Ingram Micro Offers Partners Benefits Plan
The distributor negotiated a contract with Pension and Benefits Insurance Services, a Lake Forest, Calif.-based benefits broker, to help solution providers lower the costs of doing business, said Bob Stegner, vice president of channel development at Ingram Micro.
"One of the things we can make a difference in is helping them with their fixed costs by leveraging the size of Ingram Micro or VentureTech," Stegner said.
Solution providers could save up to 30 percent on benefits costs, Stegner said. "It depends how it fits into their business," he said. "This takes VentureTech beyond a marketing program. It is a business function. We're running VentureTech like an association."
While Ingram Micro may look like it is becoming the AAA of distributors, the company does not expect to generate any revenue directly as a result of the program, said Pat Collins, senior vice president of sales at Ingram Micro. Rather, Collins hopes increased loyalty will yield a higher percentage of sales for the distributor.
"It takes the distraction of managing a complex piece of doing business and simplifies it. It allows the reseller to worry about what they do well," Collins said.
The program includes reduced health insurance and benefits premiums through VentureTech Network group plans, human-resources management system installation and three hours of human-resources consultation annually.
There is no charge to solution providers to use the program if Pension and Benefits is used as the benefits broker. If solution providers want to keep their own broker, solution providers can still receive the human-resources management installation and consultation for a monthly fee of $50 to $150, plus a charge of $3 to $4 per employee.
Additional fee-based services include creating an employee handbook ($199), a salary survey ($249), a human-resources audit ($499 plus expenses), a safety program ($249), a prehire check ($99), unemployment claims ($29) and mediation services ($75 per hour).
Solution providers at Ingram Micro's VentureTech Invitational here recently said they would compare the program against their current plans.
"After salaries, health care is my biggest cost. As an operational expense, it increases 15 [percent to 35 percent in a single year," said Jane Cage, owner of Joplin, Mo.-based Connecting Point.
"VentureTech is looking to deliver additional value. In today's market, margins are not going to get better. If you want to help your bottom line, you have to take fixed costs out," said Brian Okun, vice president of marketing at Computer Professionals USA, New York. "We'll take a look at it. It's no different than if [VentureTech negotiated a group rate with FedEx. We're looking for more marketing services, and if Ingram Micro delivers these kinds of things, it makes sense to take a look at them."
In addition to lower benefits costs, solution providers could see administrative savings, Stegner said.
"For a lot of small companies, there's no way they can keep track of all the benefits changes; that's an infrastructure thing. In many cases, it's the owners' spouse, or a CPA doing it all," Stegner said.
Pension and Benefits partners with most major insurance providers for rates, which will vary depending on the solution provider's geography, selected provider and plan, Ingram Micro said.
In the first week after the program was introduced, Pension and Benefits received about 25 phone calls from solution providers for quotes, Ingram Micro said.
One of those calls came from Jeff Moody, president of Ping Technology, a solution provider based in Waco, Texas.
"We're all ears on things like this. We spend $250 a month per employee on group insurance, and we don't have dental or eye care associated with that," Moody said.
Ping Technology's insurance policy expires in November, and the company plans to look for a better policy at that time, Moody said.
"Companies our size are getting hammered on insurance," he said. "Group insurance is an important deal, and banding together can do nothing but help us."