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No end to global
chip shortage before

H1 2023

 

Public cloud spending will exceed
45% of all enterprise IT spending

by 2026

 

Global public cloud infrastructure
market to grow 35% to

$120 billion

Software solutions benefits

VirtuallyNOW-key-benefits-for-customer

Key benefits for your customers

  • Cost-effectiveness – maintain a secure network, with costs based on usage rather than proprietary hardware
  • Flexibility – virtualised security functions can follow workloads anywhere while also keeping data secure
  • Operational efficiency – centralised software enables rapid scaling and automated security tasks
  • Regulatory compliance – software solutions can be 'always up-to-date', so no need to worry about regulatory compliance
VirtuallyNOW-key-benefits-for-you

Key benefits for you

  • Relevance – take advantage of accelerating cloud adoption
  • Revenue – unlock predictable recurring revenue streams
  • Speed – shorten sales cycles with software offerings
  • Simplicity – add value without going on-site
  • Budgeting – move sales discussion from budgets to business benefits

Countering common objections

Shifting from a traditional hardware sales model to software can seem daunting. But with our solutions, expertise, vendor relationships, digital tools and service offerings, you can start selling software and become a trusted cloud adviser, protecting your pipeline and expanding into new markets with confidence.

Below are some common objections to shifting to software, along with our solutions to these problems. 

Protect

Protect your customers with virtualised offerings and protect your pipeline in the face of supply shortages

My team is trained in traditional hardware solutions. Getting them enabled to confidently position software alternatives will take months.

Our local BDMs and pre-sales experts can support your team. The solution configurations are often very similar between hardware and software. With our new Learning Management System we can develop a personalised enablement and certification programme for your team.

My customer’s company policy demands that no data can be sent outside of their organisation, so hardware is what’s needed.

We have a vast knowledge of vendor technology options. We can advise on where virtualisation is a feasible option, and depending on vendor and solution, what compliant cloud solutions are available.

We don’t have the in-house expertise to implement software solutions, at least not as smoothly and quickly as with hardware.

Our Services teams can plug any internal skills gap you may have.

My customers’ hardware deployments are coming up for end-of-life/support, so it’s too late to start discussing software alternatives. We’ll just have to push the vendor for delivery time escalations.

Our local BDMs, sales and pre-sales experts can expedite solution build, testing, quoting, transacting and implementing. Our Solution Lifecycle Management tools identify EOL/EOS installs among your customers far in advance to avoid getting caught out.

My customers know what they want, and they want on-premises solutions.

With chip shortages affecting the global supply chain, now is exactly the right time to open this discussion, educate and overcome strict preconceptions. Our Westcon Lab lets you test drive multi-vendor cloud solutions., while our pre-sales and BDM teams support customer demos, hands-on sessions and PoCs.

Expand

Expand your business into the cloud market, and stay profitable and indispensable in a cloud-first world

I don’t have the knowledge to manage complex transformation projects.

Our Professional Services will plug into your teams wherever needed. Project management and solution design support take the complexity out of migration projects. Build up your internal expertise and certifications over time. Our Learning Management System allows you to build personalised learning programmes for your sales and technical teams alike. We are also an Authorised Training Centre for many vendors.

Competing for business in a cloud world means coming up against new competitors. My USP and proven success cases from the hardware world will no longer set me apart.

Not necessarily. Hybrid cloud environments are very popular options for organisations wanting a closer cadence to their data. Our local teams can buddy-up with you and build a strategic plan to expand your business rather than replace what you’ve built over years.

Isn’t the chip shortage pushing up pricing for servers? I don’t want to invest all this effort to adapt for less margin.

Our vendor relationships mean we have a full view of any price changes or delivery time delays across our portfolio. We work with you to create fit-for-purpose builds that have the most profitable rates with the most suitable technology vendor.

Transform

Transform your offering aligned to digital transformation by positioning yourself as a cloud consultant

Setting up a service desk in-house is too expensive and outsourcing this function takes away control.

Using Westcon Support, you can include a service desk offering in a flexible capacity. Our project management teams can assist in developing a mid- to long-term strategy in building up your own service desk once you have built a credible pipeline for it.

We don’t have the intel into our install base to proactively manage their estate.

Our Solution Lifecycle Management offers you a detailed view of your end-user install while proactively prompting your teams to engage your customers at every stage of the product lifecycle.

My sales team gets paid their commissions up front. Managing this when selling pay-as-you-consume and other flex model will be much more difficult.

Our Flexible Payment Solutions can support with customised finance offerings to end-users as well as reseller partners. Your teams will appreciate the usually shorter sales cycles of software solutions compared with hardware deployments.

Why choose Westcon?

VirtuallyNOW-services

Services

Thanks to our cross-vendor expertise, our services pave the way for partners to provide smooth deployments, adoption, maintenance and operation of virtualised or cloud solutions.

VirtuallyNOW-technologies

Technologies

Our approach to VirtuallyNOW for channel partners is proactive and built on a comprehensive vendor portfolio to meet every security requirement.

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Channel focus

As your distribution partner we'll help you navigate vendor programmes, technologies and value-add opportunities better than anyone else.

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Solution Lifecycle Management

Our recurring revenue model helps improve customer retention, and maximise adoption, expansion and renewal opportunities. Powerful analytics, automation and expertise enables you to take the right action at the right time.

Westcon i.D – exclusive deep insight prospect profiling

i.D (Intelligent Demand) is an advanced market intel programme using our unrivalled analytics capabilities and market intelligence to build highly targeted demand generation activities that drive measurable business growth.

An on-demand prospect profiling service allows you to access easy-to-interpret, meaningful end-user reports specifically aligned to the business opportunity of:

  • virtualisation (Protect)
  • cloud migration (Expand)
  • cloud leadership (Transform)

Using technographic, firmographic and budgetary intel, this tool will position you as a true adviser and expert – VirtuallyNOW.

Request your prospect report