Unlocking innovation and greater profitability with AWS through Westcon-Comstor

As one of the largest distributors of Amazon Web Services (AWS) services, Westcon-Comstor is investing in helping the channel unlock new pathways to profitability by launching a new loyalty program focused on AWS – the BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program.

Late last year, Amazon announced changes to its AWS Partner Network (APN) program that further benefitted resellers and other partners that were genuinely invested in AWS. The changes included more stringent rules for certification, a streamlining of the process of launching new projects and a renewed focus on rewarding the winning of new business.

Through the changes, Westcon-Comstor can now also transact AWS Enterprise Agreements and Enterprise Discount Programs (EDPs) through the channel.

Introducing the BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program

The program from Westcon-Comstor is being launched as a “bonus” to the channel; a thank you for its ongoing support of Westcon-Comstor and AWS. The benefits earned by partners from the program are in addition to existing benefits offered through the AWS program.

Rebates will be based on a scale across both base annual spend and the number of years that the reseller has been partnered with Westcon-Comstor for AWS.

Westcon-Comstor Global VP of Cloud Strategy, Darryl Grauman, developed the BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program as an opportunity for resellers to access an innovation fund, and to increase their investment in technology, R&D, and experimentation to build new AWS and adjacent services.

By doing that, he said, resellers could develop new business opportunities and competitive differentiation.

“Westcon and AWS are working tirelessly to accelerate the growth of many of our cloud channel partners. With Westcon and AWS delivering the new benefits of the APN Partner Program, alongside the BlueSky loyalty and innovation fund, we are enabling our channel partners with expertise, systems and now funding to begin some of the technical innovation streams that have been building up over the last few years. We hope that this will open the innovation floodgates,” Grauman said.

Research shows that Australian companies often struggle to invest sufficiently into innovation and R&D with spending on R&D accounting for just one per cent of GDP – which is half of, if not less, the percentage invested in R&D in countries such as the US and Germany, Japan and Korea.

AWS A/NZ managing director, Paul Migliorini, said, Amazon positioned its platform for innovation. "AWS partners are adding value to customers across a wide range of industries, from banking and finance, to resources, the public sector, and increasingly, the Australian and New Zealand start-up sector,” he said at Amazon’s AWS Summit in Sydney last year.

Programs geared towards encouraging resellers to invest more in R&D on the AWS platform, such as the BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program, help them unlock opportunities for innovation and competitive differentiation, both within Australia and regionally.

Unlocking new avenues to profitability

For organisations to invest in R&D, they need to have the profitability and stability to set aside investment money. The changes Amazon is bringing to its partner program, in collaboration with the Westcon-Comstor BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program, offer the chance for organisations to invest in innovation on a highly innovative cloud platform without having to find additional capital to fund projects.

For more information on the BlueSky Loyalty Rebate Program, and to sign up as a reseller, head to https://m.westconcomstor.com/bluesky-loyalty-rebate-program.