INTERVIEW
Mastering Value-Added Distribution 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.
Ian Aitken General Manager
for Unified Comms and Collaboration
uk-new.ingrammicro. com
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