As he moves past a year and a half in the job, Ingram Micro General Manager for Unified Comms and Collaboration, Ian Aitken sat down with UC Advanced to discuss modern distribution, the AV opportunity, and how he defines success.
The world of distribution has gone through a change in recent years. From box shifters sending out products, the introduction of OpEx and subscription models has opened up an opportunity to wrap services around warehouse stock.
This may not be as drastic as the ‘aaS’ movement that resellers have had to contend with, which is expected to grow into a global market worth $2,378 billion by 2029, but nevertheless supplying products is now seen as the bare minimum that is expected of distributors.
The unified communications and collaboration (UCC) industry is no different, and as Ingram Micro General Manager for Unified Comms and Collaboration, Ian Aitken, explains, there is a huge opportunity for upgrading meeting rooms and wrapping services around that solution.
“Like the reseller market, if all you do is shift products from A to B at a low margin, your business model is going to be compromised and you’re going to suffer unless you find a way of adding value,” said Aitken. “As a distributor, we have found ways to not only be more valuable to our resellers but our vendors, too.
“Historically, IT Distribution has been essentially a simple business. We sit right in the middle of a sales process that brings everything together for our vendor partners and our customers. Our job is to have the right product, at the right time, on the shelf at the right price to sell to our customers.
“But what we’re finding now, particularly with SMB resellers, is that they’re getting asked questions by their end users that they cannot always answer. We cannot rely on our resellers to know everything, so we are adding elements of distribution consultancy to the sale.”
Alongside providing products, Aitken says that Ingram Micro can help its resellers every step along the road of a sale, from design and installation, to after-sale services.
“Ingram Micro has been working to refine and develop these services for UCC customers. I think that makes us a lot more valuable to our customers and our vendors with the ability to spec, design, consult, demo, or do proof of concept as additional services we want to offer for the benefit of our customers.
“We’re developing stronger relationships with customers, finding new opportunities in the market, and receiving a clear message from our customers who embrace the value-added services we’re bringing to the table.”
Leaning on experience
One of the biggest post-pandemic trends has been the incorporation of audio and visual products into UCC solutions –a trend that some might say has played into the hands of Aitken.
Ingram Micro’s General Manager for UCC cut his teeth at Exertis for close to 10 years, making his way up to Director of its AV division. Now heading up Unified Communications and Collaboration at Ingram Micro, Aitken said his focus is on bringing AV into the UCC solutions that the distributor provides to its customers.
“Our focus is on creating relationships with vendors in order to be able to offer end-to-end solutions,” said Aitken, “and we’re continuing to bring more of the AV and UCC solutions as one.
“On top of that, we’re bringing more financial services to market in order to offer customers the ability to buy the solutions on an OpEx rather than CapEx arrangement. We’re focusing on the expansion of the solution element of our business, so instead of only providing the hardware, we are providing products together with software and service solutions.”
“As a distributor, we have found ways to not only be more valuable to our resellers but our vendors, too”
Supporting Partners
These services revolve around the ability to be there for reseller partners and provide a “cradle to grave” service from initial proof of concept through to installation.
“We deal with a mix of customers,” said Aitken. “For example, we deal with experienced systems integrators and AV integrators that don’t need us to be the experts. But sometimes they might need us to check if two products are compatible or maybe brainstorm with our technical team about a solution or project, which we are happy to do.
“But for the SMB IT providers who have an end-user customer who wants a Teams Room, we can provide a tech solutions team that can support the end user for the day, and talk to the end-user on the partner’s behalf.
“That conversation can start as just a proof-of-concept conversation – brainstorming a few ideas, but move into consultancy services, working with our customer to help with the design of systems, schematics, room builds, and demonstrations, either virtually or on-site, in order to help build the quotes on our partner’s behalf.”
The service doesn’t stop there, as Aitken details, after the sale there can often be teething problems which can detract from the success of a solution. That’s where Comms-Care, Ingram Micro’s IT Solutions and Services provider, can help the partner and its end users make the most of the technology they have invested in.
“There’s nothing worse than going into any meeting room, trying to plug cables in and nothing is working; it’s hugely frustrating. We’ve found that, after the installation, if we offer a free training service on how best to use the room, that in itself can be the best promotion of the technology.”
The 95%
This strategy of being a helping hand to those who need it has served Ingram Micro well so far.
“We are assisting our resellers with retrofitting a lot of end-user boardrooms, training rooms and meeting rooms that were perfectly capable of on-site meetings but when it came to dialling somebody in, the solution was to huddle around a laptop.
“Headsets, for example, is a market that’s saturated but now dominated by replacement. The evolutions in technology, such as noise cancellation, mean everyone’s always going to want the next best thing.
“We believe that 95% of UK meeting rooms are not video enabled. That’s a market we are targeting. That doesn’t mean a total refit of a boardroom, but finding ways to effectively use a screen, attaching video to it, a HD camera, a good quality microphone and speaker system; – whatever it may be to allow businesses to communicate with employees that might be at home, or outside of the office.
“It’s the retrofitting of those meeting rooms that we’re seeing a big demand for.”
Complimentary Partnerships
Seeing the opportunity is one thing, but being able to provide the solutions to capitalise on it is another.
Since Aitken has come aboard, Ingram Micro has announced an expansion of its distribution relationships with its key vendor partners and brands in the UCC sector, including Microsoft, HP, EPOS and Cisco.
Aitken said that his focus is also on making the most out of current vendor relationships. “I want to make sure that we develop the relationships we have, fully utilising each opportunity. We continually ask questions like, ‘What products are we missing? What complementary products do we need to add to that portfolio? How can we deliver more encompassing solutions to our reseller partners?’”
“We have added and will continue to add complementary products that allow us to support even more deals and provide solutions for the benefit of our resellers and their customers.”
Measuring Success
Naturally shared benefits for vendors, partners, and Ingram Micro is not the only growth that Aitken is interested in.
Although he is clearly focused on making the distributor a vital part of the market and selling products and solutions to reseller partners, we all have KPIs to work to, and general managers are not exempt.
But when asked about his ambitions, Aitken said that partner numbers would personally be a better indicator of success, as well as how “sticky” Ingram Micro is to them.
“For me, the biggest factor for success is selling more products to more customers because that’s a big compliment to what we’re doing and means that they trust and have confidence in what we’re doing.
“Another determining key factor is understanding how our vendors feel about what we’re doing: ‘Are we growing our market share with our vendors? Are our vendors pleased with what we’re doing? Are we adding value in terms of selling the products they want us to sell? Are we attracting interest from new vendors?’ These questions are good indicators of whether we’re doing something right.”
“On top of that, I want to have a happy team that works for me and enjoys what they do. I think that if a business is to be successful, the people inside have to be motivated by what they do and they have to buy into the strategy. They need a sense of purpose. That is a great determinant of success. If I have people who want to work for me and be part of the journey and enjoy coming to work every day, that means I’m doing a good job.”