It's A Team Effort
The restructuring will occur over the next quarter and primarily affect the distributor's product management group, said company executives.
\
Pat Collins: Move will help Ingram Micro build comprehensive solutions.
The distributor embarked on a similar mission last year in its sales department, with a focus on solution provider relationships. With the new product management structure, Ingram Micro hopes to bring solution providers' feedback deeper into the process, build more multivendor solutions and give vendors a more profitable channel.
"We are moving toward an environment where we're creating a hands-on group of experts that meets a specific need of our customers and our vendors," said Donna Grothjan, senior vice president of product management.
In the past, vendors were assigned an Ingram Micro product manager who handled the tasks within that account. Now those tasks have been divided into five areas,vendor management, customer management, product category management, purchasing and product management operations,with representatives for each.
INGRAM MICRO'S PRODUCT EXPERTS
>> VENDOR MANAGEMENT: Manages the business relationship, financial bsuiness plan; develops strategy.
>> CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT: Assists in business growth, product expertise; delivers training, customer feedback.>> PRODUCT CATEGORY MANAGEMENT: Creates product category strategies; researches trends.
>> PURCHASING: Centralizes purchase order execution; manages returns and direct shipping.
>> PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS: Handles business process improvement, contract management.
For example, under the new system a vendor might have a buyer, a program person for sales promotions and a marketing person that strategizes and researches trends. Product management employees also will be responsible for more vendor lines as their jobs evolve, said channel sources.
"This approach will allow us to be more effective in building multivendor IT solutions," said Pat Collins, the distributor's vice president of sales, North America.
The changes will result in layoffs within the product management group, channel sources said. The distribu-tor will determine which employees to keep through skills assessments and interviews expected to be wrapped up by the end of the month, one source said. Ingram Micro would neither confirm nor deny the reports.
For solution providers, the chance to offer more feedback on the way vendors interact with Ingram Micro and the channel will be invaluable. "[Vendors' touch and feel is the most important thing," said Doug Baker, president of Enterprise Network Technologies (ENT), Tucson, Ariz.
Two vendors ENT would like to offer more input about are Computer Associates International and Microsoft, said Baker. For example, some vendors need to stop assuming that solution providers don't have the knowledge and expertise to handle large accounts, he said.
Ingram Micro has already briefed many vendors about the value of having a dedicated team of specialists, said Grothjan.
SCOTT CAMPBELL contributed to this story.