Ingram Micro Leverages Partner Feedback In Rebranding Strategy

Ingram Micro's new logo comes with a message to partners: the "Promise of Technology."

"Realizing the promise of technology is our message to them to say, ’Let us help you as partners realize the promise of technology because if we can affect value all the way down that supply chain, all the way down to the end, then that makes us a more indispensable business partner to all those partners that we're doing business with in this giant sales channel here," said Jennifer Anaya, vice president of marketing for North America at Ingram Micro.

Ingram Micro solicited its partners, investors and associates globally for a survey about a year ago, and feedback from that survey then helped inform the distributor’s rebranding process. One of the themes that emerged was a push to make the company more agile -- a strategy that CEO Alain Monie has emphasized since taking the helm in 2012.

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"That's culturally something that we've been working hard toward -- to make decisions faster, to de-layer our organization so that we don't have so many layers to go up and down and make decisions," Anaya said.

The Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor revamped internally in November to create four global business units focused on the cloud, supply chain, mobility and technology solutions.

"Refreshing and repositioning the Ingram Micro brand is a natural next step in our company's growth and success," Monie said in a prepared statement. "It signals our evolution from a distribution powerhouse to the world leader in technology and supply chain services."

The changes are noticeable, said Guy Baroan, president of Elmwood Park, N.J.-based Ingram Micro partner Baroan Technologies.

"I think over the last year and a half, two years as Ingram has been evolving with their service offerings in the cloud, what I've seen is they're really going after the clients or vendors that are top notch, the heavy hitters that are going to be around for the long term," Baroan said.

Baroan pointed to a previous help-desk solution in Buffalo, N.Y., that Ingram Micro was reselling as a good case in point. Based on partner feedback, Ingram Micro switched to a Fujitsu help desk that has since evolved into a third version of the solution.

"To see them being able to go through and modify [the help desk] quickly based on the feedback, what's mind-boggling for a company their size is to be able to make changes that quickly, which is great for partners because we can count on them," Baroan said. "So I definitely see a lot of agility and movement and being able to change as necessary from the feedback we're providing."

PUBLISHED JUNE 24, 2014