Wick Hill is building up its training side in the UK; this helps it match the German side of the business which moved into new premises a year ago. The two parts of the distributor’s business have been growing rapidly, with similar growth figures in the last year, and will have similar profiles.
It is not there to run training courses for sale, however, but as part of the support function. “It is knowledge transfer to our customers – the resellers,” Wick Hill Group chairman Ian Kilpatrick (pictured) tells IT Europa. They can sell on certain courses, but the main aim is to support future sales. “We are a small player, working in a niche and very different from our competitors,” he says. “The IP pipe is still complex, and there are many continuing changes.” Hence the demand for more courses.
In a minor reorganisation, the new role of Professional Services Manager is being filled by Barry Davies, an experienced IT and Education Manager, who will be responsible for expanding and facilitating both training and professional services with Wick Hill channel partners.
The plan means more courses for partners, giving them in turn more confidence to sell more and build their own services business. Wick Hill does not want to have its own professional services division selling to end users.
A major part of the UK reorganisation is a new custom training centre, which will double Wick Hill’s training capacity. The opening of the new centre is because of increased demand for training courses, which has been growing strongly year on year.
Kilpatrick commented: “Our new training facility is a key factor in our growth strategy. It allows us to run two courses simultaneously, which means both faster knowledge transfer and more opportunities for resellers to sell on courses to their customers and generate increased revenue.”
Part of the growth in training stems from the increased levels of accreditation required by vendors, but most seems to be addressing the changed products. “What was in the products three-four years ago has grown and new capabilities added.” Partners and the users are now asking wider questions, and the training reflects this.