- The current competitive landscape in the IT channel segment is quite dynamic. What’s your take and preparation for the same?
The IT channel segment in India is very diverse yet fragmented, and it has become more dynamic and competitive than ever before. Owing to the rapid evolution of technologies over the last few years, we have seen increasing demands for solutions that are future-ready, innovative and secure for the new digital era of doing business. In this environment, customer experience has become the most critical differentiator that can help us stay relevant.
Customers expect their distribution partners to help deliver their technology needs across various segments, and Ingram Micro India is perfectly positioned to be the one-stop shop for all technology needs of our ecosystem with our partnerships with all relevant OEMs in this domain. Thinking beyond simplifying the tech acquisition and disposition processes, Ingram Micro has started focusing on delivering personalized support, customized solutions, and end-to-end services to deliver a superlative customer experience during the pre-sales consultation as well as the post-sales journey of our partners. This relationship-driven approach – with an intact focus on their experience – helps us restrengthen our bonds with our partners.
- IT Distributors face multiple challenges in enabling channel partners to deliver an exceptional CX. How is your company addressing this issue?
The key challenges include wider OEM partnerships, solution deployment capabilities, geographical reach & end-to-end data cycle solutions. Ingram Micro India with our comprehensive OEM partnership, solution selling & deployment capabilities, and our unique Digital Twin Xvantage can enable our channel partners across the length & breadth of the country to deliver seamless & delightful CX.
In the age of advanced technologies, customers demand much more than mere access to technology-led products; they demand seamless, personalized delivery at every touchpoint. This requires all our channel partners to be technologically capable and innovate continuously to cater to the exact requirements of the end customers. That’s where the digital empowerment of channel partners becomes a critical factor that can help them with solution selling & deployment capabilities. Ingram Micro has been taking multiple forward-looking initiatives to enable, educate, and empower our channel partners to help them excel in the digital age. Through these initiatives, we empower our channel partners to overcome all challenges and deliver exceptional CX consistently.
- How are you enabling channel partners digitally and enabling them to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction?
We at Ingram Micro are proud to bring our Digital Twin Xvantage to the Indian market. Xvantage is a unique, persona-based, self-learning platform that augments our channel partners to efficiently deliver personalized service delivery and ensure client satisfaction.
Our self-learning, intelligent digital experiential platform – Xvantage – enables our partners to learn, partner, build, manage and buy a wide range of technology-led products through an easy-to-use digital interface. Xvantage allows our partners to search for the products, raise a quote, place an order, track the consignment, and seek customer support from a centralized dashboard. Moreover, it’s a one-stop destination to explore all the services and solutions we offer, and partners can book an appointment with a Subject Matter Expert through a simple click of the button to further discuss or customize varied solutions as per their project-specific requirements. Hence, Xvantage simplifies the entire process of technology acquisition, deployment, and even disposition – allowing our partners more time to focus on critical deliverables. All these culminate into a much more insightful and seamless experience for the end customers.
- What initiatives have you taken to support your channel partners in enhancing their customer experience?
Ingram Micro India’s offerings are centered around the concept of the “life cycle of data”. We support our partners through the entire life cycle of data – from data creation and computation to storage, security, and eventual disposal of data. All of our offerings are provided to our partners through our digital platform Xvantage with customized recommendations to meet our partners’ unique requirements. Xvantage offers our partners business insights and helps build their business development plans, giving them control of their business growth journey.
- The technology market is continuously evolving. How does Ingram Micro adapt its sales strategies to stay ahead in such a dynamic environment?
The fast-paced technology landscape keeps on evolving continuously, and we need a highly agile approach to stay ahead of the competition in this age. At Ingram Micro, we have invested in the right technologies to anticipate market shifts, leverage emerging technologies and realign our sales strategies with emerging needs to yield the desired outcomes. We keep a close eye on how emerging technologies, such as AI, ML, automation and cloud adoption, influence the expectations and needs of customers. This helps us pivot our sales approach and incorporate the necessary modifications as and when required to capture and deliver value to our customers. Beyond market analysis, we also try to establish direct communications with partners and customers to seek their insights and suggestions so that we can devise better go-to-market strategies. Additionally, our wholehearted commitment to digital enablement and empowerment of our partners further helps us react more appropriately to the changing market dynamics.
We have also started offering end-to-end solutions to help partners and customers address multiple pain points and leverage a one-stop destination for technology acquisition, deployment, optimization and disposition. Our focus on offering bundled or customized solutions across cybersecurity, multi-cloud management, or verticalized offerings has enabled us to stay ahead of the competition in the fast-paced technology landscape. Moreover, our comprehensive range of services, such as Professional Services, Managed IT Services, and IT Asset Disposition Services, are some of the major factors helping us stay relevant and beat the competition. In short, we are taking multiple steps to refine our sales strategies and align well with the changing trends.
