Background

It’s Thursday morning in Tempe, AZ, and Chris Pirwitz is pulling out all the stops.

He’s focused on IT problem-solving for his best customer and trusted partner, an international law firm. As this law firm’s IT staff works to complete a common upgrade of their HPE storage environment, supply chain disruptions presented a challenge.

Meanwhile, in Guadalajara, Mexico – a team from HPE is attending an internal training session, hosted by B2X Global, learning how to help HPE partners remedy everyday supply-chain issues by utilizing the Parts Distributor program.

On that Zoom training call was Fernando Acero, one of HPE’s iPBM (Internal Partner Business Manager) team members. As he listened to the presentation, Fernando was reminded of an email he’d just received from Chris Pirwitz.

More on that email in a minute.

Issues

Chris’s employer, MicroAge, is no stranger to delivering the type of upgrade that their client required that day. In fact, they’ve been a leading HP/HPE partner for decades, delivering countless orders like this one.

But this order had some wrinkles, as many orders these days do.

• First, the necessary products had limited availability. Although these were high-demand items, recent supply-chain disruptions meant that few units were in circulation.
• Second, there was the doozy – although the law firm’s HQ is in California and only required 6 network cards and related cabling, they needed the order split 3 ways, with 2 cards each delivered to their satellite locations in Germany, France, and Australia.

When there’s ample inventory, traditional supply chain channels can deliver those 6 cards to LA in a reasonable time frame – no problem. But add this extra logistical challenge, and things begin to break down.

Naturally, Chris did what any good partner and customer advocate would do – he sprang into action and started creating options. He contacted potential sellers in the target countries. He sent inquiries to shipping and logistics companies. He asked his traditional distributors for help or ideas.

And he sent a note to Fernando, explaining the situation and asking for guidance or approval on any of his current options.

Solution

Fernando connected the dots between the training hosted by B2X Global that day and the situation Chris found himself in. During the call, he’d learned this was a classic example of when to bring B2X to the table.

With a simple email request, Fernando introduced Chris to the B2X team. They discussed the situation, and Chris clearly defined the outcome to provide his client with: Genuine HPE products, sourced through authorized channels, delivered to my customer’s doorstep next week. 

From here, the story has a simple and happy ending.

B2X’s team quoted the cards and cabling needed, and MicroAge issued purchase orders for the three locations. The next day, Chris woke up to shipping confirmations and tracking numbers for each of the law firm’s locations.

48 hours later, he saw each shipment’s acceptance by the client’s team, and the mission was complete.

B2X often follows up on its first order with a new partner to request feedback and ensure delivery was smooth. Chris shared with us:

This is a huge win for one of MicroAge’s most valued clients – huge thank you!

After that call ended, Chris went back to doing what he does best – helping customers identify and validate their new IT solutions. Now, he knows there’s another powerful HPE tool, B2X Global, to accomplish his customers’ goals and let him shine in the process.