreme Partner of the Year FY22:

LAN3 Ltd (Part of Convergence Group)

UK Check Point Partner of the Year FY22:

Ultima Business Solutions

UK F5 Partner of the Year FY22:

IBM

UK Palo Alto Networks Partner of the Year FY22:

CAE Technology Services

UK Networking Partner of the Year FY22:

Charterhouse Group

UK Security Partner of the Year FY22:

CDW UK

UK XaaS/UC Partner of the Year FY22:

Blackstar Solutions Ltd

Ireland Partner of the Year FY22:

Damovo

UK NGS Partner of the FY22

Ricoh UK

UK Emerging Partner of the Year FY22:

BlueFort Security Ltd

EMEA Cloud Partner of the Year FY22:

Sabio

Partner of the Year UK&I FY22:

Maintel

Business News, News

Westcon-Comstor reports FY22 financial results

Revenue up 11.8% to US$2 890.4 million following demand for all technologies in the Westcon International portfolio

LONDON, UK – 24th May 2022 – Westcon-Comstor (Westcon International) reported its FY22 earnings results earlier today. Total net revenue was up by 11.8% to US$ $2.89 Billion driven by strong demand and market share in its cybersecurity portfolio, networking and hybrid infrastructure offers and its remote access and cloud collaboration solutions which were deployed in new flexible working environments.

EBITDA profit increased by 52% to US$68.1 million (FY21: US$44.8 million) with gross margins averaging 11% globally. Westcon International’s gross profit increased by 9.6% to US$319.0 million (FY21: US$291.0 million) supported by strong results in both Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“Two years ago, our company demonstrated strong resilience in the face of the pandemic and the FY22 results we announced today illustrate our ability to not just sustain strong momentum but to go beyond and adapt and win in a rapidly changing market”, commented David Grant, CEO of Westcon-Comstor.

“Our focus on portfolio expansion with software and subscription-based solutions has helped us to not only record double-digit, organic revenue growth– despite material product supply constraints– but to drive unprecedented EBITDA improvement as well. It’s a true testament to the hard work of our teams across all operations, who have performed exceptionally well this last year.”

Westcon-Comstor announced that demand for its solutions continued to climb, coupled with supply constraints and chip shortages, its backlog of orders increased over 300% (from US$261 million for FY21 to US$824 million for FY22.)

“Multi-year investments we’ve made in business automation and digital tools are paying dividends as well. Our focus on Solutions Lifecycle Management and building Flexible payment solutions helped us to ensure that over 50% of our gross revenue in FY22 was recurring; we see that percentage growing as we go into FY23”, added David Grant.

Fintech, News

Westcon-Comstor launches own flexible payment solutions to drive partner success

Flexible options, funded directly by the specialist distributor, will help partners easily transition to the subscription economy and make tech more accessible and affordable

LONDON, UK – 17th May 2022 – Westcon-Comstor, global technology provider and specialist distributor, has today announced the launch of Flex (Flexible Payment Solutions), an innovative payment service which provides flexible funding for the IT channel.

Over the last decade, the technology industry has undergone a shift from traditional resale models to subscription-based offerings. This shift has allowed digital transformation programmes to become more agile and iterative by providing easier access to the latest technology while reducing pressures on capital.

Up until now, vendors and partners have struggled to offer the subscription services customers have come to expect due to the pressures placed on their own working capital and cashflow. Flex alleviates these concerns by providing an industry-leading range of flexible payment solutions, contracted, and invoiced directly by Westcon-Comstor, without having to go through third party billing agents or brokers. This allows partners and vendors to offer more solutions in their portfolio on a subscription basis, regardless of their billing capabilities or customer budget restrictions.

Forming a central part of Westcon-Comstor’s broader Partner Success approach, Flex is designed to enable long-term, sustainable success, profitability, and relevance in the growing as-a-service world.

An early success story of the service is Cello, now New Zealand’s fastest growing telco – which adopted Flex during the height of the pandemic to help its clients tackle funding crunches.

“If you’re not in the business of making your partners and customers successful, then you won’t be in business for very long,” said Andrew Allan, Chairman of Cello “Gone are the days of a one-size fits all approach, flexibility is critical to successfully adapting to market changes.

“As New Zealand’s fastest growing telco, we’re in a capital-intensive game and need to work with partners that are prepared to work in the best way that works for us and our clients. With its scale, experience and razor-sharp focus on partner success, nobody does it quite like Westcon-Comstor. During COVID Westcon-Comstor upped the ante and adapted its services to fit our specific needs.”

Callum McGregor, CFO of Westcon-Comstor commented: “The market has an obvious desire for subscription-based consumption models, but to offer this is no mean feat. We’ve designed Flex to best serve both vendors and partners. With Flex, partners unlock greater vendor discounts by increasing the deal size and maximising the value they get for their budget early on.

“Because we don’t use third party billing providers, partners deal with us in the exact same way that they would with any “standard” purchase. Plus, they can match payments in with payments out, so the customer gets exactly what they want, how they want it, without impacting the partner or vendor’s cash flow.

With over 90% of tech companies now embracing consumption business models, according to EY, Flex will help all our channel partners and vendors take full advantage of subscription models and capitalise on the direction that the industry is headed.”

For more information on Flex visit our website here: http://www.westconcomstor.com/flexiblepayments

News, Security

Westcon-Comstor to add EfficientIP solution to its distribution portfolio in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific

Agreement delivers EfficientIP’s DDI and DNS Security solutions to Europe, Africa and APAC channel communit

LONDON, UK – 12th April – Westcon-Comstor, global technology provider and specialist distributor, today announced it has signed a new distribution agreement with EfficientIP. The partnership will bring EfficientIP’s industry-leading DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (DDI) and DNS Security solutions to all European and African markets, as well as Asia-Pacific.

In the last two years we have seen a sharp increase in the remote workforce, prompting an increased demand for greater flexibility in network management and security teams. The race to embrace the cloud, deploy IoT devices, digitally transform business operations and upgrade to new software has also added complexity and reduced visibility across company networks.

This proliferation has not been lost on hackers and as a result, we’re seeing more cyber threats, with DNS servers becoming a prime target for exploitation. In fact, the latest survey conducted by IDC on behalf of EfficientIP revealed that nearly 90% of organisations (87%) experienced DNS attacks, with the average cost of each attack around €780,000 (£694,000). This illustrates the pivotal role DNS plays for network security, both as a threat vector and security objective.

Traditional network security solutions today cannot cover all aspects of the DNS threat landscape, leaving major gaps for hackers to exploit. Without a resilient and all-encompassing security interface in place, companies risk losing access to vital services and assets. EfficientIP’s 360° DNS Security solution fills the gaps left by taking a holistic approach to DNS security. The solution tracks attacker behaviour in real-time and provides immediate alerts to keep mission-critical services protected.

Alongside security threats, there’s also an evident pressure on companies to stay agile and competitive in this new normal. To do so, IT and IP-based devices cannot be overlooked. As companies integrate more IP-based offerings, high quality network infrastructures are of critical importance. EfficientIP’s Network Automation solution increases productivity, improves risk mitigation and facilitates a better time to market, which are all critical to staying dynamic.

The DNS security software market is expected to grow from US$ 1,200.41 million in 2021 to US$ 2,314.56 million by 2028. Westcon-Comstor’s partnership with EfficientIP will strategically expand its portfolio of industry-leading DDI vendors to capitalise on this market growth, while complementing the distributor’s existing network-focused vendors, such as Extreme Networks.

“For network admins, the increase in IoT devices, move to the cloud, and hybrid working all throw up some critical threats and pressure to the network. As the number of connected devices on a business’s enterprise network increases, keeping track of those IP addresses can become an overwhelming task,” said Daniel Hurel, Vice President, Westcon Cyber Security & Next Gen Solutions, EMEA.

“EfficientIP’s DDI service allows network admins to streamline these processes, removing much of the complexity involved in protecting the network. Keeping network administration simple, accessible and operating in real time is vital to successful management, operational efficiency and security. In addition, their 360° DNS Secfurity solution offers a specialised layer of in-depth defense to secure businesses from both external and internal DNS threats. Bringing EfficientIP’s solutions into Westcon-Comstor’s arsenal of cybersecurity gives our partners a valuable tool to curtail the cybersecurity drawbacks of the changing ways of work and make enterprise networks easier to secure.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Westcon-Comstor to expand our footprint in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. With Westcon-Comstor operating as our primary distributor in those regions, we are bringing DDI and DNS Security to a new network of channel partners and resellers at a faster rate. The company’s specialist capabilities across these territories will play an important role in standardising our sales and marketing activities, ensuring high-quality, cohesive operations while further developing our channel ecosystem,” said Leonard Dahan, VP WW Channels, EfficientIP.

“This is only the start of an exciting partnership. Following this agreement, we also have plans to build on our relationship with additional support from Westcon-Comstor in the Professional and Education Services space.”

Appointments, Business, Business News, Cybersecurity, Europe, European News, IT Services, London, London News, Networking, Networks, News, News from England, Security, South East, South East England News

Westcon-Comstor appoints Patrick Aronson as Chief Marketing Officer

Move signals renewed focus on Partner Success for the security, networking and hybrid cloud distributor

LONDON, UK – 1 February 2022 – Westcon-Comstor, the global technology provider and specialist distributor, today announced it has appointed Patrick Aronson as Chief Marketing Officer. In this position, Patrick will be responsible for driving growth, and building a modern marketing organisation that will ensure Westcon-Comstor’s continued leadership in a world increasingly driven by subscription and as-a-service business models. He takes on this new role, in addition to his current role as Executive Vice President in Asia Pacific, which sees him responsible for business performance across Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Westcon-Comstor continues to see accelerated market demand across global markets – and continued customer growth from the channel community. This new appointment signals a renewed focus and investment into partner success and a commitment to delivering channel customers with solutions and technology that will help them adapt and prosper in an environment pivoting quickly to software and hybrid cloud.

Patrick will lead Westcon-Comstor’s global marketing strategy and drive the evolution of the company’s 130-person strong global marketing team with a focus on analytics, marketing automation and Partner Success.

In a move which heralds a truly international leadership team for Westcon-Comstor, Patrick joins fellow C-suite members – David Grant, CEO, in London, Rakesh Parbhoo, CTO, in Johannesburg and Callum McGregor, CFO, in New York.

“I’m thrilled to take on this new responsibility as CMO as we continue to build and grow the business,” said Patrick Aronson, Chief Marketing Officer, global and Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific, Westcon-Comstor. “I know first-hand from our partners that they’re looking to us to provide the right tools, process and structure at scale so they can adapt their business models to deliver recurring value to each one of their customers. Westcon-Comstor is already a trusted brand by the world’s leading technology vendors. As these vendors pivot to subscription and annuity models, they too are keen leverage our focus on Partner Success.

“As an inspirational leader who has been part of this business for the past seven years, Patrick is the ideal person to join the C-suite and to drive partner success”, said David Grant, CEO, Westcon-Comstor. “Patrick’s been instrumental in spearheading our success in the Asia Pacific region, having launched and led initiatives like our APAC Partner Success Centre and developing our cloud business with AWS and Microsoft. He’ll bring that experience, leverage the work and make it global. The future is bright – and I’m excited to work more closely with Patrick.”

Patrick has been responsible for growing and leading Westcon-Comstor’s business in Asia Pacific. Prior to joining, Patrick spent a decade leading Motorola’s mobile business in south-east Asia. He spent five years as Managing Director at Brightstar where he developed its engagement strategy and mobility business. He has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Asian Studies from Hobart College, New York, and is fluent in Vietnamese and Thai.