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Azlan has recently brought all its HP teams together into a single integrated unit – we spoke to Andy Dow, head of Azlan’s HP Enterprise division about the changes and what they mean for HP partners
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Andy Dow: Depth of specialism in HP Enterprise technologies sets Azlan’s team apart
he recent decision to bring together all of Azlan’s HP Enterprise specialists into a single integrated team is going to have a direct impact on all its HP VAR customers – and according to Andy Dow, head of the HP Enterprise business, it will be a really
positive one.
‘It’s exciting because it means we have the largest dedicated HP Enterprise team in the UK, and we are absolutely focused on supporting the HP reseller. Te team has been hand- picked, from experienced Tech Data staff who have been fully-trained on HP Enterprise products, including Gen 9 servers, storage solutions such as 3PAR, and the whole networking portfolio.’
Te entire team is now based in Tech Data’s main UK offices in Basingstoke, with staff that previously worked in Birmingham relocating. Te field-based teams will remain in place and the HP team will continue to have access to the offices and facilities in Warrington, Heathrow and central London.
Support structure
A completely different structure, designed to maximise use of available resources is now in place. Tis will allow Azlan to help more HP partners with more projects, as Andy Dow explains. ‘We have a team of more than 50 people and we wanted to make sure we had many different layers of technical expertise, that enable our partners to delve down to different layers, depending on the kind of technical solution they require.
‘For example, if you need additional help with a solution, you will be able to speak to one of our HP Enterprise overlay team, who will have more technical knowledge than your account manager. If you need to go deeper you would talk to one of our pre-sales specialists, who will help you to design and build up your solution and produce not only the quote but also the technical configuration.
‘If the solution is even more complicated, you will be passed to the next tier of technical expertise to our Solutions Architects. Tey are based in the field and today and every day, they are out there working on-site with resellers, pre-sales, designing solutions around HP servers, storage and networking.’
Early engagement
Azlan wants HP resellers to make use of this multi-layered expertise as soon as opportunities begin to emerge. ‘It’s important that we help the reseller at the earliest point in the sales cycle because that’s where, if there’s technically a mistake, it’s a long way to track back’ says Dow.
‘By putting our Solutions Architects in the field at that early stage, we know that we are helping the reseller to find the correct solution. We’re ensuring that however complicated the storage, networking, racking, configuration we’ve got the expertise in-situ to deliver the best solution. It will then go back to the pre-sales team, who will finalise the configuration and from there the quoting process starts.’
‘Tere is a very clear, step-by-step path that looks at the solution you are working on and passes you, hand-to-hand, to the depth you require. Or stops at the point where you’ve received everything you need in order to go back to the end user.’
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