Comstor focuses on small business, security with new initiatives

Comstor, a leading Cisco distributor and part of Westcon-Comstor, has adapted several Cisco campaigns uniquely for the channel, as well as launching a new initiative of its own to help resellers address small businesses and security. All three initiatives have an objective of supporting partners with increasing profitability and brand awareness towards the small business segment.

Traditionally, there was a perception in the market that Cisco was only for large enterprises, with many considering that the prices and the solutions themselves were excluding small businesses from being able to take advantage of Cisco’s leading technologies. To address this, Cisco has designed a specific portfolio for small businesses, and Comstor has developed an easy-to-understand go-to-market that encompasses this portfolio.

Security has jumped up quickly to the top of the agenda for most businesses, especially in recent months. This has been a particular concern for small businesses, many of which are likely to have focused their attention on getting employees up and running from home without necessarily having the security infrastructure in place to ensure that remote employees do not pose a security risk to the business.

In response to these challenges and opportunities in the small business and security markets, Cisco has launched a campaign that incorporates a series of sales motions designed to help small business customers, while at the same time helping partners to scale their businesses. The initiative is built on considerations of ‘pain point, solution, promotion’, addressing the needs of end-user customers. Comstor has promptly encompassed Cisco’s messaging to bring the security focused campaign to the channel and will help its resellers understand and leverage this initiative.

In addition, Comstor is offering a marketing enablement programme from Cisco called ‘Radius Digital’. This is a digital marketing service which enables resellers to develop automated webinars to showcase their technical expertise, offerings and knowledge, to reach small businesses and increase their sales pipeline. Like the first campaign, Radius Digital is designed to help resellers reach small businesses more effectively, ultimately helping end-user customers.

“Many resellers have found the last few months particularly challenging, and in a time when their own businesses have encountered difficulties, they may have struggled to address the challenges faced by their customers,” commented Louise Taute, Comstor Director Southern Africa. “In response to this, and following conversations with many of our partners, we have worked closely with Cisco to deliver these initiatives, to empower our partners to help their customers in the best way possible.”

These initiatives come shortly after the launch of ‘Comstor Cosmos’, a campaign that features elements of interactivity and highlights the most appropriate and best value solutions available. Revealing new offerings every week, this campaign is designed to bring Comstor’s reseller partners profitable solutions to take to their current and new customers.