Choice Words For Ingram

Several Ingram Micro solution providers remain unconvinced that the program--which requires them to choose from one of three pricing and support levels and from several upgrade packages--will be beneficial.

Ingram Micro plans to have all 20,000 of its solution providers signed up by the end of the year, following an 800-company pilot that started in April.

Solution providers are being asked to choose one of the three tiers--Independent Choice, Active Choice or Professional Choice--without enough information to make an informed decision, said Bob Lamb, president of ESI Technologies, an Athens, Tenn., solution provider.

"Their reps are being pressured to make all of us make a decision. There is a lack of ability to see what we've got and what [option is] the closest thing to that. No one can tell me that," Lamb said.

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The first solution providers successfully transitioned to Choice Advantage, and Ingram Micro made adjustments to the program based on their feedback, said Kevin Murai, co-president of Ingram Micro, Santa Ana, Calif.

As it did with the initial group, the distributor plans to give solution providers information such as buying patterns and the number of support calls logged to help them make the right choice, Murai said.

"The feedback from our customers has been outstanding. The overwhelming majority like that they can choose the way they pay for products and pick the services that meet their market needs better," he said.

Still, some solution providers doubt that Ingram Micro can adequately educate its 20,000 partners by the end of the year.

"There's no way they can do that. Even 5,000 [partners] a month would be logistically impossible. When they call me, three-quarters of the time I'm out of town, and nobody is making this decision here except me," said Joe Balsarotti, president of Software To Go, a Clayton, Mo.-based solution provider.

Ingram Micro's sales force also is less experienced than in the past because of layoffs, attrition and changes in management, solution providers said.

"Most of the reps don't even know who they're calling. They don't know the needs of the customer. How are you going to be able to answer a question based on a reseller's needs?" Balsarotti said. "More importantly, no one wants to stick their neck out. You can't find a manager who will make a decision pro or con on something. No one wants to take ownership of a problem. Therefore, problems end up unresolved."

Ingram Micro also hasn't convinced John Rutkowski, president of Bolder Designs, a Newark, Del.-based solution provider and loyal Ingram Micro customer.

"I probably do more business with Ingram because I have a fixed sales rep that I can get ahold of. But I have not seen that this is a good deal for the reseller. It seems to be a good deal for Ingram Micro," he said.

Rutkowski recently signed up for Independent Choice to receive the lowest possible price. Although his Ingram Micro sales rep told him he was activated in the program, Rutkowski said he has not seen any benefits as yet.

For example, he priced out an IBM server solution with 14 product or service components for a customer last week. In a price comparison against Synnex and Tech Data, Ingram Micro had the lowest total price by a small margin but the lowest price on only half of the 14 components, which did not impress Rutkowski.

"The main server is cheaper at Tech Data. The warranty is cheaper at Synnex. If I'm on the lowest [price] program, I don't see a big difference. And Tech Data ships the same day," he said.

AnalySys Enterprises, a Baltimore-based solution provider, selected Professional Choice a couple of weeks ago and expects to get the same benefits it previously received but now with a 0.3 percent pricing discount, said Stephen Kolbe, AnalySys Enterprises president.

But before he signed up, Kolbe performed his own cost analysis. He took a sample of 50 product SKUs and compared his old price and support level with those of the three tier options.

"I can see the reps are overwhelmed by this. It is somewhat time-consuming," he said. "For a typical reseller that doesn't take the time to do the research on this, it will be an issue."