ALEX TATHAM INTERVIEW
Go West (again) Alex Tatham has recently returned to Westcoast after a year away in a new and expanded role and is focused on making the company thrive and take advantage of the opportunities presented by its recent deal with Komsa and in the channel in general.
Alex Tatham is in fine form. Back at Westcoast after a year away, he is relaxed, happy and enthused about his new role and the prospects for the company. You sense he has come back home – and is ready to help
Account managers change and they say, ‘Alex, can you help me with this? I've just inherited this account. Who do you know there?’ I’m using my network a lot at this point.” Komsa Alex will also be getting involved with Westcoast’s German partner Komsa and ensuring that Westcoast customers can take advantage of their products going forward. The merger of the businesses was announced in October 2022. “Komsa is a very different business to Westcoast,” says Alex. “They have a significant mobile business, as well as voice and unified comms. That's something Westcoast will be taking advantage of going forward as a new part of our business.” Alex adds that while the convergence of communications has been talked about for many years, it is only now, post-Pandemic, that it is starting to happen. “Most people can do most of their telephony using their IT devices, but with a call plan attached to it,” he says. “Westcoast, along with many others, threw their PBX system in the bin; no one has a desk phone anymore at Westcoast. “Then we've got the PSTN switch off coming in September 2025 and stop-sell later this year. There are 200 million lines in our country alone, and it will happen in France and Germany as well. The world is switching off, so there's a big job to do to convert everyone. Convergence is gathering pace and that's going to transform a lot of the voice reselling market as you can’t just sell PBX systems anymore. I think you're going to see them absorbed by IT companies and IoT resellers and they'll all set up voice practises within them. “Voice is a huge area and there's so many things that are going to stretch together. But perhaps most importantly for Westcoast is that Komsa is a large HP/Poly distributor and we're looking forward to being able to distribute HP/ Poly products later this year.” Alex adds there are no plans to fully merge Komsa into Westcoast. “Komsa is a
take the business to new heights. He had previously spent 15 years at
Westcoast, including in the roles of sales and marketing director of the wholesale business and latterly as managing director of the UK business. “When I joined the business, it was about £600 million turnover, and when I left it was £3.6 billion – a fair bit of growth and most of that was organic,” he says. Alex left to join one of Westcoast’s customers, NSC Global Services, where he experienced a different role to what he had been used to. “It was incredibly different from selling hardware and consumables mostly in the UK to selling services for a global business,” he says. “But what a learning experience it was, and I am happy to have done so because learning about services and how people do services has been important and I will be able to bring that experience to what I am doing now.” He had been happy at NSC Global Services, but when Westcoast’s founder and chairman Joe Hemani called Alex with an offer of a new role that goes across the group, it was too tempting to turn down. “I said I'd be delighted to return, and I am delighted to be back,” he says. “Joe’s only instruction to me was, ‘Alex, do what you do’, which shows me that he trusts me to go and help with new and existing customers and help our people.
Alex Tatham executive director
westcoast.co.uk
“
Komsa is a very different
business to Westcoast. They have a
significant mobile business, as well as voice and unified comms.
”
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