Customer Solution Case Study
/ Computacenter Accelerates Competitive Advantage and Revenue Growth Thanks to Microsoft PSC
Overview
Country or Region: United Kingdom
Industry: IT Services
Customer Profile
Computacenter offers end-to-end IT services such as advising customers on their infrastructure strategies, implementing appropriate technology systems, and managing elements of the customers’ IT infrastructures.
Business Situation
The company wanted to increase its expertise in emerging Microsoft® technologies and make certain that it remained a leader in its marketplace, giving customers the opportunity to upgrade their infrastructure solutions when new products came to market.
Solution
Computacenter engaged a Microsoft Partner Strategy Consultant (PSC), who has developed a long-term plan to continue increasing Computacenter’s revenue and expertise in Microsoft business solutions.
Benefits
n Accelerates competitive advantage for partner.
n Innovative solutions and services.
n Generates revenue and improves profitability.
n Early involvement with new Microsoft projects. / “The executive briefing at Redmond organised by our PSC proved very successful, with Computacenter growing more than £3 million (U.S.$5.2 million) of new opportunities within six months of the event.”
Simon Oecken, Microsoft Solutions Director, Computacenter
Computacenter (U.K.), one of the largest IT services providers in Europe, wanted to adopt new and existing Microsoft® business solutions and increase its exposure to emerging technologies. With this in mind, it engaged a Microsoft Partner Strategy Consultant (PSC) as a long-term strategic adviser. Microsoft PSCs understand a partner’s business goals, horizontal market opportunities, and their technical needs. At Computacenter (U.K.), the PSC developed an engagement and training programme that increased the company’s competitive advantage. Since the relationship began, Computacenter has seen a direct increase in revenue—it closed more than £3 million (U.S.$5.2 million) in new business from one PSC-organised event alone. In addition the PSC has helped give Computacenter a strong foothold in the emerging information worker solutions market, which will be worth an estimated U.S.$140 billion for Microsoft partners by 2007.
Situation
Computacenter (U.K.) is a leading IT infrastructure services provider in Europe, with group revenues of £2.45 billion (U.S.$4.3 billion) in 2004 and pre-tax profits of £67.3 million (U.S.$118 million).
The fundamental dilemma facing most IT providers is this: how do they ensure their technical readiness for the release of new vendor solutions? If providers want to accelerate competitive advantage and help certain customers update their infrastructures when new technologies come to market, they need to become expert in these solutions during the development stages.
Computacenter, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, decided to overcome these challenges by developing its service offering in line with the release of new technologies. It wanted to capitalise on existing and emerging Microsoft technologies and resources to drive revenue and improve profitability.
In particular, the company was keen to play a greater role in Microsoft technology adoption programmes (TAPs). Involvement in these initiatives gives Microsoft partners and customers access to pre-release versions of Microsoft technology. They can have input and influence the development of solutions, and can accelerate competitive advantage by becoming expert in new technologies before they become commercially available.
Simon Oecken, Microsoft Solutions Director, Computacenter, says: “We wanted to align Computacenter more closely with the Microsoft development roadmap so that we involved ourselves at a more strategic level with Microsoft.”
Following discussions with Microsoft, Computacenter decided to engage with a Microsoft Partner Strategy Consultant (PSC) as a long-term strategic adviser. PSCs work within the framework of the Microsoft Partner Technology Strategy Service (PTSS) to provide technical, marketing, and business resources to clients. The PSC’s focus is on helping the client organisation grow its revenues through closer alignment with Microsoft.
To develop a more embedded relationship, Computacenter required the PSC to:
• Develop a joint Microsoft/Computacenter roadmap, which technically extended the Microsoft/Computacenter business plan and incorporated a communications plan that outlined opportunities for business and relationship growth between Computacenter and Microsoft.
• Use the roadmap to grow Computacenter solutions and services around innovative Microsoft market offerings.
• Evaluate joint Microsoft/Computacenter solution quality, plan for execution, and return on investment (ROI), resulting in a recommendation for joint investments in solution development opportunities.
• Help Computacenter accelerate its competitive advantage by adopting new technologies and offering new solutions to its customers.
• Reduce risk by providing supportability across the solution lifecycle.
• Contribute to the growth of the Microsoft practice within Computacenter.
Solution
At the end of 2004, Computacenter selected Microsoft Consultant Simon Pearson as its PSC. From day one Pearson focused his efforts on developing Computacenter’s bonds with Microsoft. Initially, Pearson held several envisioning and discovery workshops with Computacenter. He wanted to gain an in-depth understanding of its current solutions, solution development needs, customer and market opportunities, and key business and technical goals. This created the basis for an engagement delivery plan outlining the goals and objectives for the PSC.
Pearson arranged face-to-face interviews between Computacenter and key business decision makers in Microsoft Services in the U.K. He wanted to reinforce and expand upon what Microsoft Services already knew about the organisation and ensure the partner was involved in high-profile ‘lighthouse’ projects. These projects, which generate case-study references, consist of a series of major business solution deployments that showcase latest-version technologies. They include the direct involvement of Microsoft Services.
Pearson also began helping to develop Computacenter’s internal training programmes. Oecken says: “As a senior Microsoft consultant, Simon’s knowledge of emerging Microsoft business solutions and technologies, and deep understanding of Computacenter’s services is invaluable. He can help optimise our investments in the right technical skills development.”
By identifying emerging Microsoft solutions and markets, Pearson is creating virtual practices to support new solutions before launch. This ensures that Computacenter can provide new service offerings and technology programmes and create fresh revenue streams.
Pearson says: “My role is to understand Computacenter’s business, including its goals, its vertical and horizontal markets, and the technical readiness of its staff. Growing Computacenter’s revenue and its Microsoft practice is my top priority. A PSC can identify key areas where investing time and effort will deliver the greatest returns and agree on a solutions roadmap going forward with the Microsoft partner.”
Benefits
Accelerates Competitive Advantage
As a leading Microsoft partner in Europe, a key business strategy of Computacenter was to raise the awareness of the company and its market offerings to Microsoft Corporation in the United States. This would help increase engagement directly with the product groups on pre-release products.
Pearson says: “I worked directly with the TAP programme managers in the United States and described how important Computacenter would be in product development. I invited Computacenter staff to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, to meet the key decision-makers and work alongside the team responsible for product development in the TAP programme. This helped secure a place on the TAPs and consequently a competitive advantage for Computacenter around these technologies.”
Oecken adds: “As a Microsoft partner, we arranged to take 10 of our finance sector customer chief information officers (CIOs) to an executive briefing at Microsoft headquarters. This was a specific event arranged by Simon, which gave these customers the chance to hear about the latest Microsoft solutions directly from the WW Product Group Managers and to meet Microsoft Corporation executives. The executive briefing at Redmond organised by our PSC proved very successful with Computacenter growing more than £3 million (U.S.$5.2 million) of new opportunities within six months of the event.”
Computacenter is working with Microsoft on the development of Microsoft Exchange 12, which is planned to succeed Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, and Windows Vista™, which will replace Microsoft Windows® XP as the next-generation desktop operating system.
Oecken says: “We’re one of the U.K.’s leading Microsoft Exchange Server specialists, and we want to retain this position in the future. To achieve this depends on the expertise of our staff. Our PSC recognised it was crucial for us to be part of development programmes, such as the Exchange 12 TAP. Through this we have been able to gain expertise in the new product versions and build invaluable relationships with the Microsoft product managers.”
-By Using Microsoft Resources to Gain New Business
Pearson’s expert knowledge of Computacenter’s markets and his access to Microsoft resources has helped the company penetrate new areas of business. His direct involvement or that of other product experts from Microsoft has reduced the risk of using new Microsoft offerings by providing supportability across the solution lifecycle. In some cases, Computacenter needs to work alongside other Microsoft partners to deliver compelling business proposals. In these situations, Pearson can put Computacenter in contact with suitable, complementary organisations.
Oecken says: “Simon saves us a lot of time and effort. He has direct access to Microsoft resources and information and can help us create successful project proposals and business cases more efficiently.”
- And By Delivering Technical Support Throughout Projects
Pearson also helps the flow of Microsoft technical support throughout the lifecycle of Computacenter projects. By dividing his working week between Computacenter and Microsoft, he is well positioned to deliver timely advice, from the bidding phase through to implementation. Where deep technical knowledge is required, Pearson can provide the information or has immediate access to technical resources within Microsoft Services.
Oecken says: “The PSC coordinates a great deal of information sharing during a project. This establishes a coordinated approach and ultimately results in better decisions as we move through the lifecycle of the project.
“Simon is very good at finding Microsoft staff who can review our technical proposals. In fact, he has been invaluable in creating and maintaining connections between the two organisations and ensuring that our proposals are as tight as possible. On high-risk or mission-critical projects in particular, this provides added reassurance to our clients. You could say he de-risks projects.”
Innovative Solutions and Services
In his long-term strategic advisor role, Pearson is constantly looking at areas where Computacenter can develop its Microsoft offering and grow revenues. He is currently working with the organisation to increase its presence within the Microsoft infrastructure optimisation initiative (IOI), helping Computacenter to become one of the leading partners for providing collaboration solutions and real-time communication to customers.
Pearson says: “The IOI stems from prior research by Gartner that shows that 70 to 80 per cent of all IT budgets are spent maintaining existing systems, rather than creating new systems and capabilities. If an organisation can reduce the cost of maintaining existing systems, then those financial resources can be freed for other priorities.”
Since July 2005, Computacenter has been working with Microsoft Corporation to develop a ROI calculator tool for the IOI. Pearson says: “This will give Computacenter a new stream of business in the future and further cement our partnership relationship.”
- Potential for Information Worker Solutions
The worldwide services opportunity for information worker (IW) services solutions is large and growing. Pearson has helped Computacenter benefit from what Microsoft estimates will be a U.S.$140 billion market for its partners by 2007. He says: “I’ve now trained around 25 Computacenter consultants in IW products and solutions and set up an IW practice at Computacenter. In addition I have supported Computacenter in achieving the Microsoft Information Worker Solution Competency, which requires a high level of solution knowledge as well as customer testimonials. Having this accreditation will give Computacenter a real advantage as it demonstrates the company’s skill in this area to potential customers.”
Increasingly, customers want collaboration tools that ensure IWs can effortlessly find, access, manage, and share information. These tools make project management more cost-effective as they help streamline decision-making cycles. As a result, Pearson is helping define new market offerings in this area and is extending Computacenter’s technical skills development in the Microsoft collaboration and IW business areas.
Expands Revenue Growth and Improves Profitability
Pearson estimates that three core projects alone, which he helped initiate, in pharmaceuticals, media, and mobile solutions, have generated revenue totaling £850,000 (U.S.$1.5 million) by deploying Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003.
By improving knowledge of how Computacenter can use Microsoft technologies in financial services, Pearson estimates that Computacenter has already gained £2 million (U.S.$3.48 million) in new business since he became its PSC.
Microsoft Partner Technology Strategy Service
The Microsoft Partner Technology Strategy Service (PTSS) helps partners accelerate the planning and delivery of services and sharpen their competitive position through the innovative application of Microsoft products and technologies. It achieves this by planning, engaging with stakeholders and customers, enabling sales and delivery teams, developing the relationship between Microsoft and the partner, and sustaining this value.
For more information about Microsoft Services, go to:
www.microsoft.com/microsoftservices