Westcon Group Aims To Make A Little Knowledge Go A Long Way
As a salesman, Raffield used to rely on engineers for most of his technical information. Today, because he has to collect and understand much of that information himself and then present it to the customer, Raffield relies on Westcon Group's Web Track Web-based training tool as his technology tutor.
"With Web Track, we've been better able to articulate our solutions to the client, particularly with products we haven't had time to test in the field," said Raffield. "With the features and functionalities it offers, we don't have to go digging through a lot of white papers."
Westcon Group, based here, rolled out Web Track about two months ago and has been adding to it since. The gated site now includes training classes on Nortel Networks' BayStack 470-48T switch and Contivity 1000 secure IP services gateway, and on Check Point Software Technologies' firewall solutions.
Geared toward salespeople looking for technical information that will make products easier to sell, the site includes a high-quality video of Westcon Training Manager Doug Pitcher, who explains the products' finer points, product information slides, specs and white papers, and a live chat session. Pitcher creates the tutorials to ensure that the material fits his solution provider audience and produces the content in-house for quick turnaround.
"We're not regurgitating a training program that already exists," said Jenny Pappas, vice president of marketing at Westcon Inc., a subsidiary of Westcon Group. "In this economy, our resellers really need to keep up on the latest products. This lets them do it in a convenient way."
Westcon Group plans to add more product categories and live training and certification classes to the site after the new year, and Raffield said those additions would benefit his Charlotte, N.C.-based company even more. But Westcon shouldn't stop there, he said, adding, "I would love to use the site to evaluate emerging technologies and learn about best-of-breed solutions."