Ingram to Integrate Leads Tool Into BI Portal For VentureTech VARs
Earlier this month, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor unveiled its BI portal for VentureTech Network members, who can pay for access to seven years' history of customer purchasing information wrapped with some analytics to show what customers might be looking to refresh or upgrade. Ingram was separately developing the lead generation tool, which is a natural fit to complement the BI portal, said Robinson.
"Right now you have to get leads from [Hewlett-Packard] and use their portal, and Cisco [Systems] and all those portals from different vendors. Now you have a tool where you can take data from BI and pipe leads through the same system," Robinson said at Ingram's VentureTech Invitational conference in Hollywood, Fla.
Eventually, VARs also will be able to add third-party lead lists into the tool, he said.
At the VTN conference, Ingram Micro also detailed the pricing of the BI portal at the conference: a $4,000 one-time initial fee and a $250 per quarter maintenance fee, according to Robinson.
The distributor plans to offer Web training sessions to help VARs learn to use the BI portal and the lead gen tool. "It's about how to maximize the marketing campaigns to get the best MDF dollars," Robinson said.
Solution providers who piloted the program said it gives VARs good data to win business. "It's about how to fish in the right spot," said Mark Jacobson, CEO of NetGain Technologies, Lexington, Ky.