Ingram Micro Flexes Vertical Market Muscle With New Platform

Ingram Micro has unveiled a content marketing website that aggregates vendor offerings, industry research, collateral, and training and education materials related to vertical markets all in one place.

The Irvine, Calif.-based distributor said Vertical Expo Live (VEL) gives solution providers a place to get insights and expand their presence in industries ranging from the public sector, healthcare, retail and financial services, according to Tom Blankenhorn, senior director of Ingram Micro U.S.

"Everybody's selling into verticals, and there's an extremely rich opportunity in the vertical space," Blankenhorn told CRN. "The vertical is a compelling story."

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Ingram Micro will build up VEL in the future by pinpointing vertical opportunities for individual solution providers based upon their specific strengths and the makeup of their client base, Blankenhorn said. This analytics-based approach will enable partners to more deeply understand the business they're doing with end users, he said.

"You take data and information, and turn it into currency," Blankenhorn said. "Monetize it on their [the solution provider's] behalf."

VEL builds upon microsites established by Ingram Micro on an industry-by-industry basis as part of its Vertical Advantage program, Blankenhorn said, providing superior storytelling skills and bringing all of the information to one place. Ingram Micro can also run live chats, manage learning and development modules and post collateral straight out of VEL, he said.

Ingram Micro alerted solution providers to VEL using a drip marketing campaign, Blankenhorn said, and enlisted more than 100 early registrants. VEL is available at no cost to Ingram Micro partners.

Blankenhorn said the verticals with the biggest opportunities include retail – particularly around point-of-sale and digital signage – as well as legal, where technology spending is growing by 21 percent. Conversely, the federal government space isn't as strong as many solution providers think given the finite number of end users and significant barriers to entry.

Ingram Micro is doubling down on the vertical market space, Blankenhorn said, as end users lean more heavily on solution providers to remain compliant in the retail and financial services space thanks to new regulations like EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa).

"Our industry moves at the speed of light," Blankenhorn said. "There is more complexity in the IT market today than there has ever been."

VEL also contains stories around how specific vendors such as Microsoft, Citrix and VMware can bolster partner performance in specific verticals, Blankenhorn said.

Ingram Micro has industry experts supporting its vertical practices, Blankenhorn said, including a doctor and three medical specialists on its healthcare team, a certified financial planner on its financial services team, a teacher on its education team and the former manager of an interior design company on its retail team.

"This is a stepping-off point," Blankenhorn said. "This is something that will be continuously be improved upon."

Baroan Technologies does business in the healthcare, manufacturing and government spaces, and has leveraged Ingram Micro's healthcare team to learn more about opportunities created by HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), according to Guy Baroan, president of the Elmwood Park, N.J.-based company.

Baroan said he is looking forward to exploring VEL and figuring out how his business can benefit from it.

"Getting information to people is pretty difficult," Baroan said. "Being able to provide a portal where they provide the specialty training and information is great."