Westcon and Microsoft want to work closely and strategically with its partners to ascertain if Lync is the right solution for them, and how it will fit into their business. The two companies hired the Microsoft specialist business consultants, ‘incredibleresults’, who ran the workshops and manage the follow up process.
Microsoft Lync is disrupting the market and may eventually be a replacement for the traditional PBX. End users are asking resellers about Lync and the potential impact it could make is becoming more apparent. Resellers need to have an understanding of the proposition and if the fit is right incorporate it into their portfolio – if they don’t they run the risk of being left behind!
“To become a Microsoft Accredited partner requires Executive buy-in and commitment from the off-set, and the workshops were a great way to set the scene. They presented a valuable opportunity for our partners to work with the business coaches and enabled them to identify if the solution was right for them by evaluating their business strategy, ascertaining the market opportunity, seeing where the solution fits into their overall portfolio, and most importantly seeing how financially viable the solution is,” said Dawn Fenton, UC Sales Director, Westcon Convergence.
The two strategic partners, Westcon and Microsoft want partners to see the business benefits that Lync will bring to their business and their customers’ businesses, in terms of market and incremental sales opportunities for partners, hosted and service providers who are deploying Lync as an on-premise deployment or via Microsoft Office 365.
Tony Parish, CEO, Aura Alliance and G3 Comms attended the workshop with his senior management team, “It was thoroughly refreshing to hear that Microsoft wanted to understand more about the traditional voice resellers and utilise our expertise in the industry to help drive Lync into the voice channel. The workshops were entirely funded by Westcon and Microsoft and were extremely useful; the guys from ‘incredibleresults’ were first class and we spent the morning evaluating our business plan and strategy, and the second half of the day Microsoft presented the market opportunity for Lync to us. We were pleased to see that our strategy fits with the opportunity of incorporating Lync into our profile, and the next step is to develop our business plan and then hopefully become an accredited Microsoft Lync Partner.”