Westcon Makes A SecurityPoint
The SecurityPoint portal includes information on all of Westcon's security vendors and products and features an elaborate, searchable database, said Laurie Usewicz, vice president of the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based distributor's security group.
"If you're not sure what vendor you need but you need a UTM [unified threat management] solution, you can pull up that [portal] and vendors pop up to fit into that category," she said.
Detailed information on the product and how it fits into the solution are included, Usewicz said. The information is vendor-agnostic, which allows solution providers to make their own product decisions based on customer needs.
"We're identifiying key questions that resellers can ask, as well as targeted markets. We ID complementary products the [VAR] can introduce as part of selling a solution," she said.
SecurityPoint also includes SolutionsBase, a tool to help simplify the quoting and specification process of security solutions, according to Usewicz.
"Before SecurityPoint, a reseller was required to make many stops before capitalizing on a security opportunity: one place for lead generation, another for product and yet another for advanced knowledge and expertise," Joe Luciano, CEO of Access IT Group, a New York-based solution provider, said in a statement. "Westcon has put it all together in one place, and this gives us a monumental advantage against our competition."
Additional selling tools help solution providers best determine how to close the deal, Usewicz said. The goal is to get VARs selling security solutions beyond defending the perimiter, she added.
"It goes back to the market opportunity. I want to help reseller development. There was definitely a need to step in as an entity to bring all the different security solutions together today. This is a good venue to pull all pieces together in a central location to drive all of that," Usewicz said. "As we start to hone in and drill down to different technology areas, there is enough detail to help solution providers, whether they need SMB or enterprise solutions."