COVER STORY
“It’s not only the speed, but the speed into business around some of the automation,” he said. “What we’ve built is now helping [partners do business] in minutes. Even a 5-year-old can use it. We want to make complex things simple to make sure it’s easy, and that’s the beauty of the experience.” Partners Are Seeing The Difference A recent Xvantage win for Chris Norris, COO of Zachary, La.-based MIS Technology Group, was the ease of use he experienced when ordering Cisco Meraki products. “In the past with other vendors, getting to the process of just placing the order was several steps long and it took awhile to get a quote, get it approved and get it shipped,” he told CRN . “Now we click a button, we place the order and the pricing is already there. That’s been awesome.” Before using Xvantage, Norris had previously stepped away from the ordering process “because it just took too much time.” “I had to run the business and to have to fight through getting quotes … I had to step away,” he said. “I was used to the old way, but then when our purchasing [team] said, ‘Hey, come check this out,’ I was like, ‘Whoa.’ It was just a whole new world compared to the way things were just a year ago or even still is with some vendors.” He echoed Robinson’s comments about how Xvantage will allow a quick, easy experience “for the things that can be quick and easy.” “Then reserve the human touches for the more complicated deals that need a little bit of love to get it built,” he said. Success Computer Consulting’s Morris said it was really helpful to expose his staff to an enterprise rollout of brand-new technology that’s transforming the partner ecosystem. And speed and consolidation are everything, he said. Solution providers also described Xvantage as fast, easy, tailored and modern. “It’s focused and truly partner-centric,” Morris said. “We’re finally using a platform that is a fit for the way we operate.” Lach said he enjoys that it brings hardware, software and licensing all onto one platform in one view. “I like its speed, its quality, and it’s nonrepetitive,” he said. “When you see those things happen, you actually get people to complete jobs. I hate to say it that way but if you have to click through 20 times to find out when 20 things are shipping, you tend not to do those things.” The Future Of The Experience Throughout the rest of 2023, Ingram Micro is working on adding even more capabilities to the Xvantage platform such as quoting automation and configure-to-order features. “The recommendations and insights are there—we’re taking the feedback loops and making it crisper,” Sahoo said. “What you’ll see is more operationalizing of the capabilities and merging it with a business operation. That’s where our focus is right now.” Part of Ingram Micro’s “perpetual journey” with Xvantage
experience it offered when ordering products for customers. “One of my favorite things is how it has all my orders right there,” she said. “So if I see something that’s back-ordered or the order didn’t go through, as soon as I log in that’s the first thing I see.” And the Ingram Micro team makes the process of procuring products frictionless as well. “I love how they check in,” she said. “If we’re going back and forth too much about something through email, they’ll pick up the phone and call.” While Xvantage is a platform to transact on, Sahoo and Robinson both emphasized to CRN that what’s important to them is the total experience. “Imagine in distribution a partner on a Sunday is watching a game. They’re feeling hungry and order
‘How do you create a Netflix-like experience where partners are different but when they come to our platform
food through an app and can track when the food is coming,” Sahoo said. “The goal is how could we create a consumerization of modern experience for our partners? How do we make Monday the same as Sunday and make it a fun day for our partners?” He also likened it to TV streaming services and the personalization they offer consumers. “How do you create a Netflix-like experience where partners are different but when they come to our platform we understand, with AI and data, what they want and create a very personalized experience?” he said. “That is what we aim for,” he added. “Make it simple, easy and bring consumerization into distribution.” “We want to put our digital hat on to make sure that we can solve problems for partners’ business,” Sahoo said. “We want them to be better by understanding the platform. Be aggressively digital and amazingly human.” The experience the Ingram Micro team is trying to convey through its Xvantage platform is described as an “ease-of- use, meeting-the-needs-of-our-partners-type platform” that is efficient and automated. “It’s not just that we’re able to remove some of the low- value work, we’re removing it for them,” Robinson said. “Now they’ll be able to look at their different teams and where they’re spending their time and move their associates to more valuable work.” The self-learning platform is currently available in 14 countries and growing, according to Sahoo. we understand, with AI and data, what they want and create a very personalized experience?’ – Sanjib Sahoo, EVP, Chief Digital Officer, Ingram Micro
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SPECIAL ISSUE 2023
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