Ingram's Whopper

This week at its VentureTech Network conference, the $22.4 billion distributor will formally unveil its gutsy, new service model referred to as Choice Advantage. Make no mistake about it: This is as big a move as the world's largest computer products distributor has ever made. The new offering is the result of two years of work and an almost incalculable investment to change how it interacts with solution providers. The ultimate goal is to provide for all practical purposes a set of price and services packages that are custom-fitted to each individual solution provider. Think of it as the difference between winding up with a soggy and stale burger that has been sitting under a heat lamp for an hour or being handed a freshly made burger topped with all the fixings, just the way you like it.

CRN Distribution Editor Scott Campbell examines the Choice Advantage model in this week's cover story, including feedback from a wide variety of Ingram Micro partners. Partners are calling the new offering a shot across the bow of almost every distributor in the marketplace. The biggest target, however, may be on the back of Synnex, which has been gnawing at Ingram Micro in its no-holds-barred effort to be the distribution price leader.

Give Ingram Micro high marks for changing its old-line distribution-card business model. Its pricing and services moves are dramatic; the distributor is even altering its internal sales compensation based on the changes, promising that its partners will absolutely see new, more imaginative services offerings brought to the table.

Moreover, the new model comes as Ingram Micro closes the first deal under its year-old IBM Global Services-Ingram Micro Services Network partnership (see sidebar, page 20).

That IGS pact is another sign of a new, more solution-provider-focused Ingram Micro.

The changes Ingram Micro is making are the sign of a distribution game that is evolving, bringing more tailored and higher-level services and offerings to solution providers.

What it means is that all burgers are not created equal. There is a big difference between 100 percent sirloin and a low-grade ground beef. Give Ingram Micro credit for kicking it up a notch and answering the perennial question: "Where is the beef?"

Which tier in Ingram Micro's model works for you? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].