Westcoast wins CRN Distributor of the year!

By Sian Walsh

If  you're in the IT channel industry and weren't at the CRN awards last night then you definitely missed out. The event was a huge success from start to finish and with a great line up of shortlisters and Frankie Boyle hosting, it certainly had us all on the edge of our seats.

It was a great night for Westcoast having been shortlisted for 3 awards, and being crowned CRN's Distributor of the year it really was the highlight of the night!

From Seed to Tree – Westcoast’s Apple Enablement Portal Can Help Your Business Grow

More than anything, this blog is about passing on useful information to our customers, and if you happen to be an Apple reseller we have some very useful information for you: we’ve revamped our Enablement Portal.

While our original Apple hub did a good enough job at providing the basics for our customers, we felt that it could use a little improvement. Consequently, we’ve spent the last few months researching and information-gathering to find out how we could deliver more of what you’re looking for.  This is what we came up with:

                                                      www.westcoast.co.uk/apple

Take a bite out of service time with the newly re-launched Westcoast Apple configuration tool

It’s not that often that we blow our own trumpet, but there are some things worth shouting about, and our newly relaunched ‘Westcoast Configured’ is one of them! 

As a Distributor, we know how important it is to get things right for your customers; it’s not just about inspiring repeat business, although that is certainly a draw; it’s mainly about inspiring confidence. Like us, you want your business to be the best in its sector; you take pride in the work you do, and you want to deliver the best possible service. Unfortunately, that can mean spending a large amount of time on what should be relatively simple tasks – such as configuring a new IT investment.

The clue is hopefully in the name, but just in case it’s left you guessing, Westcoast Configured has been devised to allow resellers to configure all Mac models – MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iMac – in all ways imaginable, from selecting the processor to adding accessories, so you can always deliver exactly what your customers are looking for.

Thin, but not light – the new HP t730 caters for heavy content needs

As the cloud-based computing architecture has advanced, Thin Clients have played an increasing role in business tech. Carving a niche in high-performance sectors, such as financial services, oil/gas, digital media, and engineering, the Thin Client provides easy access and secure computing power through virtual desktop provision. While the benefits of this set up are patently clear – reduced costs, enhanced security, simple manageability, and optimal scalability – Thin Clients do have their drawbacks; image quality often suffers; add-ons and extra features are habitually required to maximise performance; they can be complicated to upgrade; and the pre-loaded software is frequently sub-par. The new HP t730 sets out to redress the balance.

Exploring CSP

By Phil Lamplugh 

There’s an unavoidable acronym that can be heard up and down the Westcoast office every day. CSP is making huge noise in the channel right now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be dying down.

I’ve heard ‘CSP’ said so much, that the actual meaning of the letters has been lost in the buzz of what’s usually associated with the phrase: monthly billing; wrap-around services; 24/7 support. So let’s take a step back. As a relative newcomer to the channel, I decided to investigate the perceived wonder that is CSP.

Size is just the beginning for this little space saving superhero!

Introducing the most flexible, powerful, compact desktop solution available for the space-constrained – The Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny.

This great little compact performer can fit any workspace (as the name suggests) but don't let it's small size fool you – Tiny has a whole lot more to offer and is so much more than small...

Take a look at the Tiny's Top 7 'super powers':

1. Blazing Performance & Unrivaled Power - Delivers faster performance, up to 10× faster transfer rates and 50% or greater charging power with better signal reception for a hyper-speed wireless experience.

2. Invisibility & Ninja Silence - Hides almost anywhere. Plus, it's nearly silent while operating and with its ICE 3.0 cooling system, produces less heat, as well so you wouldn't even know it's there!

3. Adaptability - Fits virtually anywhere. Install Tiny behind flat-screen monitors or choose from an under-the-desk mount, vertical stand, or secure it inside the Tiny-in-One 23.

4. Expandability - Additional ports available so you can easily expand your desktop performance without compromising on versatility. You can even power it on from the keyboard, an industry first!

5. Security - The most comprehensive hardware-based management and security capabilities, to give IT managers the confidence to secure their networks. With security this tight, take Tiny anywhere with the Kensington® Microsaver® Cable lock.

6. Energy Efficient - Tiny offers huge possibilities for users and the planet by using 50% less energy than regular-sized desktops and 12% less energy than its previous generation without sacrificing performance.

7. Friendly, Entertaining and an all round good guy! - works well with multiple users and multiple monitors and is built to tackle heavy multimedia with ease to benefit from a much better user experience.

It's easy to deploy and easy to service, and can be accessed by just one screw for quicker serviceability and a more efficient use of IT resources.

So are you ready to discover all that Tiny is besides just small?  Now available at Westcoast!

You can find out more about the Tiny here! Or if you are Reseller looking to purchase click here 

HP SMARTbid – It's time to reinvent the bidding process and step up the pace!

When it comes to offering solutions serving data centres or hardware for convergence infrastructure, customers want it competitive and they want it immediately. In fact, they want it double quick.

The pressure is most definitely on to satisfy the 'Now! Now! Now!' need of today's end users, so speedy turnaround on your bids is paramount.

So how can Westcoast help you overcome these challenges?

Resellers need a solution that satisfies the growing demand for HP products for end user opportunities and this is where Westcoast's online bid tool, SMARTbid can streamline the whole HP quoting process to help resellers step up the pace of doing business.

In fact, automated pricing requests are returned to SMARTbid users in 1 business hour – giving HP partners the speed they need to deliver the right products to the right customer opportunities.

The tool is designed to allow our HP reseller partners to request HP supported pricing based on specific product part numbers of HP PPS products (Desktops, Laptops, Monitors, Workstations, Printers) and accessories available from Westcoast.

Designed and developed in-house, the tool has completely reinvented the bidding process, enabling resellers to receive near-immediate responses to pricing requests. What’s more – it’s paved the way for increased business opportunities for Westcoast customers.

There are just 3 things you need to qualify for using SMARTbid:

• You will need an end user opportunity
• You will need a Westcoast Account
• Have a minimum of 5 qualified units linked to an end user opportunity

And there are just 3 things you need to enter a bid:

• You will need the end user customer details
• You will need the product part number
• Have a target cost price

Once you have logged in you will have access to all of the bids you have submitted and there is the functionality to filter your bids by status and view any previous bids.

The tool also offers great flexibility around bundles and offers more than 3,500 skus (stock keeping units) and 600 lines of accessories – incorporating HP desktop PCs, laptops and printers.

And because the SMARTbid tool is designed to highlight the top ten selling accessories on a product - it encourages more, high margin product attach opportunities.

SHI, which is headquartered in the US but with a European hub based in the UK started using Westcoast’s SMARTbid tool to help them speed up the bidding process and within just a few days of using SMARTbid to pitch for HP products, they were already reaping the benefits.

“SMARTbid gives us a response time that is, quite frankly, fantastic – that’s the real
capability. Getting to grips with the tool was no problem for our sales team. They found it simple to use, especially with the tool’s intuitive drop-down menus, and easy to understand navigation. it’s given our business a real boost. And the team love it.” Adam Gregory, International Distribution Co-ordinator, SHI

Benefit from rapid response times, flexible bid management and easy to use features which can help resellers compete more effectively at a level of immediacy that can help win HP business and keep customers satisfied.

Start using SMARTbid today and reinvigorate the way you pitch for HP products!

Simply visit: www.westcoast.co.uk/smartbid 

The biggest mistakes when selling Apple products…

.... is when the focus is just on hardware.

The biggest mistake that we see when selling Apple products is when the focus is just on hardware. When the interaction between the reseller and the customer is transactional and that transaction is solely centred around hardware. You might think why is this such a mistake when you’ve managed to successfully sell your customer the hardware they needed or that you suggested for them.

In our experience, there is so much more that has to take place before anyone can even think of suggesting a piece of hardware or software. We are going to cover exactly what needs to happen over the next couple of weeks.

When you totally understand your customer’s situation you can then make recommendations as to how you can help them fix it with much more than just hardware.

When you get to know the customer, who they are and what they do – you start to build a clear idea of what problems they face. Only when you know what their ‘pains’ are, can you then start to ask the right questions about their situation. Moving conversations from hardware and more about the customer gives you a big advantage. You then start to understand more about not only their environment but also their position in the technology investment or simply just the organisation.

You might think that this would take more time than just a straightforward selling conversation, and you would be right. But what it does do is gives you much more clarity on what the solution to their problem may be and so your not just responding to their request for a new Mac or iPad.

“The conversation could take you onto training, software, accessories, planning, migration, servers, storage and so on.”

Knowing your customer’s situation inside out gives you the ability to open the conversation up to much more than just investing in a new piece of hardware. It gives you the chance to help your customer make the right decision on a whole solution rather than just one part of it.

The beauty of selling Apple solutions is that the more you learn about how powerful the Apple ecosystem is – the more you realise what it can do for you and your customers.

Let us know if this has been useful for you and please leave us a comment on what you think. If you are already doing this then what benefits are you already seeing?

Next time lets take a closer look at how to profile customers to make it easier to ask the right questions.

Until then try out some of the suggestions in this week’s blog and let us know how you get on.

The Westcoast Apple Team

A Time for Change – The Windows 2003 EOS Opportunity is knocking!

From the day this blog has been posted, there are just 130 days until Windows Server 2003 support is ending on July 14, 2015.

Now, for many of you, it comes as no surprise (we hope!) and I'm sure it's something you've been hearing about for the last year.

However, this opportunity for change is now just around the corner and with 900K instances still running in the UK, let alone the millions worldwide, it has been described as one of the largest IT opportunities of this decade.

The Windows 2003 EOS could signal the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of many organisations which is a HUGE opportunity for partners to innovate not only their customers' datacentres, but across the delivery and production of applications that drive their business too.

From hardware/software refreshes to assessment and migration services, the opportunity spans across Windows Server 2003, SBS 2003, SQL Server 2005 and older versions of Exchange for partners to help plan the updates and ensure customers' understand the options.

That all sounds good news for partners..... so what about the challenge?

Well, when we take a look at the migration time estimates (and bear in mind these are on the rather optimistic side!) you will really see that it's no longer 130 days of waiting but 130 days of getting out there and keeping your customers current.

For small to mid-size businesses, a Server Migration is estimated at 30-90 days and an Application Migration can take 60+ days!

2 down, 1 to go!

To help partners prepare for Windows Server 2003 migration, Westcoast has been busy hosting regional roadshows to provide them with everything they need to help them successfully migrate customers from Windows 2003.

The first two roadshows in Birmingham and London have been a great success and have been described as “Excellent and Informative”. Therefore we'd firstly like to thank all those that have attended already and wish you every success in the opportunity that the Server 2003 EOS date is providing!

BUT.... We aren't finished yet! It's not too late to find out what Server 2003 EOS means for your customers.

Please refer your colleagues to come to the next ones or if you haven't managed to attend yet we hope to see you at our final event:

Thursday 12th March – Manchester

Register for your place here