In the everything-as-a-service XaaS era and with business models becoming ever more complex, Westcon-Comstor’s unique and central position in the supply chain means it is ideally placed to help partners navigate shifts in end-user technology consumption.
Westcon-Comstor is a specialist, global, value-added distributor focusing on the high-growth technology domains of cybersecurity, networking and cloud.
Being a large multinational company offers many advantages, including the opportunity to drive growth at scale for vendors while having access to a network of partners internationally. Of course operating across borders has challenges in terms of operating in differing financial, legal and compliance frameworks, but Westcon-Comstor has expertise in this area due to the nature of its business as a distributor.
The organic growth of value-added distributors is usually single digit and sometimes sluggish. Alternatively, IT distributors have relied on inorganic growth and acquisitions, high degree of innovation, superlative loyalty programme or solution stack specialisation.
Against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, Westcon-Comstor has consistently achieved strong organic growth in recent years. This includes year-on-year increases in total revenue of 18% in FY23 and 8% in FY24.
Future of distribution
Distribution is more relevant and important than ever, playing a crucial role in the channel and the wider technology ecosystem. As the Global Technology Distribution Council has argued, distributors are force-multipliers, for innovation whose value and strategic importance are rising.
In the everything-as-a-service, XaaS era, and with business models becoming ever more complex, distributors’ unique and central position in the supply chain means they are ideally placed to help partners navigate shifts in end-users’ technology consumption.
Distributors today are facilitators, enablers and orchestrators, giving partners and their customers access to best-of-breed technologies and multivendor solutions. Westcon-Comstor’s 3D Lab, which allows multivendor cybersecurity solutions to be tested against specific use cases in a dynamic virtual demo environment, attracted more than 1,500 users and generated in excess of US $25m in new business for EMEA-based partners in its first year.
Cloud strategy
Westcon-Comstor’s AWS Marketplace programme provides channel partners with a streamlined, frictionless experience when transacting on the platform. Partners can purchase vendors’ products and solutions from Westcon-Comstor via private AWS Marketplace listings and sell directly to their customers. This takes place as part of a seamless, end-to-end process entirely within AWS Marketplace.
With end-users shifting to cloud marketplaces for software procurement due to the speed, ease and convenience, Westcon-Comstor’s programme enables partners to sell where their customers want to buy. A recent Forrester report found that partners selling in AWS Marketplace can close deals up to 50% faster, with a 234% return on investment, so the opportunity is significant.
Westcon-Comstor’s acquisition earlier this year of Rebura, an award-winning AWS advanced service partner and solution provider, was an important moment for the business and further strengthened its cloud capabilities and channel-focused services offering. Founded in 2017, Rebura supports companies of all sizes as they build and optimise their applications and workloads on AWS, increasing productivity, scalability, cost efficiency and security.
Its status as a certified AWS migration services competency partner, combined with Westcon-Comstor’s expertise and specialisation in cybersecurity, creates a powerful cloud offering for partners. Migrating workloads to the cloud is one of the biggest challenges faced by end-user businesses.
Bringing Rebura into the fold means Westcon-Comstor’s partners will now be able to access these capabilities through Rebura as part of a seamless and unique proposition.
Market data
Westcon-Comstor’s recent Bridging the Gap research report found that 97% of partners see data as vital as they shift to recurring revenue models, which is why the company has adopted a data-driven approach that equips partners with insights into growth and lifecycle selling opportunities. The company’s Partner Insights tool, for example, sits within its PartnerCentral digital marketplace and lets partners monitor key performance metrics, embedding a data-driven approach to performance analysis.
By gaining a holistic and consolidated view of transactional data, partners can track trends by geography, end user, product type and so much more. Meanwhile its Intelligent Demand programme, which harnesses data to uncover growth opportunities for channel partners, generated $768 million in additional revenue for partners in FY24, up 70% year on year.
Intelligent Demand utilises predictive analytics to drive growth, enhance customer lifetime value and identify new markets for partners and vendors. This is done by combining best-in-class data, analyst research and channel expertise with Westcon-Comstor’s proprietary data science models, to deliver sales and marketing opportunities with accuracy.
Market differentiation
Vendors work with Westcon-Comstor because of its channel reach and footprint across EMEA and APAC, its expertise and specialisation in cybersecurity, networking and cloud, and its unique data-driven approach to driving partner growth and success. Meanwhile its commitment to sustainability, which saw it become the first major global distributor to have its net zero target formally validated by the Science Based Targets initiative is also important.
Vendors naturally expect Westcon-Comstor to help them achieve scale and accelerate adoption of their solutions. What sets the company apart is its collaborative, partnership approach and its focus on partner success.
When Westcon-Comstor onboards a new partner, the focus is on training, education and enablement. This ensures they are equipped with the ability to talk with authority when selling vendors’ products and solutions to their customers, ultimately driving new business and growth across the supply chain.
The company has various loyalty and reward programmes, but the emphasis is more on building a long-term relationship with partners and becoming a trusted advisor that plays a central role in their growth journey.
An executive point of view
Around five years ago Westcon-Comstor’s CEO, David Grant, established a new senior leadership team and set a clear strategy for the business which focused on playing to its strengths in terms of its specialisation in high-growth technology domains, cybersecurity, networking, cloud and capabilities, its data-driven approach and digital expertise, plus a commitment to sustainability.
Westcon-Comstor had, and continues to have, a very clear focus and vision for the business and where we want to be in one year, two years and five years. This shared vision gives everyone in the business a sense of collective purpose and has helped to avoid distractions and diversions.
On a personal level, it is fantastic to have the chance to meet and work with people from different cultures and backgrounds. I am originally from South Africa and am now based in the US. I travel frequently for work purposes and I never tire of hearing about how our people continue to make our partners successful.
Innovation is at the core of what the company does, and with its market-leading initiatives from data-led offerings such as Intelligent Demand and Partner Insights, through to its AWS Marketplace programme and 3D Lab, Westcon-Comstor is constantly adding value for partners and vendors in new and exciting ways. Specialisation and expertise in cybersecurity, networking and cloud is a key driver of its success.
New technologies and trends are constantly emerging, but the company’s dialogue and relationships with vendors remains focused on how best to drive mutual growth and success by accelerating adoption of vendors’ products and services.
It is not for me to tell partners how to run their business, but based on my own experience, my advice to any ambitious company, channel or otherwise would be to specialise, play to your strengths, stay focused on your goals and above all else, maintain a relentless focus on the customer.
Westcon-Comstor
Operational snapshot
Westcon-Comstor is a specialist, global, value-added distributor focusing on the high-growth technology domains of cybersecurity, networking and cloud. The distributor’s strategic vendors include Cisco, for which the Comstor line of business is dedicated and on the Westcon side, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Check Point, Zscaler, Juniper Networks, Extreme Networks, F5, Broadcom and Nokia.
As a specialist distributor Westcon-Comstor maintains a highly focused, select vendor portfolio and looks to add new vendors when appropriate as a way of enhancing its offer for partners.
Westcon-Comstor operates in more than 70 countries worldwide across EMEA and APAC, with employees present in more than 50 countries. Key markets include Germany, France, Netherlands, UK, UAE and South Africa in EMEA and, in APAC, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines. Westcon-Comstor has more than 12,000 channel partners globally.
Financial snapshot
As a specialist distributor, Westcon-Comstor’s growth during its latest full financial year, FY24, year ending 29 February 2024 was driven by strong performance in the key technology domains of cybersecurity and networking, which together now account for 89% of revenue.
Cybersecurity was particularly buoyant in FY24, with revenue growing at a rate of 17% to reach 42% of the total revenue mix, FY23: 39%. These growth drivers are continuing to propel the business in FY25. Meanwhile Westcon-Comstor’s shift to a software, services and subscription-based model accelerated in FY24, with recurring revenues seeing strong growth and now representing 44% of total revenue, FY23: 38%.
Recurring revenues grew 24% to $1.63bn, which is three times the rate of overall revenue growth.
