Securing their Role in B2B

Founded in 1985, Westcon Group is a privately held global company with over $5 billion in yearly revenues. As a B2B distributor with a focus in security networks, Westcon’s customers are resellers, IT integrators and solution providers. They assist their vendors by ensuring high-quality products, providing reliable performance and the implementation of in the field solutions.

Over the years, Westcon has grown exponentially, establishing more than 90 offices worldwide and shipping products to more than 100 countries across the globe.

B2B enterprises, such as Westcon, face many challenges from changing customer expectations. In the early 2010s, digital was beginning to infringe upon the traditional B2B sales model. Like many competitors, less than 10% of Westcon’s sales were attributed to online channels. The race was on to develop new e-commerce platforms to better serve customers.

To accomplish a full digital transformation, Westcon had two primary goals in mind: a) to grow in e-commerce sales by creating a transactional site and, more importantly, b) to optimize internal tools to streamline internal processes such as “creating quotes, creating orders and delivering the best customer experience,” says Dwight Pitter, VP of Customer Technology. This focus on the end-user was a critical component of organizational change required to build a new foundation. A roadmap was established to identify project objectives and products to orchestrate into the digital distribution platform.

With over four million sellable products in their catalogue and shipments made to over 100 countries, Westcon knew they needed to invest in best-in-class products for their dot com and e-commerce. They selected SAP Hybris, Adobe AEM and Salesforce to lead their digital transformation. Valtech understood the potential cost to serve savings, which neared 90% for some B2Bs, from shifting customers to integrated self-serve platforms.  

To navigate complex configuration, Valtech fastened all major initiatives to one anchored theme: self-service. The e-commerce site was designed to feature their products, catalogue, real-time inventory, request quotes and submit orders. This decision would lead to many intangible benefits for Westcon such as enhanced customer experience and brand image as well as increased operational efficiency.
Westcon then needed to focus on distributing these tools with a suitable platform.

The second phase of Westcon’s digital transformation journey was distribution. The focus was on streamlining internal operations, to ease the execution of external digital experiences.

Westcon’s Digital Distribution Platform stems from the single global SAP. Valtech integrated the platform to deliver tools, partner technology and automation for Westcon’s resellers to expand their influence. Valtech’s industry-leading approach unlocked opportunities for Westcon partners to be at the forefront of the digital transformation era.

Along with these upgrades, Valtech worked in parallel with Westcon, providing regular routines and bug fixes and developed new functionalities on Hybris.

Valtech’s Digital Transformation Program (DTE) propelled Westcon into the Digital Age miles ahead of competitors. With an impressive tech stack, Valtech rolled out a highly reliable and easy-to-use solution that fundamentally changed how Westcon does business online.  

The new platform eliminates tedious manual work while creating visibility for Westcon’s customers; distribution partners and resellers can now use self-service tools to easily manage and automate every aspect of the sales process within the Hybris e-commerce site. The order entry processing time decreased by 60%, combined quoting and order entry for a more seamless process and reduced error rates in SAP. Westcon account managers can also use the tools to measure quality assurance at the account and transaction level more efficiently. These tools combined with the automated processes provide a seamless digital business platform for Westcon partners and their customers.