INTERVIEW Paul Cunningham - Westcon-Comstor
“We capture a huge amount of data as a distributor and can derive a huge understanding of
the market from the data” Paul Cunningham, Chief Marketing Officer, Westcon-Comstor
Back to the Future
Paul Cunningham has returned to Westcon-Comstor in the role of Chief Marketing Offi cer (CM) to oversee
company-wide communications, future vendor strategy and customer segmentation
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): You have a wide brief;
as well as responsibility for
companywide
marketing and
communications, you also
oversee digital propositions
and platforms, business
intelligence and analytics,
future vendor technology
strategy, customer
segmentation and gotomarket.
How’s all that going?
Paul Cunningham (PC): e
wide brief was partly why I
came back to Westcon – it’s
a modern Chief Marketing
O cer’s role that combines
digital transformation and
analytics.
We capture a huge amount
of data as a distributor and can
derive a huge understanding of
the market from the data.
e data is from both up
and down the chain and
not just transactional data
but also augmented by third
party data on the use of
technologies. is enables us
to help vendors acquire new
resellers. ink of it along the
lines of demographics being
the numbers and the people,
technographics the technology
and rmagraphics being the use
of technology.
e point is, that combined
with transactional data
these elements enable us to
understand the DNA of who
uses each vendors’ products
which in turn enables the close
targeting of new resellers. It
works and we are now scaling
the process out.
CBM: You have a large
geographical responsibility –
can that be leveraged?
PC: We have a large and diverse
set teams and people across
EMEA, Sub Saharan Africa
and APAC all initiating good
ideas and campaigns. By
working them centrally we can
get great results by importing
and exporting good ideas and
practices.
Westcon adopted SAP three
or four years ago and are trying
to digitally enable our channel
model. We have built a number
of tools that face the channel to
gain better experiences for our
customers – it’s a big technical
advantage that impacts how
we go to market. We have a
smarter real time engagement
model through channels to
users; digitally, using social
media which means we are fully
engaged day by day and minute
by minute.
is in turn drives the data
and increases a propensity to
buy. We need to be good at this
at our core – without that the
logistics would not matter. No
matter what, as a distributor
you still need to be good at the
basics.
CBM: How are you
approaching your future
vendor technology strategy?
PC: In recent years the market
has changed. Today, products
are increasingly software
based and uncoupled from the
hardware and this changes the
emphasis of the business model
to a recurring annuity model.
is changes the relationship
with the end user as every day
is now delivery day. You have
to engage successfully at every
step with the user. Vendors,
with automation for renewals
and retention – as a service
also recognise that every day is
delivery day – it’s a continuous
dialogue with customers.
Customer segmentations
are also changing. We all
became used to be a pyramid
based model but scale is no
longer an adequate indicator of
opportunity. We are continually
seeing smaller resellers being
capable of handling larger users
- understanding their needs.
In such a dynamic market data
and analytics are increasingly
important.
And Arti cial
Intelligence? ink of
the apps; Google voice
recognition is as good
as the human ear
with transcription
and translation
in real time.
It’s not
commercial
yet but will
drip in to
what we
are doing
today,
helping us
be more
e ective, for example, in digital
twinning when combined with
machine learning.
AI is a component of what
we do - not a stand-alone
app and is the partner of the
future. Today we have waves
of technology coming through
the market and the point is that
each wave will now have AI and
machine learning embedded.
So, I don’t foresee any giant leap
forward but rather this being a
natural part of what we do now.
Everything is ‘connected’ in a
digital world.
Paul Cunningham has
returned to Westcon-Comstor
ED SAYS…
Cunningham is a fan and advocate of Mary
Meeker, a successful venture capitalist and
author of the sought after Internet Trends
report since 1995. The 2019 edition released in
June this year is a great read at 333 slides. To
see why just Google it.
40 | Comms Business Magazine | January 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk