February 8, 2025 • 30 mins
Join us as we sit down with John Poulter, the visionary director at Comstor, who takes us on a thrilling journey through the world of IT distribution. From his humble beginnings at Dubtail Distribution to his impressive roles at Oracle and NTT, John’s experience offers a unique lens into the fast-paced and complex terrain of IT distribution. Through his eyes, navigating this industry feels akin to piloting a fully-loaded 747 just above the ground—requiring constant innovation and astute leadership.
Explore the art of building robust vendor relationships, especially during turbulent times like the COVID-19 pandemic. John unravels strategies used to keep teams motivated and operations running smoothly, such as leveraging virtual tiger teams. He reflects on how authentic partnerships, much like nurturing a marriage, necessitate daily commitment. Learn how to strengthen these relationships by adopting structures akin to those of giants like Cisco, which can transform transactional interactions into thriving, long-term partnerships.
Peek into the future as we tackle emerging trends reshaping technology and customer expectations. John sheds light on the transformative potential of AI and quantum computing, and how these advancements compel businesses to adapt through automation and digital initiatives. Emphasising the need for openness to change, he offers insights for aspiring leaders on embracing innovation, developing varied perspectives, and staying ahead of the curve. Get ready for an enlightening discussion that bridges the present and future of technology distribution, offering invaluable lessons in leadership and adaptation.
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Episode Transcript
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John Poulter (00:02):
I remember this way back in the day I said
running a distributor is likeflying a 747 at full speed,
fully loaded, two meters off theground.
It's exhilarating when you'redoing it and if you get it wrong
it's going to hurt.
And if you get it right youknow you can really sharpen your
business skills.
Michael van Rooyen (00:17):
Today I have the pleasure in having a chat
to John Poulter, who is theComstor at and we're going to
talk all the things about ITdistribution, the challenges of
that Most customers purchaseequipment and don't really think
about how it gets there andalso particularly when things
need to be changed, and it'squite of a process.
Hey, john, welcome to thepodcast.
Thanks, MVR, I'm glad to behere.
Yeah, great For those who arearound.
(00:38):
This will be played a littlebit later on, but we're catching
up at Cisco Live.
Comstore is a big Cisco partnerfrom a distribution point of
view.
We've known John for a whileacross the different businesses
and particularly at Orro.
Before we get started, john, doyou mind sharing a little bit
about your career journey andwhat got you to be the director
of ComStore?
John Poulter (00:56):
Yeah, I can do so.
As with a lot of people in IT,I fell into it accidentally.
Michael van Rooyen (01:01):
That's true actually.
John Poulter (01:02):
Many people do, they do, they do, and way back
in the day I did a commercedegree that largely had a major
in international business, whichwas really just economics, as
it turned out, and I alwaysthought that I'd be going to
work for Macquarie Bank or CBAor something in economics and
finance and this is going back agood 20-odd years now and I
(01:23):
remember circling back in theleader of the local job boards
and stuff like that.
This is before seek.
com or anything like that.
I was very new at that stageand my old man worked a little
bit of his career in IT, so Ikind of had a little bit of a
taste for it when I was growingup, and that was back in the
days when digital equipment wasstill a thing, right.
So I thought I might just applyfor a couple of roles here and
(01:45):
before you know it, I wassitting in front of a very small
distributor called DovetailDistribution, which was only
five employees at the time, and,as it turned out, they were
just offering that extra threegrand a year, more than the
starting salary of a gradsomewhere else at a bank, and I
took the money and rang.
As a newly married man Ithought I need every penny I can
get, and that's how my careerkind of started in IT
(02:07):
thereabouts in a very smalldistributor.
Michael van Rooyen (02:10):
Wow, wow, and banking would have been an
interesting place to be in, butcertainly, if I think about the
technology life cycles I've beenthrough, it would have been a
fascinating career for you.
I mean, certainly there's a lothappened in the finance world
as well, no doubt on no doubt,but one of those fork in the
road moments and you're happywith the change, Although you
probably never did the bankingthing.
But are you happy with whereyou ended up?
John Poulter (02:27):
I'm happy where I ended up.
I ended up marrying a womanthat's in finance.
Oh, there we go so at leastI've got a perspective of it
thereabouts.
And I think I really enjoy thepace of IT and the change and
the constant.
Nothing stays stagnant, right,you've always got to continue to
innovate, right, and I think itreally drives me.
Yeah, but um, so after startingthat in that little small disty
, they got acquired by aslightly bigger one called itx
(02:50):
group, which went on becomeabnet and then tech data as it
is today.
But I'd left that after aboutseven years in distribution,
cutting my teeth in the world ofwhat I'd say is sun
microsystems, and then, aftersun had been acquired by oracle,
I had an opportunity to go andjoin Vendorland and I worked at
Oracle for about seven years,which was a very interesting and
diverse journey that I went on.
I certainly cut my teeth on alot of things there and,
(03:13):
reflecting back, it taught me alot that place, especially
working in Vendorland.
Yes, I then bounced over to apartner for a while NTT, before
I was headhunted for this role,and then back to distribution.
So I've had a, I guess, a veryfortunate career where I've been
able to sit on all three sidesof the fence, being distribution
vendor partner and now back todistribution.
Michael van Rooyen (03:34):
So I've played all positions on the
field, if you will.
I didn't realize you didn'ttime at NTT as well, but that's
interesting because you wouldhave seen, as you said, the
other side of it, right, whichis people don't get to do.
They're either customer andthey stay customer or they end
up in integrated land, right,and distribution's one of the
ones that some land in.
But it's an interesting journeyOff that.
Then in your time and you'velearned plenty of things, and
(03:55):
now being a director, what wouldcome as some of the
responsibilities across yourmanagement, sales and operations
that you find most impactfuland rewarding for what you do,
right, because, again, peopledon't see distribution, they're
just things arrive.
What sort of things do you findmost rewarding and impactful?
John Poulter (04:09):
I think there's a couple of elements to that.
The most impactful andrewarding thing I think I have
as a director is the leadershipside of things right.
I admire my team, love workingwith them and it's a privilege
to be able to lead them to guidethem, to help develop them, and
it's a privilege to be able tolead them, to guide them, to
help develop them and coach themto actually be the best that
they possibly can be, and I geta real kick out of that and I
(04:32):
just find it really rewarding,right, and that's probably what
drives me, usually a day-to-day,to bring the A game, if you
will.
The other thing, too, aboutdistribution is at my level, you
really get to unpack thedifferent moving elements.
So it is running a business atits foundation, right.
You've got all sorts of leversthat you're pulling in terms of
driving profitability.
(04:52):
When you're a distributor,switching costs can be low, so
you've got to really be on yourgame.
In terms of how you'reapproaching the market, in terms
of unique go-to marketcampaigns and initiatives.
How are you structuring yourselfin terms of unique go-to-market
campaigns and initiatives?
How are you structuringyourself in terms of supporting
the channel community and thevendors?
How are you implementingcertain processes and procedures
(05:13):
or technologies and systems interms of maximizing and getting
scale, without having tonecessarily keep throwing
headcount at problems in orderto grow?
And then there's the financialacumen, right?
Anyone in my team will tell youthat I love my numbers, and
running a distribution isdefinitely all about the numbers
.
There was an ex-CEO of AdistioI won't name his name because he
may not want to be quoted onthat but I remember this way
(05:36):
back in the day he said runninga distributor is like flying a
747 at full speed, fully loaded,two meters off the ground.
It's exhilarating when you'redoing it and if you get it wrong
it's going to hurt, and if youget it right you can really
sharpen your business skills.
Yeah, fair enough too.
Michael van Rooyen (05:51):
How has your leadership approach evolved
over the years and what strategyhave you found most effective
in developing a high-performingteam?
Because you guys are underpressure a lot of times.
There's different vendor lifecycles when things are due and
of financial years are spreadout through your whole calendar,
unlike Australia where it's,you know, very fixed in the
12-month cycle.
How do you really develop thathigh-performing team around you?
John Poulter (06:12):
Yeah, there's no one easy answer for that.
Sure, in terms of you know howdo you develop a high-performing
team?
One of the core things thatI've always focused on is
diversity of thought, ordiversity of thinking, and
that's definitely true of theComStore team.
Most people on the team havegot a very different, I guess,
thought process, a verydifferent way of thinking, and
(06:33):
that allows us to, as a team,get together with very different
frames of reference, verydifferent perspectives, to then
solution problems that benefitour vendors, in this case, Cisco
and Pure Storage and Splunkunder the ComStore banner, as
well as all our general partnerslike Orro.
The other thing, too, is beingan authentic leader.
(06:54):
I think goes a long way, andthat's something that I spent a
lot of time developing with aprofessional executive coach
that was a qualified coachingpsychologist.
Professional executive coach.
That was a qualified coachingpsychologist.
So there's a lot of stuff to dowith leadership that I had no
idea existed until I startedactually engaging with an exec
coach.
That took me through all thedifferent articles, the science
(07:14):
behind it, and then you startimplementing it.
I mentioned that I worked for avendor at one point in my
career which was definitely allabout hitting that sales target
and the leadership was uniquethere, and one of the things I
wanted to make sure of is thatmy team knew that they were
accountable for hitting thenumber at the end of the day
(07:34):
because that's what pays thebills for any organisation but
going about it in a way which isauthentic, inspiring, that they
feel psychologically safe doingand I know that sounds like
motherhood statements, butthere's a lot to it when you
actually get it right.
And from the back of that, I'vebeen blessed with a team that
stuck with me for the betterpart of five years.
I've had nearly zero attritionright and I think it's that
(07:59):
authentic and that diversethinking and that coming
together as a team for thebenefit of our vendors and
customers that drives us everyday.
Michael van Rooyen (08:07):
Well, that's fascinating.
That's fascinating and alsoreading through some of your
profile and thinking aboutdistribution during COVID-19.
So let's talk during COVID-19.
So let's talk about COVID-19.
I know you drew quite a processaround remote work and
transitioning to remote workduring that.
What challenge did you faceduring that shift and how did
you ensure cohesive andproductive work at the time?
(08:30):
Was there some uniquechallenges in COVID-19 that you
faced?
John Poulter (08:33):
There was because we had different moving elements
of being a distributor.
Right, you needed people in thewarehouse yes, fair enough,
right To actually move productsfrom A to B, get them into the
country and get them out to thesite and with all the
regulations and requirementsaround that, our warehouse and
logistics team did an amazingjob at pulling that together.
(08:54):
But we had to split into doing Ateams and B teams and C teams
to make sure there wasn't peopleinfecting each other so the
warehouse could actuallycontinue to operate.
You got to really hand it tothose guys early on before you
know there was any known knownsin COVID to actually get out
there and go to the warehouseand put their bodies on the line
, if you will, in order to makesure kit was still getting
(09:14):
delivered.
And then there was the elementof terms of the go-to-market
side of things, which was how dowe serve our customers in terms
of all the things thatspecialised distis do, whether
it be training and enablement,building relationships with
clients to get deals done,clients being partners like
yourself, strategising withvendors and all that type of
(09:35):
stuff.
And that was where I guess Ihad the responsibility, which is
how do we take a pretty crazysituation and turn it into
something that's a little bitfun, a little bit unique.
So we built a lot of virtualtiger teams, we did virtual
sales kickoffs where we'd breakaway into little working groups
and come back and do livepresentations not quite podcasts
(09:55):
or anything like that, but Idid a lot to make sure with my
leadership team, to make surethat we kept every individual in
the business unit highlyengaged on something to do that
was meaningful back into whatthe vendors and partners needed
to serve their own business.
And then we had a bit of funalong the way as well, such as
and you can see the hair that myhair do is similar to yours
(10:15):
right.
It's reflective of the lightsaround, so as part of just
having a bit of fun along theway as well, such as and you can
see the hair that my hair do issimilar to yours, right, it's
reflective of the lights around.
Michael van Rooyen (10:22):
So as part of just having a bit of fun, I
went out and invested in about12 different wigs, so every time
I'd jump on a conference call,I'd have a new wig to wear right
, just to get a bit of laughsfrom the team.
John Poulter (10:28):
And in terms of moving through, I guess from a
leadership point of view, One ofthe key things that we'd put
together there was to have likea teaming system.
So that way, you know, we hadmany people that were working in
isolation.
Other peoples were working in ahousehold of eight, you know,
up to eight people or somethinglike that.
So having a peer or a buddythat they could kind of build a
relationship with and lean onand whatnot, I think worked
(10:50):
quite well, you know, to makesure that no one felt alone or
isolated during that time.
Michael van Rooyen (10:55):
Yeah, fair enough.
And look, being a distributorvendor relationships is really
fundamental to channeldistribution and I know
obviously a lot of your time isspent with these vendors that
are significant to the business.
But how did you approachbuilding and maintaining those
relationships?
Because obviously everyone'strying to grab that business.
Other distributors are alwaystrying pick up these ones and of
(11:18):
course there's a much biggerlens globally, et cetera.
But you know, again, we're atCisco Live and one of your
largest ones is Cisco.
You know what role do thesepartnerships really play in the
success of the distributor?
John Poulter (11:33):
It's a lifeblood, it's a lifeline for us, right?
If we had bad relationshipswith Cisco or any vendor and our
partners, it'd be disastrous,right?
So relationships is critical,which means having the right
hires on your team is criticalas well.
But in terms of what drivesthose very strong relationships
that Comstor has with Cisco?
To answer your question is, Ithink, two things.
(11:54):
I think the first thing is morestructural, which is, if you
look at how the business unit isdesigned, we exactly mimic
Cisco's go-to-market structure.
We've got a general sales teamwhich is focused on geographies
and accounts.
Then you've got a technicalteam which has got the mix of
(12:15):
solution architects andtechnical quote, specialist and
pre-sales engineers, whichmimics Cisco's team insofar as
that they specialize perarchitecture, security, ENDC,
colab, et cetera.
And then you've got thearchitecture leaders, who are
also focused on a singletechnology pillar, that are
effectively the product salesspecialists.
(12:36):
We call them architecture leads, cisco calls them PSSs.
So that direct alignment withCisco allows us to have those
deep-seated relationships at allmoving levels of their
organization.
Now, that's only one of the twocritical elements.
The second critical element Ialluded to a bit earlier, which
is to be authentic, right,authentic relationships trump
any other relationship.
(12:57):
You know, we've had many of ourcustomers in Cisco say and I'll
probably say it from a customerpoint of view which is a
partner, is that they've said.
You know, what we love aboutComstor is that it's not just a
supplier-customer relationship,it's a true partnership.
Yes, and that's something thatI drive incessantly within the
BU because I've sat, as I said,on all of those different sides
(13:19):
of the fence, so I know exactlywhat it's like when you have a
relationship with a distributorwhich is just transactional.
Michael van Rooyen (13:28):
Yeah, no one likes transactional right.
John Poulter (13:29):
No.
Michael van Rooyen (13:30):
Our CEO has this great analogy.
He says we talk a lot aboutmanaged services, which Orro is
fundamentally built on, and yourpoint here about relationships
in relation to keeping peoplehappy, right, and, and that's
the lifeblood, as you said.
But he was definitely talkingabout you're being married, you.
You don't go back to your wifeor partner.
(13:50):
I should say, uh, um, to bepolitically correct in say,
every three to five years, whenyour renewal time comes up,
let's sit down and have arenegotiation to see if we
should continue this marriage.
Right, it's a fundamental thing.
You've got to do it every day,right?
And it's a good kind of analogyon what you deliver.
Right, for all customers aswell.
John Poulter (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking that when you said
that on Friday this week I'vegot my 20th wedding anniversary.
Oh, wow, congratulations.
I'm wondering whether should Ido the renewal conversation, or
should I?
Michael van Rooyen (14:19):
Is it due, or do you do it monthly?
I think it's hourly sometimes.
John Poulter (14:23):
But it is a really good analogy, which is that
it's that ongoing trust that youcan have both ways that, I
think, sees you through the good, the bad and the ugly times,
because we're not perfect, wedon't get it right.
Every single time right we dropthe ball every once in a while
or we'll have some rough patchesin relationships, but I think
it's the intent to continue towork through it in an authentic
manner, in a genuine manner,that makes all the difference
(14:44):
for the long term.
Michael van Rooyen (14:45):
If I then pivot, you talked on cloud and
licensing, which we've had afundamental shift in many years.
Do you see any othersignificant trends in the
technology industry?
You Do you see any othersignificant trends in the
technology industry?
You get to see lots of thingsand I know you go to quite a few
different conferences over theyear for certain things or your
team certainly does, and youknow if I think about channel
distribution.
Do you see any significanttrends coming our way that you
(15:06):
can talk about or think about?
John Poulter (15:15):
I think the biggest trend that's coming our
way is probably around AI, and Ihate saying that because
everyone's saying it.
Of course, of course, of course.
But when you take a look at, Iguess and I'm going to put back
into just my distribution frameon this which is, what does it
mean for us?
I think when you look at theincreasing adoption of AI and
everything that we do and howit's going to be embedded into,
(15:36):
you know, cisco's own securitysolutions, data center solutions
, whatever else it's going, it'scompute intensive, it's going
to require, you know, upgradednetworks and so on and so forth,
right?
So I think that trend of AIadoption as it starts to roll
through, at whatever speed it'sgoing to I don't going to, I
think, depending on what articleyou read, it says that it'll
(15:57):
take some time and others willsay it'll be here in six months
time right, but let's assumeit's over the next three to five
years.
I think that's going to drivethe need for new skill sets
within everyone's company,including my own business unit,
including for me to figure outhow to start leveraging AI more
in, whether it be Microsoft'sco-pilot or other things in
Cisco's technology, but also howdo we train and enable our
(16:20):
partners in terms of making surethat they've got the right
messaging and positioning toservice their customers to
eventually sell more productright, because, at the end of
the day, it's kind of what we'rehere to do and then we attach
various services around it.
Michael van Rooyen (16:33):
Yes, and if I then think about the
technology trends for theindustry everyone's talking to
ai, as you just touched on it'sgoing to impact everyone's lives
.
From the back of that, though,do you see, uh, customer
expectations, you know changingas much, and particularly their
customer expectations ofyourselves and the way you deal
with them, or is thatrelationship pretty fundamental
(16:55):
because you know us as thecustomer still dealing with
change as well?
Do Do you see that as a realdifferent expectation today on
the way people used to deal withdistribution, and, if so, is
Comstall thinking about how torealign to customer needs that
are changing so rapidly?
John Poulter (17:13):
You don't know what you don't know and I think
I like to take things kind offluid right.
So you've got to be ready toadapt as things change.
And I think, with the way AI isgoing to roll out, I've got no
idea where it's going to end,right, and I've got no idea
necessarily how the businessunit needs to change itself to
service those customers.
(17:34):
All I know is that I've got theright team that's got the right
mindset to learn new things, tochange their approach, to
actually adapt as we're goingthrough.
Got the right mindset to learnnew things, to change their
approach, to actually adapt aswe're going through.
I think we are somewhat lookingto the guidance of vendors like
Cisco around what they're doingfor AI, because we're so wedded
to their business.
We'll follow their lead to anextent and then it's around how
do we help them scale that asthey roll it out?
(17:56):
I think if you had one of myALs in front of you right now,
they'd give you a lot morepassionate response thereabouts.
I've kind of been off thetechnology tools for a while, if
you will, sure, sure.
But I've also been around longenough to know that how
something is written in a vendorslide deck or whatever else
isn't necessarily how thingsactually unravels.
I think it comes back to aboutmaking sure that we've got the
(18:23):
right mindset to constantlylearn and develop ourselves so
we can actually pass on that toour partners and help them
change as well?
Michael van Rooyen (18:26):
Yeah, and do you also see?
Many of us in the consumerworld have got used to clicking
a couple of buttons and havingsomething delivered in a timely
fashion, you know, overnighteven, and overseas it's almost,
you know, by a number of hours.
Are you finding that maybe someof the newer generation dealing
in the space now have adifferent expectation of what
(18:47):
distribution is?
Knowing that you're orderingsometimes a lot more gear and
it's more logistics like that,can you have a lens on the new
generation, how they might think, or just the way people are
used to having things done?
John Poulter (18:57):
Look, it's definitely evolved right.
So we use a lot more automationin terms of how we process
orders.
If you will, and how we processquotes, we can suck them
straight out of the Cisco systemand do something called
zero-touch quoting right, whichmeans you take a deal ID, you
whack it through the system andthen within 15 minutes you know
Orro's got a quote right at theagreed margins that we have, so
on and so forth.
(19:18):
So there is definitely a lot ofthose handspins that have
already taken place to get thatNow.
Now.
Now here is my quote.
I'm not waiting five hours ornext business day or whatever
else.
We've got the tools that allowfor automation so that way that
we can link in with yours rightTo actually have full B2B
integration in terms ofprocessing orders, quotes, you
guys logging into a system ofours called Partner Central
(19:39):
where you can review all yourinvoices, outstanding quotes,
orders that have been placed.
You name it and start lookingat what vendors you've sold
versus what.
You haven't map it all out, butwe are moving more into the
world of digital sales, which isin addition to the typical old
school.
I guess I shouldn't say oldschool, but the traditional
(20:00):
method in which we engage ourcustomers, and that digital
sales is a global initiativethat's being run at the moment
in terms of how do we enhanceour systems and our engagement
and buying cycles with ourpartners to actually drive more
of that online interaction.
That doesn't mean that we'reshifting to that and away from
the way that we do it, because Ithink when you look at a lot of
(20:22):
the deals that are worked onthat are large, complex,
multifaceted rollouts, that'snever going to go digital in the
near term right.
Probably not even in my career.
So I think it's about beingable to cover all types of
buyers and service all thedifferent generations, if you
will, in the industry that wehave, but it's about using the
(20:42):
right methodology for the righttype of transaction.
Michael van Rooyen (20:45):
Yes, and I know you're passionate about
business and process improvement.
Is that kind of done at a moreglobal level or at a local level
?
Like yourself, from a directorpoint of view, really have big
input on how we deliver that forcustomers.
John Poulter (20:58):
The execution is local, but the strategy, the
development of it, is definitelyglobal right, and that makes
sense, because the last thingthat you want is to have a
different process in place forevery single country.
And I think where we can startto differentiate further against
our competition as aspecialized ISTE is by taking
that global powerhouse that wehave and that global
(21:19):
intelligence across things thatwork well in all sorts of
different markets and find thatconsistent approach that allows
us to scale on behalf of ourvendors.
Michael van Rooyen (21:28):
All vendors want to be able to scale right
and all partners want to be ableto consume in a predictable
fashion, right, of course ofcourse, if we pivot a little bit
more towards leadership and Iknow you've touched on quite a
bit of leadership, which Iappreciate on but what advice
would you give aspiring ITleaders or even ones wanting to
get into the distributionchannel, considering it's
continuing to grow andcontinuing to be very important
(21:50):
fundamentally, and you'veobviously got some team members
who are probably wanting tobecome leaders in the space.
Would you give them any advicearound strategic planning,
business development, any otherleadership pointers for them in
our industry and development,any other leadership?
John Poulter (22:02):
pointers for them.
In our industry.
I think one of the thingsthat's helped me best is
definitely working on thedifferent sides of the fence.
Right, because then you get thedifferent perspectives around
what each person expects as acustomer of one another right,
and then you can start to reallycraft.
Well, what is it that's goingto make the biggest difference
to a partner?
Oh wait, I've been a partnerbefore.
(22:25):
These are the things that Ialways didn't get, that I never
got from distribution, or that Iwish that I had from
distribution.
Or this is what I got from onedistributor that I wish the
others might've actually come tomarket, or how great would it
be if they applied that to thatvendor.
And same thing when you'resitting on the vendor side of
the spend.
It's like what do you need outof a distributor?
And once you actually know that, you can push it forwards.
(22:47):
What else for aspiring leadersin this?
That you get good at numbersright.
At the end of the day, it's anumbers game.
Distribution there's no hidingthat fact.
Get good at developing strongrelationships.
Right and understanding youknow you really got.
It sounds so basic, but I don'tthink a lot of people
necessarily do it, which islisten to what your customer is
saying and deliver on it, yes,and be tailed in terms of how
you're actually going to engageyour customer.
And I probably didn't mentionthat earlier, but one of the
(23:10):
biggest things that's helped mein my career and it definitely
helps us and all my sales guysand pre-sales guys, et cetera,
in their current roles is wepride ourselves on having
tailored engagements with all ofour key customers and that
makes all the difference.
So how I engage with Auro iscompletely different to how I
engage with any other customers.
Michael van Rooyen (23:30):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point.
And if I was to then ask youabout your career a little bit
further and, reflecting on yourcareer, what have been some of
the most rewarding achievementsthat you've seen or had, as well
as what keeps you motivated todo what you're doing and
continue to drive improvementand customer engagement?
John Poulter (23:51):
Rewarding achievements.
I think a big part of therewarding achievement has been
in my current role.
I think actually A big part ofthe rewarding achievement has
been in my current role, I think, actually, and that has been
building the team that I've gotat the moment and seeing the
success that that team hasdriven over the years.
So our revenue is from when westarted six years ago.
(24:13):
Has, for our Cisco two-tierpartners, it's probably gone up
fourfold Wow, I thinkthereabouts, which is quite
substantial.
I'm one of these peoplepersonally that struggles to sit
still.
Michael van Rooyen (24:23):
So I like change right, I like to learn
new things.
You do a lot for the last 40minutes.
Yeah, exactly.
John Poulter (24:27):
It's starting to get edgy, but no so I always
like the new challenge, right?
I think it comes back to one ofthe first questions you asked,
which is you know you had thatfork in the road finance versus
IT.
I'm glad I ended up in IT,because what I love and hate
about IT is I love the fact thatit changes every six months or
two a year, and I also hate thatfact because, just as you get
kind of comfortable and you'rejust moving with something and
(24:47):
the strategy is really startingto stick, all of a sudden you've
got to uproot yourself andredefine yourself.
But I think that's what keepsyou sharp and I think getting
better at using tools like AI etcetera is only going to
accelerate that need right andmake you probably sharper at,
you know, changing yourself orredefining yourself on a regular
basis.
So that's kind of what drivesme, and the team drives me as
(25:09):
well.
They bring their A game everyday to work and that makes me,
you know, want to reciprocate aswell.
Michael van Rooyen (25:14):
Yeah, Look, and off the back of that, around
you know, reflecting a careerand helping the team develop and
grow and seeing the reward ofthat.
Are there other tips you couldgive in relation to helping
develop as a leader or anindividual?
John Poulter (25:25):
To develop as a leader.
One of the best things that Ican recommend anyone do is
actually get a leadership coach,and I don't mean just one of
the random ones that you can seeon LinkedIn, no offense, but a
proper coaching psychologist, aproper executive coach, makes
all the difference.
Right, because they go into thescience behind people,
leadership, the way people act,why they act a certain way.
(25:47):
How do you actually get thebest out of them for the
betterment of that individualand the company and society as a
whole, if you will, right?
And the other thing, too, is tomake sure that you're throwing
yourself into different tasks,right.
I like to roll up my sleeves andsit down with the solution
architects and actuallyunderstand why they think the
way they do.
Right.
Get involved with myarchitecture leads in terms of
(26:08):
planning out what the strategyis going to be.
Get involved with you know, mybusiness development managers
and account managers.
I love doing a sales visitright and getting out in front
of the customers right andhearing and keeping my finger on
the pulse, talking directly topeople like yourself to say
what's happening in yourbusiness.
You know what keeps you up atnight.
Where are you trying to takeyour company.
(26:29):
I don't want to hear that thirdhand, I want to hear it
firsthand.
So, being actively involved, Ithink is still important.
Michael van Rooyen (26:34):
Yeah, it's super important and well said.
As we come close to the end ofthe conversation here, which I
appreciate, I have one questionthat I ask all participants in
the podcast, and that is tell meabout the most significant
technology change or shiftyou've seen or been involved
with during your career, andthat doesn't have to be around
distribution and doesn't have tonecessarily be in your field.
(26:56):
What is the most impactfulthing you've seen in our
industry?
That's, you know, developingdirectly to you.
John Poulter (27:04):
Yeah, I guess, given my age, I've experienced a
shift from analog to digitalthereabouts.
So I was a good five, six yearsinto the workforce before I got
my first BlackBerry right whenI can get email on my phone.
Michael van Rooyen (27:17):
It was addictive, wasn't it?
John Poulter (27:18):
How great I thought it was getting email on
my phone, yeah.
Michael van Rooyen (27:22):
Super addictive.
John Poulter (27:22):
I don't know the curse that was going to turn
into.
But I think transitioning from,I guess, analog world into a
digital world where it's reallyjust information at your
fingertips was a big shift interms of how you can actually
cultivate all of thatinformation, that data that
you're getting to, and turningit into some cohesive
go-to-market strategy or whereyou wanted to shift your career
(27:44):
and whatever else.
And that probably was kind ofwhen would that have been?
Kind of like the mid-2000s toearly teens thereabouts that
really took off.
And obviously the next shift Ithink is upon us now, which is
how AI is going to transition.
I think it'll be okay.
I think as long as you embraceit and you actually learn how to
use it, it'll be a benefit.
(28:05):
I wouldn't resist.
It is my recommendation toanyone.
But the transformation that Ipersonally am really looking
forward to is when quantumcomputing goes mainstream.
That, I think, is going to be agame changer that no one really
comprehends at this point intime.
Michael van Rooyen (28:21):
I completely agree with you.
That's one that's superfascinating and I think it's
going to be on us sooner than wethink.
If not, you know, some may havealready developed it but kept
it under a skunkworks.
And you talked about Gartner,and I'm happy to refer to them
because it's public what theysay.
But at the Gartner Symprecently, on on the back of
quantum, they were talking aboutthe ability for it to, you know
(28:44):
, decrypt uh people, uh, youknow all sorts of encryption
standards today and that the,you know, threat actors are
really hoovering up this dataand then being able to decrypt
it later on.
But also even how we're goingto have another y2k problem,
which is a lot of infrastructureis going to need to be replaced
because it'll be decryptedtoday, right.
So it's a fascinating changethat's going to come along with
(29:06):
quantum uh and and replication,which means uh distribution is
going to be super busy becausethere'll be more stuff to to
ship and fix, as as we always doin this ongoing life cycle of
uh technology yeah, I lookforward to that, I think yeah.
John Poulter (29:18):
Well, I hope it is sooner than what, than what I
what I think.
So I think it's going to be onehell of a shift in people's
mindsets and what we do, andeverything from how software is
written through to how thetechnology is used.
Right, and I think we touchedon a couple of the negative
consequences there which isaround breaking down very secure
encryptions by today's standard.
(29:39):
But I also look forward to justsome of the amazing things that
quantum computing can bringaround research, whether it be
in medical fields or engineeringfields and so on and so forth.
So it's going to be interesting.
Michael van Rooyen (29:52):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
People are getting used to theAI thing.
Now we're 18 months into it andquantum is just another tick up
.
Look, john, I really appreciatethe time today.
Thanks for those great insightsaround distribution and
leadership.
I think it's a really importantdiscussion, thanks.
John Poulter (30:07):
No worries, thanks for having me.
Michael van Rooyen (30:08):
I enjoyed it .
John Poulter (30:09):
Thank you.
I remember this way back in the day I said
running a distributor is likeflying a 747 at full speed,
fully loaded, two meters off theground.
It's exhilarating when you'redoing it and if you get it wrong
it's going to hurt.
And if you get it right youknow you can really sharpen your
business skills.
Michael van Rooyen (00:17):
Today I have the pleasure in having a chat
to John Poulter, who is theComstor at and we're going to
talk all the things about ITdistribution, the challenges of
that Most customers purchaseequipment and don't really think
about how it gets there andalso particularly when things
need to be changed, and it'squite of a process.
Hey, john, welcome to thepodcast.
Thanks, MVR, I'm glad to behere.
Yeah, great For those who arearound.
(00:38):
This will be played a littlebit later on, but we're catching
up at Cisco Live.
Comstore is a big Cisco partnerfrom a distribution point of
view.
We've known John for a whileacross the different businesses
and particularly at Orro.
Before we get started, john, doyou mind sharing a little bit
about your career journey andwhat got you to be the director
of ComStore?
John Poulter (00:56):
Yeah, I can do so.
As with a lot of people in IT,I fell into it accidentally.
Michael van Rooyen (01:01):
That's true actually.
John Poulter (01:02):
Many people do, they do, they do, and way back
in the day I did a commercedegree that largely had a major
in international business, whichwas really just economics, as
it turned out, and I alwaysthought that I'd be going to
work for Macquarie Bank or CBAor something in economics and
finance and this is going back agood 20-odd years now and I
(01:23):
remember circling back in theleader of the local job boards
and stuff like that.
This is before seek.
com or anything like that.
I was very new at that stageand my old man worked a little
bit of his career in IT, so Ikind of had a little bit of a
taste for it when I was growingup, and that was back in the
days when digital equipment wasstill a thing, right.
So I thought I might just applyfor a couple of roles here and
(01:45):
before you know it, I wassitting in front of a very small
distributor called DovetailDistribution, which was only
five employees at the time, and,as it turned out, they were
just offering that extra threegrand a year, more than the
starting salary of a gradsomewhere else at a bank, and I
took the money and rang.
As a newly married man Ithought I need every penny I can
get, and that's how my careerkind of started in IT
(02:07):
thereabouts in a very smalldistributor.
Michael van Rooyen (02:10):
Wow, wow, and banking would have been an
interesting place to be in, butcertainly, if I think about the
technology life cycles I've beenthrough, it would have been a
fascinating career for you.
I mean, certainly there's a lothappened in the finance world
as well, no doubt on no doubt,but one of those fork in the
road moments and you're happywith the change, Although you
probably never did the bankingthing.
But are you happy with whereyou ended up?
John Poulter (02:27):
I'm happy where I ended up.
I ended up marrying a womanthat's in finance.
Oh, there we go so at leastI've got a perspective of it
thereabouts.
And I think I really enjoy thepace of IT and the change and
the constant.
Nothing stays stagnant, right,you've always got to continue to
innovate, right, and I think itreally drives me.
Yeah, but um, so after startingthat in that little small disty
, they got acquired by aslightly bigger one called itx
(02:50):
group, which went on becomeabnet and then tech data as it
is today.
But I'd left that after aboutseven years in distribution,
cutting my teeth in the world ofwhat I'd say is sun
microsystems, and then, aftersun had been acquired by oracle,
I had an opportunity to go andjoin Vendorland and I worked at
Oracle for about seven years,which was a very interesting and
diverse journey that I went on.
I certainly cut my teeth on alot of things there and,
(03:13):
reflecting back, it taught me alot that place, especially
working in Vendorland.
Yes, I then bounced over to apartner for a while NTT, before
I was headhunted for this role,and then back to distribution.
So I've had a, I guess, a veryfortunate career where I've been
able to sit on all three sidesof the fence, being distribution
vendor partner and now back todistribution.
Michael van Rooyen (03:34):
So I've played all positions on the
field, if you will.
I didn't realize you didn'ttime at NTT as well, but that's
interesting because you wouldhave seen, as you said, the
other side of it, right, whichis people don't get to do.
They're either customer andthey stay customer or they end
up in integrated land, right,and distribution's one of the
ones that some land in.
But it's an interesting journeyOff that.
Then in your time and you'velearned plenty of things, and
(03:55):
now being a director, what wouldcome as some of the
responsibilities across yourmanagement, sales and operations
that you find most impactfuland rewarding for what you do,
right, because, again, peopledon't see distribution, they're
just things arrive.
What sort of things do you findmost rewarding and impactful?
John Poulter (04:09):
I think there's a couple of elements to that.
The most impactful andrewarding thing I think I have
as a director is the leadershipside of things right.
I admire my team, love workingwith them and it's a privilege
to be able to lead them to guidethem, to help develop them, and
it's a privilege to be able tolead them, to guide them, to
help develop them and coach themto actually be the best that
they possibly can be, and I geta real kick out of that and I
(04:32):
just find it really rewarding,right, and that's probably what
drives me, usually a day-to-day,to bring the A game, if you
will.
The other thing, too, aboutdistribution is at my level, you
really get to unpack thedifferent moving elements.
So it is running a business atits foundation, right.
You've got all sorts of leversthat you're pulling in terms of
driving profitability.
(04:52):
When you're a distributor,switching costs can be low, so
you've got to really be on yourgame.
In terms of how you'reapproaching the market, in terms
of unique go-to marketcampaigns and initiatives.
How are you structuring yourselfin terms of unique go-to-market
campaigns and initiatives?
How are you structuringyourself in terms of supporting
the channel community and thevendors?
How are you implementingcertain processes and procedures
(05:13):
or technologies and systems interms of maximizing and getting
scale, without having tonecessarily keep throwing
headcount at problems in orderto grow?
And then there's the financialacumen, right?
Anyone in my team will tell youthat I love my numbers, and
running a distribution isdefinitely all about the numbers
.
There was an ex-CEO of AdistioI won't name his name because he
may not want to be quoted onthat but I remember this way
(05:36):
back in the day he said runninga distributor is like flying a
747 at full speed, fully loaded,two meters off the ground.
It's exhilarating when you'redoing it and if you get it wrong
it's going to hurt, and if youget it right you can really
sharpen your business skills.
Yeah, fair enough too.
Michael van Rooyen (05:51):
How has your leadership approach evolved
over the years and what strategyhave you found most effective
in developing a high-performingteam?
Because you guys are underpressure a lot of times.
There's different vendor lifecycles when things are due and
of financial years are spreadout through your whole calendar,
unlike Australia where it's,you know, very fixed in the
12-month cycle.
How do you really develop thathigh-performing team around you?
John Poulter (06:12):
Yeah, there's no one easy answer for that.
Sure, in terms of you know howdo you develop a high-performing
team?
One of the core things thatI've always focused on is
diversity of thought, ordiversity of thinking, and
that's definitely true of theComStore team.
Most people on the team havegot a very different, I guess,
thought process, a verydifferent way of thinking, and
(06:33):
that allows us to, as a team,get together with very different
frames of reference, verydifferent perspectives, to then
solution problems that benefitour vendors, in this case, Cisco
and Pure Storage and Splunkunder the ComStore banner, as
well as all our general partnerslike Orro.
The other thing, too, is beingan authentic leader.
(06:54):
I think goes a long way, andthat's something that I spent a
lot of time developing with aprofessional executive coach
that was a qualified coachingpsychologist.
Professional executive coach.
That was a qualified coachingpsychologist.
So there's a lot of stuff to dowith leadership that I had no
idea existed until I startedactually engaging with an exec
coach.
That took me through all thedifferent articles, the science
(07:14):
behind it, and then you startimplementing it.
I mentioned that I worked for avendor at one point in my
career which was definitely allabout hitting that sales target
and the leadership was uniquethere, and one of the things I
wanted to make sure of is thatmy team knew that they were
accountable for hitting thenumber at the end of the day
(07:34):
because that's what pays thebills for any organisation but
going about it in a way which isauthentic, inspiring, that they
feel psychologically safe doingand I know that sounds like
motherhood statements, butthere's a lot to it when you
actually get it right.
And from the back of that, I'vebeen blessed with a team that
stuck with me for the betterpart of five years.
I've had nearly zero attritionright and I think it's that
(07:59):
authentic and that diversethinking and that coming
together as a team for thebenefit of our vendors and
customers that drives us everyday.
Michael van Rooyen (08:07):
Well, that's fascinating.
That's fascinating and alsoreading through some of your
profile and thinking aboutdistribution during COVID-19.
So let's talk during COVID-19.
So let's talk about COVID-19.
I know you drew quite a processaround remote work and
transitioning to remote workduring that.
What challenge did you faceduring that shift and how did
you ensure cohesive andproductive work at the time?
(08:30):
Was there some uniquechallenges in COVID-19 that you
faced?
John Poulter (08:33):
There was because we had different moving elements
of being a distributor.
Right, you needed people in thewarehouse yes, fair enough,
right To actually move productsfrom A to B, get them into the
country and get them out to thesite and with all the
regulations and requirementsaround that, our warehouse and
logistics team did an amazingjob at pulling that together.
(08:54):
But we had to split into doing Ateams and B teams and C teams
to make sure there wasn't peopleinfecting each other so the
warehouse could actuallycontinue to operate.
You got to really hand it tothose guys early on before you
know there was any known knownsin COVID to actually get out
there and go to the warehouseand put their bodies on the line
, if you will, in order to makesure kit was still getting
(09:14):
delivered.
And then there was the elementof terms of the go-to-market
side of things, which was how dowe serve our customers in terms
of all the things thatspecialised distis do, whether
it be training and enablement,building relationships with
clients to get deals done,clients being partners like
yourself, strategising withvendors and all that type of
(09:35):
stuff.
And that was where I guess Ihad the responsibility, which is
how do we take a pretty crazysituation and turn it into
something that's a little bitfun, a little bit unique.
So we built a lot of virtualtiger teams, we did virtual
sales kickoffs where we'd breakaway into little working groups
and come back and do livepresentations not quite podcasts
(09:55):
or anything like that, but Idid a lot to make sure with my
leadership team, to make surethat we kept every individual in
the business unit highlyengaged on something to do that
was meaningful back into whatthe vendors and partners needed
to serve their own business.
And then we had a bit of funalong the way as well, such as
and you can see the hair that myhair do is similar to yours
(10:15):
right.
It's reflective of the lightsaround, so as part of just
having a bit of fun along theway as well, such as and you can
see the hair that my hair do issimilar to yours, right, it's
reflective of the lights around.
Michael van Rooyen (10:22):
So as part of just having a bit of fun, I
went out and invested in about12 different wigs, so every time
I'd jump on a conference call,I'd have a new wig to wear right
, just to get a bit of laughsfrom the team.
John Poulter (10:28):
And in terms of moving through, I guess from a
leadership point of view, One ofthe key things that we'd put
together there was to have likea teaming system.
So that way, you know, we hadmany people that were working in
isolation.
Other peoples were working in ahousehold of eight, you know,
up to eight people or somethinglike that.
So having a peer or a buddythat they could kind of build a
relationship with and lean onand whatnot, I think worked
(10:50):
quite well, you know, to makesure that no one felt alone or
isolated during that time.
Michael van Rooyen (10:55):
Yeah, fair enough.
And look, being a distributorvendor relationships is really
fundamental to channeldistribution and I know
obviously a lot of your time isspent with these vendors that
are significant to the business.
But how did you approachbuilding and maintaining those
relationships?
Because obviously everyone'strying to grab that business.
Other distributors are alwaystrying pick up these ones and of
(11:18):
course there's a much biggerlens globally, et cetera.
But you know, again, we're atCisco Live and one of your
largest ones is Cisco.
You know what role do thesepartnerships really play in the
success of the distributor?
John Poulter (11:33):
It's a lifeblood, it's a lifeline for us, right?
If we had bad relationshipswith Cisco or any vendor and our
partners, it'd be disastrous,right?
So relationships is critical,which means having the right
hires on your team is criticalas well.
But in terms of what drivesthose very strong relationships
that Comstor has with Cisco?
To answer your question is, Ithink, two things.
(11:54):
I think the first thing is morestructural, which is, if you
look at how the business unit isdesigned, we exactly mimic
Cisco's go-to-market structure.
We've got a general sales teamwhich is focused on geographies
and accounts.
Then you've got a technicalteam which has got the mix of
(12:15):
solution architects andtechnical quote, specialist and
pre-sales engineers, whichmimics Cisco's team insofar as
that they specialize perarchitecture, security, ENDC,
colab, et cetera.
And then you've got thearchitecture leaders, who are
also focused on a singletechnology pillar, that are
effectively the product salesspecialists.
(12:36):
We call them architecture leads, cisco calls them PSSs.
So that direct alignment withCisco allows us to have those
deep-seated relationships at allmoving levels of their
organization.
Now, that's only one of the twocritical elements.
The second critical element Ialluded to a bit earlier, which
is to be authentic, right,authentic relationships trump
any other relationship.
(12:57):
You know, we've had many of ourcustomers in Cisco say and I'll
probably say it from a customerpoint of view which is a
partner, is that they've said.
You know, what we love aboutComstor is that it's not just a
supplier-customer relationship,it's a true partnership.
Yes, and that's something thatI drive incessantly within the
BU because I've sat, as I said,on all of those different sides
(13:19):
of the fence, so I know exactlywhat it's like when you have a
relationship with a distributorwhich is just transactional.
Michael van Rooyen (13:28):
Yeah, no one likes transactional right.
John Poulter (13:29):
No.
Michael van Rooyen (13:30):
Our CEO has this great analogy.
He says we talk a lot aboutmanaged services, which Orro is
fundamentally built on, and yourpoint here about relationships
in relation to keeping peoplehappy, right, and, and that's
the lifeblood, as you said.
But he was definitely talkingabout you're being married, you.
You don't go back to your wifeor partner.
(13:50):
I should say, uh, um, to bepolitically correct in say,
every three to five years, whenyour renewal time comes up,
let's sit down and have arenegotiation to see if we
should continue this marriage.
Right, it's a fundamental thing.
You've got to do it every day,right?
And it's a good kind of analogyon what you deliver.
Right, for all customers aswell.
John Poulter (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking that when you said
that on Friday this week I'vegot my 20th wedding anniversary.
Oh, wow, congratulations.
I'm wondering whether should Ido the renewal conversation, or
should I?
Michael van Rooyen (14:19):
Is it due, or do you do it monthly?
I think it's hourly sometimes.
John Poulter (14:23):
But it is a really good analogy, which is that
it's that ongoing trust that youcan have both ways that, I
think, sees you through the good, the bad and the ugly times,
because we're not perfect, wedon't get it right.
Every single time right we dropthe ball every once in a while
or we'll have some rough patchesin relationships, but I think
it's the intent to continue towork through it in an authentic
manner, in a genuine manner,that makes all the difference
(14:44):
for the long term.
Michael van Rooyen (14:45):
If I then pivot, you talked on cloud and
licensing, which we've had afundamental shift in many years.
Do you see any othersignificant trends in the
technology industry?
You Do you see any othersignificant trends in the
technology industry?
You get to see lots of thingsand I know you go to quite a few
different conferences over theyear for certain things or your
team certainly does, and youknow if I think about channel
distribution.
Do you see any significanttrends coming our way that you
(15:06):
can talk about or think about?
John Poulter (15:15):
I think the biggest trend that's coming our
way is probably around AI, and Ihate saying that because
everyone's saying it.
Of course, of course, of course.
But when you take a look at, Iguess and I'm going to put back
into just my distribution frameon this which is, what does it
mean for us?
I think when you look at theincreasing adoption of AI and
everything that we do and howit's going to be embedded into,
(15:36):
you know, cisco's own securitysolutions, data center solutions
, whatever else it's going, it'scompute intensive, it's going
to require, you know, upgradednetworks and so on and so forth,
right?
So I think that trend of AIadoption as it starts to roll
through, at whatever speed it'sgoing to I don't going to, I
think, depending on what articleyou read, it says that it'll
(15:57):
take some time and others willsay it'll be here in six months
time right, but let's assumeit's over the next three to five
years.
I think that's going to drivethe need for new skill sets
within everyone's company,including my own business unit,
including for me to figure outhow to start leveraging AI more
in, whether it be Microsoft'sco-pilot or other things in
Cisco's technology, but also howdo we train and enable our
(16:20):
partners in terms of making surethat they've got the right
messaging and positioning toservice their customers to
eventually sell more productright, because, at the end of
the day, it's kind of what we'rehere to do and then we attach
various services around it.
Michael van Rooyen (16:33):
Yes, and if I then think about the
technology trends for theindustry everyone's talking to
ai, as you just touched on it'sgoing to impact everyone's lives
.
From the back of that, though,do you see, uh, customer
expectations, you know changingas much, and particularly their
customer expectations ofyourselves and the way you deal
with them, or is thatrelationship pretty fundamental
(16:55):
because you know us as thecustomer still dealing with
change as well?
Do Do you see that as a realdifferent expectation today on
the way people used to deal withdistribution, and, if so, is
Comstall thinking about how torealign to customer needs that
are changing so rapidly?
John Poulter (17:13):
You don't know what you don't know and I think
I like to take things kind offluid right.
So you've got to be ready toadapt as things change.
And I think, with the way AI isgoing to roll out, I've got no
idea where it's going to end,right, and I've got no idea
necessarily how the businessunit needs to change itself to
service those customers.
(17:34):
All I know is that I've got theright team that's got the right
mindset to learn new things, tochange their approach, to
actually adapt as we're goingthrough.
Got the right mindset to learnnew things, to change their
approach, to actually adapt aswe're going through.
I think we are somewhat lookingto the guidance of vendors like
Cisco around what they're doingfor AI, because we're so wedded
to their business.
We'll follow their lead to anextent and then it's around how
do we help them scale that asthey roll it out?
(17:56):
I think if you had one of myALs in front of you right now,
they'd give you a lot morepassionate response thereabouts.
I've kind of been off thetechnology tools for a while, if
you will, sure, sure.
But I've also been around longenough to know that how
something is written in a vendorslide deck or whatever else
isn't necessarily how thingsactually unravels.
I think it comes back to aboutmaking sure that we've got the
(18:23):
right mindset to constantlylearn and develop ourselves so
we can actually pass on that toour partners and help them
change as well?
Michael van Rooyen (18:26):
Yeah, and do you also see?
Many of us in the consumerworld have got used to clicking
a couple of buttons and havingsomething delivered in a timely
fashion, you know, overnighteven, and overseas it's almost,
you know, by a number of hours.
Are you finding that maybe someof the newer generation dealing
in the space now have adifferent expectation of what
(18:47):
distribution is?
Knowing that you're orderingsometimes a lot more gear and
it's more logistics like that,can you have a lens on the new
generation, how they might think, or just the way people are
used to having things done?
John Poulter (18:57):
Look, it's definitely evolved right.
So we use a lot more automationin terms of how we process
orders.
If you will, and how we processquotes, we can suck them
straight out of the Cisco systemand do something called
zero-touch quoting right, whichmeans you take a deal ID, you
whack it through the system andthen within 15 minutes you know
Orro's got a quote right at theagreed margins that we have, so
on and so forth.
(19:18):
So there is definitely a lot ofthose handspins that have
already taken place to get thatNow.
Now.
Now here is my quote.
I'm not waiting five hours ornext business day or whatever
else.
We've got the tools that allowfor automation so that way that
we can link in with yours rightTo actually have full B2B
integration in terms ofprocessing orders, quotes, you
guys logging into a system ofours called Partner Central
(19:39):
where you can review all yourinvoices, outstanding quotes,
orders that have been placed.
You name it and start lookingat what vendors you've sold
versus what.
You haven't map it all out, butwe are moving more into the
world of digital sales, which isin addition to the typical old
school.
I guess I shouldn't say oldschool, but the traditional
(20:00):
method in which we engage ourcustomers, and that digital
sales is a global initiativethat's being run at the moment
in terms of how do we enhanceour systems and our engagement
and buying cycles with ourpartners to actually drive more
of that online interaction.
That doesn't mean that we'reshifting to that and away from
the way that we do it, because Ithink when you look at a lot of
(20:22):
the deals that are worked onthat are large, complex,
multifaceted rollouts, that'snever going to go digital in the
near term right.
Probably not even in my career.
So I think it's about beingable to cover all types of
buyers and service all thedifferent generations, if you
will, in the industry that wehave, but it's about using the
(20:42):
right methodology for the righttype of transaction.
Michael van Rooyen (20:45):
Yes, and I know you're passionate about
business and process improvement.
Is that kind of done at a moreglobal level or at a local level
?
Like yourself, from a directorpoint of view, really have big
input on how we deliver that forcustomers.
John Poulter (20:58):
The execution is local, but the strategy, the
development of it, is definitelyglobal right, and that makes
sense, because the last thingthat you want is to have a
different process in place forevery single country.
And I think where we can startto differentiate further against
our competition as aspecialized ISTE is by taking
that global powerhouse that wehave and that global
(21:19):
intelligence across things thatwork well in all sorts of
different markets and find thatconsistent approach that allows
us to scale on behalf of ourvendors.
Michael van Rooyen (21:28):
All vendors want to be able to scale right
and all partners want to be ableto consume in a predictable
fashion, right, of course ofcourse, if we pivot a little bit
more towards leadership and Iknow you've touched on quite a
bit of leadership, which Iappreciate on but what advice
would you give aspiring ITleaders or even ones wanting to
get into the distributionchannel, considering it's
continuing to grow andcontinuing to be very important
(21:50):
fundamentally, and you'veobviously got some team members
who are probably wanting tobecome leaders in the space.
Would you give them any advicearound strategic planning,
business development, any otherleadership pointers for them in
our industry and development,any other leadership?
John Poulter (22:02):
pointers for them.
In our industry.
I think one of the thingsthat's helped me best is
definitely working on thedifferent sides of the fence.
Right, because then you get thedifferent perspectives around
what each person expects as acustomer of one another right,
and then you can start to reallycraft.
Well, what is it that's goingto make the biggest difference
to a partner?
Oh wait, I've been a partnerbefore.
(22:25):
These are the things that Ialways didn't get, that I never
got from distribution, or that Iwish that I had from
distribution.
Or this is what I got from onedistributor that I wish the
others might've actually come tomarket, or how great would it
be if they applied that to thatvendor.
And same thing when you'resitting on the vendor side of
the spend.
It's like what do you need outof a distributor?
And once you actually know that, you can push it forwards.
(22:47):
What else for aspiring leadersin this?
That you get good at numbersright.
At the end of the day, it's anumbers game.
Distribution there's no hidingthat fact.
Get good at developing strongrelationships.
Right and understanding youknow you really got.
It sounds so basic, but I don'tthink a lot of people
necessarily do it, which islisten to what your customer is
saying and deliver on it, yes,and be tailed in terms of how
you're actually going to engageyour customer.
And I probably didn't mentionthat earlier, but one of the
(23:10):
biggest things that's helped mein my career and it definitely
helps us and all my sales guysand pre-sales guys, et cetera,
in their current roles is wepride ourselves on having
tailored engagements with all ofour key customers and that
makes all the difference.
So how I engage with Auro iscompletely different to how I
engage with any other customers.
Michael van Rooyen (23:30):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point.
And if I was to then ask youabout your career a little bit
further and, reflecting on yourcareer, what have been some of
the most rewarding achievementsthat you've seen or had, as well
as what keeps you motivated todo what you're doing and
continue to drive improvementand customer engagement?
John Poulter (23:51):
Rewarding achievements.
I think a big part of therewarding achievement has been
in my current role.
I think actually A big part ofthe rewarding achievement has
been in my current role, I think, actually, and that has been
building the team that I've gotat the moment and seeing the
success that that team hasdriven over the years.
So our revenue is from when westarted six years ago.
(24:13):
Has, for our Cisco two-tierpartners, it's probably gone up
fourfold Wow, I thinkthereabouts, which is quite
substantial.
I'm one of these peoplepersonally that struggles to sit
still.
Michael van Rooyen (24:23):
So I like change right, I like to learn
new things.
You do a lot for the last 40minutes.
Yeah, exactly.
John Poulter (24:27):
It's starting to get edgy, but no so I always
like the new challenge, right?
I think it comes back to one ofthe first questions you asked,
which is you know you had thatfork in the road finance versus
IT.
I'm glad I ended up in IT,because what I love and hate
about IT is I love the fact thatit changes every six months or
two a year, and I also hate thatfact because, just as you get
kind of comfortable and you'rejust moving with something and
(24:47):
the strategy is really startingto stick, all of a sudden you've
got to uproot yourself andredefine yourself.
But I think that's what keepsyou sharp and I think getting
better at using tools like AI etcetera is only going to
accelerate that need right andmake you probably sharper at,
you know, changing yourself orredefining yourself on a regular
basis.
So that's kind of what drivesme, and the team drives me as
(25:09):
well.
They bring their A game everyday to work and that makes me,
you know, want to reciprocate aswell.
Michael van Rooyen (25:14):
Yeah, Look, and off the back of that, around
you know, reflecting a careerand helping the team develop and
grow and seeing the reward ofthat.
Are there other tips you couldgive in relation to helping
develop as a leader or anindividual?
John Poulter (25:25):
To develop as a leader.
One of the best things that Ican recommend anyone do is
actually get a leadership coach,and I don't mean just one of
the random ones that you can seeon LinkedIn, no offense, but a
proper coaching psychologist, aproper executive coach, makes
all the difference.
Right, because they go into thescience behind people,
leadership, the way people act,why they act a certain way.
(25:47):
How do you actually get thebest out of them for the
betterment of that individualand the company and society as a
whole, if you will, right?
And the other thing, too, is tomake sure that you're throwing
yourself into different tasks,right.
I like to roll up my sleeves andsit down with the solution
architects and actuallyunderstand why they think the
way they do.
Right.
Get involved with myarchitecture leads in terms of
(26:08):
planning out what the strategyis going to be.
Get involved with you know, mybusiness development managers
and account managers.
I love doing a sales visitright and getting out in front
of the customers right andhearing and keeping my finger on
the pulse, talking directly topeople like yourself to say
what's happening in yourbusiness.
You know what keeps you up atnight.
Where are you trying to takeyour company.
(26:29):
I don't want to hear that thirdhand, I want to hear it
firsthand.
So, being actively involved, Ithink is still important.
Michael van Rooyen (26:34):
Yeah, it's super important and well said.
As we come close to the end ofthe conversation here, which I
appreciate, I have one questionthat I ask all participants in
the podcast, and that is tell meabout the most significant
technology change or shiftyou've seen or been involved
with during your career, andthat doesn't have to be around
distribution and doesn't have tonecessarily be in your field.
(26:56):
What is the most impactfulthing you've seen in our
industry?
That's, you know, developingdirectly to you.
John Poulter (27:04):
Yeah, I guess, given my age, I've experienced a
shift from analog to digitalthereabouts.
So I was a good five, six yearsinto the workforce before I got
my first BlackBerry right whenI can get email on my phone.
Michael van Rooyen (27:17):
It was addictive, wasn't it?
John Poulter (27:18):
How great I thought it was getting email on
my phone, yeah.
Michael van Rooyen (27:22):
Super addictive.
John Poulter (27:22):
I don't know the curse that was going to turn
into.
But I think transitioning from,I guess, analog world into a
digital world where it's reallyjust information at your
fingertips was a big shift interms of how you can actually
cultivate all of thatinformation, that data that
you're getting to, and turningit into some cohesive
go-to-market strategy or whereyou wanted to shift your career
(27:44):
and whatever else.
And that probably was kind ofwhen would that have been?
Kind of like the mid-2000s toearly teens thereabouts that
really took off.
And obviously the next shift Ithink is upon us now, which is
how AI is going to transition.
I think it'll be okay.
I think as long as you embraceit and you actually learn how to
use it, it'll be a benefit.
(28:05):
I wouldn't resist.
It is my recommendation toanyone.
But the transformation that Ipersonally am really looking
forward to is when quantumcomputing goes mainstream.
That, I think, is going to be agame changer that no one really
comprehends at this point intime.
Michael van Rooyen (28:21):
I completely agree with you.
That's one that's superfascinating and I think it's
going to be on us sooner than wethink.
If not, you know, some may havealready developed it but kept
it under a skunkworks.
And you talked about Gartner,and I'm happy to refer to them
because it's public what theysay.
But at the Gartner Symprecently, on on the back of
quantum, they were talking aboutthe ability for it to, you know
(28:44):
, decrypt uh people, uh, youknow all sorts of encryption
standards today and that the,you know, threat actors are
really hoovering up this dataand then being able to decrypt
it later on.
But also even how we're goingto have another y2k problem,
which is a lot of infrastructureis going to need to be replaced
because it'll be decryptedtoday, right.
So it's a fascinating changethat's going to come along with
(29:06):
quantum uh and and replication,which means uh distribution is
going to be super busy becausethere'll be more stuff to to
ship and fix, as as we always doin this ongoing life cycle of
uh technology yeah, I lookforward to that, I think yeah.
John Poulter (29:18):
Well, I hope it is sooner than what, than what I
what I think.
So I think it's going to be onehell of a shift in people's
mindsets and what we do, andeverything from how software is
written through to how thetechnology is used.
Right, and I think we touchedon a couple of the negative
consequences there which isaround breaking down very secure
encryptions by today's standard.
(29:39):
But I also look forward to justsome of the amazing things that
quantum computing can bringaround research, whether it be
in medical fields or engineeringfields and so on and so forth.
So it's going to be interesting.
Michael van Rooyen (29:52):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
People are getting used to theAI thing.
Now we're 18 months into it andquantum is just another tick up
.
Look, john, I really appreciatethe time today.
Thanks for those great insightsaround distribution and
leadership.
I think it's a really importantdiscussion, thanks.
John Poulter (30:07):
No worries, thanks for having me.
Michael van Rooyen (30:08):
I enjoyed it .
John Poulter (30:09):
Thank you.
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