Westcon southern Africa is today officially unveiling its Cloud Solutions business practice, in direct response and in support of, the growing need from its partners for assistance to start gearing and developing their own businesses to better deliver cloud-centric services and products to the end-user.
Formed from the amalgamation of its former Software Solutions business practice, and the addition of a host of cloud services, the unit will focus on assisting reseller partners with transforming themselves into cloud ready businesses, while also providing vendor partners with the right mix of value-added and back-end logistics services they need in order to deliver their products and solutions via a cloud-centric model.
“It is our goal as the Westcon Group to become the formative cloud solutions distributor in southern Africa,” says Paul Conradie, CEO at Westcon Group Southern Africa. “We believe that through the Cloud Solutions business practice our partners will be able to tap into the resources, both locally and globally, they need to help them deliver a robust cloud roadmap to their customers.”
The objective of Westcon Cloud Solutions will be to assist its partner network with the distribution, aggregation and syndication of cloud services, leading with a hybrid cloud eco-system. The model will showcase how the company is in a unique position to be the one-stop-shop for cloud for its reseller partners, as it already offers access to hardware, software, services, financing and support across myriad vendors throughout the business.
The practice is also able to support this with an impressive and growing vendor matrix in the Cloud Solutions portfolio that includes, but is currently not limited to Adobe, Attachmate, Citrix, Microsoft, Novell and Symantec. The company is currently in the final stages of negotiations with key vendor partners that are looking for a value-added distributor such as the likes of Westcon that is able to deliver the calibre of cloud services through a global network, as well as assist them in reaching new partners. In addition, the company will also be able to create and provide resellers tailored cloud solution bundles from a combination of strategic vendors.
“The cloud is here and businesses aren’t considering its use in their business. They are looking at who has the right services in place to partner with them, which is where we believe Westcon will play a crucial role in adding value to its partners in helping them, help their customers, with their desired cloud journey,” says Leane Hannigan, business practice director Westcon Cloud Services.
“There is simply no other distributor who has vendor base in place we have at present as Westcon currently stands as the most recognised distributor for cloud and software in southern Africa. Not only can we meet your hardware requirements, but we can also provide you with the software, services and support you need in the cloud.
“What’s more, is that we have never been a box dropping business, instead our value-added services ethic places us in a unique position where we already understand what part we can play in helping our partners with their transformation to cloud-centric businesses,” ends Hannigan.
