Westcon-Comstor Coronavirus (COVID-19) external statement

Our key logistics centres in the UK, Netherlands, Middle East and Asia Pacific remain open and operational while our remaining logistics facilities worldwide are either operating at limited capacity supporting approved critical business needs. 

Frequent and unplanned changes in border controls and transportation schedules and restrictions on the movement of people have resulted in a suspension of standard service levels by most global carriers with a consequent impact on shipping rates, ETAs and delivery capabilities.

Therefore we ask our customers to observe the following guidance.

Order requests

• Please place orders as early as possible to minimise lead time impact.
• Please provide written confirmation at the time the deliveries are due to ship that you have validated with your ship-to contact they are at that address and able to receive goods (and intend to be for the following 72 hours).
• Where possible, please provide a secondary contact name and phone number for deliveries.
• Proactively share location closures with us so that we may hold deliveries, and/or provide an alternate address.
• Consider our Circular Technology Solutions (CTS) remanufactured equipment options as an alternative to new equipment where lead times are critical.

Deliveries

• As many EU countries are changing restrictions, we are trying to ensure the latest restrictions are captured at a zip/post code level and communicated to your Westcon-Comstor representative. 
• Please be mindful that with many countries seeing non-critical business closures, access to sites being restricted, or key contacts moved to remote working between order placement and delivery, the situation can evolve and we may have difficulty delivering to your originally stated location. Alternative delivery site locations should be prepared based on feedback from our teams.
• For deliveries crossing the border between Europe and outside of Europe, we are experiencing additional lead times.
• While most of our outbound services are back to a ’normal’ state, please continue to plan for delays from 24-48 hours, due to not only the Health & Safety measures taken by all carriers, but also to supply chain constraints as we go into the busiest period of the year.
• Same day services are not possible at this time.
• Please ensure that any expedite requests are absolutely necessary and have a business case presented when requested. As carrier networks and our facilities are already operating beyond capacity, any non-emergency expedites cannot be fulfilled at this time.
• Failure to provide the appropriate information may impact your ability to get the items redelivered.
• Any costs for returned goods and their re-delivery will be charged at the prevailing market rates.

Our Operations teams are issuing a daily detailed bulletin to our Sales and Customer Service teams to advise of latest status.

Please contact your local Westcon-Comstor representative for the latest information regarding specific cases.

Our customers are also asked to work closely with their local Westcon-Comstor sales representatives to share information on physical delivery constraints at customer sites.

Our Logistics centres in the UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific remain open and operational in accordance with local government directives, and are being managed under strict measures to assure the wellbeing of our logistics and warehousing teams while maintaining service levels. These include:

• Providing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to required standards for staff health and safety
• Maintaining staffing levels and workplace layouts at recommended standards for social distancing and prevention of infection
• Ensuring hygiene with widespread staff access to recommended sanitation products and facilities
• Deep cleaning services for ‘hotspots’ throughout facilities and on relevant equipment and technology
• Delivery of food and beverages for our teams to maintain hygiene and social distancing
• Private inbound and outbound staff transportation services to reduce reliance on public transport
• Clear quarantine and sanitation protocols for delivery personnel and other site visitors
• Temporary staff cover as needed via accredited agencies

We have implemented specific health precautions including recently announced workplace and travel restrictions and enabled our colleagues to work from home.

We are providing secure applications access and communications facilities for all our teams, enabling our employees to work flexibly, providing continuity of support for our partners and customers.

We have established management protocols and implemented formal training for remote working to mitigate possible feelings of isolation, support closer collaboration and maintain our people’s wellbeing and focus.

We will continue to update our policies and communications in line with recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local government and health organisations.

What are Westcon-Comstor’s business recovery plans?
Our business continuity plans are designed to ensure that we are able to recover normal business operations as quickly as possible, but also that we can mitigate impacts to our customers and partners during and beyond incidents such as COVID-19.

How is Westcon-Comstor ensuring the necessary inventory, equipment, and supplies to fill customer orders?
We are working closely with our vendors and carriers to identify potential supply chain issues and how to reduce their impact. We encourage our customers to work closely with their local Westcon-Comstor sales representatives to share information and plans for product demand and any physical delivery constraints at customer sites.

It is a constantly changing situation, in which we are doing everything possible to limit service disruptions to our customers.

We continue to work closely with our vendor partners to ensure adequate supplies in the face of potential disruptions, as well as monitoring backlogs, shipments and delivery acknowledgement dates.

How is Westcon-Comstor maintaining its Services capability?
Westcon Services have activated their Business Continuity Plan successfully which means that our Services staff who normally work in our offices, are now working from home. These staff use secure remote access with our service systems and information in accordance with our Information Security Policies; our staff has also been trained to follow secure procedures.

Where we use third party organisations within our service delivery, we are working closely with these organisations to maintain up to date availability of these third parties.

We are pleased to confirm that the following services are operational with full capacity:

• Westcon-Comstor Service Desk
• Westcon Support / Westcon Embedded
• Westcon-Comstor Engineer To Site
• Westcon-Comstor Proactive care (including Meraki ‘Add a Service’ managed services)
• Westcon-Comstor Professional Services (remote where possible)

We will continue to monitor our service environment and will communicate any changes as and when needed. If you have any questions, please contact your Westcon-Comstor Services Account Manager.

Is Westcon-Comstor Academy cancelling training courses?
All of our training courses have been made virtual events and delegates with existing bookings will be allowed to transfer their booking to a virtual training course with no extra charge. Any further queries can be answered by the local training representative.

Is Westcon-Comstor cancelling public events?
Every business unit is assessing upcoming customer events and is making appropriate local decisions for each event – whether to postpone, run virtually or cancel – based on the location and circumstances. Such decisions will be made in line with WHO, local government and health recommendations and will be communicated as quickly and clearly as possible. 

Currently no public or private physical venue-based events are planned until further notice.