Ingram's BI Center: Giving VARs Deep Dives On Their Customers
The BI Center's Portal initially is open only to members of Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network community and will be detailed at the VTN Spring Invitational next week in Hollywood, Fla.
"Starting with VTN, we're building out a portal for those members. It contains seven years worth of transactional history [for each end user in Ingram Micro's database]. We worked with [Dun & Bradstreet] and we have the information to show them deep dives on vertical markets," said Kirk Robinson, vice president of channel marketing at Ingram Micro.
Ingram Micro previewed a portion of the functionality at a VentureTech event last fall, where some VARs were concerned about Ingram Micro's ability to show an end user's complete IT purchasing history to all Ingram Micro VARs. Some thought that information could create an unfair advantage and that Ingram Micro may end up hurting itself. But that information won't be initially available and Robinson said no functionality would be provided at the expense of another partner.
"It's kind of interesting. These are my customers. What we're looking to find is the most effective way to reach this addressable market. There's still tremendous opportunity with these customers. We're not intending to shift share away from other Ingram Micro customers," he said. "If we're seeing that a reseller's customers are buying elsewhere, they're probably buying from other partners and other distributors, too."
Ingram Micro plans to charge a startup fee and then a quarterly fee for the information in the BI Portal. The pricing will be released at the VTN conference next week.
"We worked with the VTN advisory council and talked about how much you spend currently. Do you buy a Harte-Hanks lead list? Are you spending money on IDC or other information? We came up with what we all believe is a fair price," Robinson said.
In addition to visibility into customers' purchasing trends, VARs can quantify their success in specific vertical markets, Robinson said. "You can break down health care to doctor's offices, dentists, etc. We can show how much of the small-business market they're selling into. Geographically, we can show them what their business looks like. It's a tremendous amount of information, and we're really excited about it."
Neil Medwed, president of Preferred Technology Solutions, a Richardson, Texas-based solution provider and VentureTech member, said the BI tools are enlightening.
"Most people have the data in their systems somewhat, but it's not easy to find a methodology to work with it. This takes the data and matches it up with current contacts as well as upgrade paths on certain things. It makes it much easier, " Medwed said.
In piloting the program, Preferred Technology Solutions has re-engaged with some customers that it otherwise would not have, Medwed said.
"I can't put a dollar value on it at this point because we've had the data for only a few weeks, but we found opportunities with it. That's the key," he said.
Vendors are excited enough about the program that Robinson said it's quite possible VARs can get them to pay for the service through market development funds.
"Vendors want to keep their brand in place at the end user. They're already giving them MDF for marketing. They're more excited that this is a solid front to work out of, rather than working off a lead list," he said.
The current BI capabilities of VentureTech VARs ranges greatly, Robinson said. Some have invested in sophisticated technology, while others put their financials "on the back of a bar napkin with crayon," he said. But very few can track down the profit that each new customer brings to them, which Ingram Micro can now help them do, he said.