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Solution Architect, Workspaceat CDW Careers (UK)
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Description
ABOUT CDWCDW is a leading technology solutions provider to business, government, education and healthcare organisations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Our fingerprints can be found on technology in workplaces of more than 250,000 companies: from start-ups to international conglomerates. With the breadth of products and services, we offer, there is no request too big or too small.
CDW prides itself on being ‘People Who Get IT’ and ‘People who get People’. Our relationships are fuelled by our deep expertise and grounded in the CDW Way. Our empowering leadership makes things happen and inspires their teams to do the same. From the teammates beside us to the leaders who guide us, we move forward together. At CDW, you’ll work with people who inspire you. People with positive, success-driven attitudes who you will learn from and forge strong relationships with. Bring your best true self—and your best ideas—to CDW. Because diverse perspectives bring forth better problem-solving—and better solutions for our customers
on a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
JOB SUMMARY
- CDW’s Modern Workspace team is a group of Solution Architects and Specialists that is part of the wider presales technical group. Its role is to:
- Lead presales Modern Workspace opportunities from inception through to handover into delivery
- Own CDW’s Modern Workspace go-to-market message, driving and evangelising our opinion, breadth of capability and experiences to internal teams, customers and partners
- Provide our diverse range of customers with agnostic, industry-leading advice and expertise to help them select the right technology solutions and make the most of them.
- Support the Sales teams in breaking into new accounts, demonstrating the experience, expertise and strength of opinion that proves credibility. The role has three key areas of responsibility, which broken down by approximate split are:
- 70% - Act as a solution architect, using a combination of your own depth of expertise as well as the wider team to own opportunities, engage with customers and win business
- 10% - Support the development of the team and the wider department by contributing to team projects as well as helping junior team members achieve their own career aspirations
- 20% - Develop and maintain your own skills and knowledge through research, self guided learning, lab time and formal training/accreditation
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Solution Architect, you will be responsible for managing your own diary and hours, so how any given week ends up looking will be up to you. The job is also very varied, but here are some of the things you can expect:
- Accreditation – Attain and maintain the appropriate level of relevant accreditations
- Commercial Acumen – The role requires that you understand the commercial impact of the proposed solutions and assist customers and CDW’s sales teams in choosing the correct solution to meet budget and expectations
- Customer Opportunities - Work with customers, sales people and business development managers (BDM) to qualify opportunities, understand business and technical requirements and design appropriate solutions using Workspace technologies whilst maintaining accurate and up-to-date information in CDW’s CRM system to support sales forecast and pipeline management
- Customer Retention - Act as a trusted adviser to key customers through building knowledge of their environments
- Documentation - Produce high-quality documentation from solution designs and RFP responses to High-Level designs (HLD) and Proposals
- Go-To-Market Development – Work with the team, the Practice Lead, Head of Technology Solutions and key stakeholders to support the creation, launch, marketing and ongoing development of new propositions.
- Handover – Support the smooth handover of projects into the delivery teams and acting as an escalation point during their life and transition into service
- Internal Collaboration – Build and develop strong relationships across the business, including with Sales, Professional Services, Managed Services and the wider presales community to draw upon as the need arises. Support the documentation and adoption of agreed standards and practices within our deployments and work to ensure a high quality engagement for every customer.
- Maximise Opportunities - Identify potential to expand opportunities where possible and engage and coordinate resources from other teams to support
- Partner Engagement – Meet with CDW’s partner community to stay up to date with offerings and roadmaps and leverage this knowledge as an agnostic advisor to customers
- Sales Enablement - Assist CDW Sales people with technical guidance on a variety of products and solutions across a range of customer sizes and types and evangelise the team’s capabilities.
- Upsell - Identify potential to expand opportunities where possible and engage and coordinate resources from other teams to support
- Workspace Evangelist - Explain and evangelise the features, benefits and technical specifications of Workspace to internal and external audiences. The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the organisation and the overall business objectives of the organisation.
QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- A demonstrable track record of getting stuff done whilst managing competing pressures and deadlines and retaining an eye for detail and quality
- A passion for technology and its ability to have a positive impact on business
- Very good real-world, demonstrable proficiency/knowledge in Microsoft 365 technologies and at least one other vendor/product within the workspace portfolio. Use experience and skills to aid in their adoption, with a proven ability to use this to own and win complex opportunities with mid-market and enterprise and public sector customers and drive further digital workspace transformation. Comprehensive real world knowledge of Workspace services and technologies
Any of the below experience/skills would be additionally beneficial:
- A demonstrable track record of getting stuff done whilst managing competing pressures and deadlines and retaining an eye for detail and quality
- A key focus on user experience enhancement
- A passion for technology and its ability to have a positive impact on business
- Ability to lead customers through a transformational journey that delivers tangible benefit quickly whilst maximising the scope and potential of an engagement
- Ability to understand what is required at all stages of the sales cycle, from understanding the customer’s decision-making process whilst managing vendor requirements for sales closure
- Commercial acumen with an awareness of the financial implications of design decisions across Capex and Opex budgets and how they affect TCO and ROI
- Experience selling both professional and managed services
- Previous experience in a channel presales role or similar, including leveraging partner resources, incentives, and teams during presales engagements
- Relevant technical certifications
- Strong written and verbal communication, listening, and presentation skills
ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Able to achieve potential, stay inspired and motivated
- Articulate and credible
- Commercial aptitude to specify appropriate solutions.
- Desire to retain the highest levels of accreditation in the area of specialist focus
- Excellent communicator in all forms to key customer stakeholders
- Excellent organisation and time management skills.
- Fast learner and able to adapt to new technology and keep abreast of current industry trends and practice
- Passionate about technology and the impact it can have on business and our customers
- Positive attitude and influence on others
- Pragmatic and collaborative approach
- Quality and detail orientated
CUSTOMER FOCUS AND WAYS OFWORKING
- Each coworker is accountable for their actions and is required to exercise good judgment in everything they do. Part of that responsibility includes ensuring that you understand and live up to the values and standards we set for ourselves in the CDW Way, the CDW Way Code (our code of ethics and business conduct), the Information Management System (IMS), and all other policies and procedures relevant to your role.
- Each coworker has a responsibility to ask questions when they are unsure of CDW’s values, standards and policies and to take action if they believe someone else is not acting consistently with those values, standards and policies
- Each coworker is responsible for maintaining customer focus and for periodically reviewing the Circle of Service Philosophy and the Quality Policy to understand CDW’s commitment to excellent client service and continual improvement. Coworkers must report any customer problems, feedback, service outages, and service improvement suggestions to management
- Each coworker is required to comply with CDW’s policies relating to Information Security and Data protection, specifically to
- Protect all information assets from unauthorised access, disclosure, modification, destruction & interference
- Treat the security of all information assets according to their designated information security classification
- Ensure that they only access information assets that they are authorised to do so.
- Adhere to the procedure for reporting any security weakness or event
- Commit to, and participate in, personal development of information security awareness & knowledge
- Comply with all laws and contractual obligations regarding the protection of data
