Ingram Micro signals IoT intent, unveils global excellence initiative

Ingram Micro will establish global centres of excellence specific to the Internet of Things (IoT), with increased emphasis on key verticals, services and solutions.

Designed to accelerate market adoption via the channel, the new initiative will be spearheaded by Sabine Howest as vice president of Ingram Micro, who will oversee strategic partnerships and solution development at the distribution giant. At this stage, it remains unclear where each centre will be located from a geographic perspective.

“The introduction of a global centre of excellence will smooth and accelerate the road-to-market for our channel partners and manufacturers specialising in IoT, and pave the way for us to share best practices, new market applications, and resources globally,” said Paul Bay, executive vice president and president of Global Technology Solutions at Ingram Micro.

“Under Sabine’s leadership, Ingram Micro’s IoT business will scale and further specialise – adding increased and sustainable business value to our partners and manufacturers by helping them extend their expertise, share their experience, and meet the varied demands of the market locally, regionally and globally.”

In addition to building out IoT capabilities, Ingram Micro is also teaming up with vendors specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) and mixed reality amid plans to expand portfolio offerings through the supply chain. Bay said additional resources including financing, solution development services and market-ready use cases are also being made available to partners across the world.

“Sabine’s appointment to lead Ingram Micro’s IoT business is part of our continuing efforts to create and deliver sustainable value and more solutions for customers in a rapidly growing IoT market,” he added. “Our global centres of excellence are and will remain a service differentiator, as well as a competitive advantage for Ingram Micro, our channel partners and our manufacturers.”

Holding an expanded role of vice president of Global Partner Engagement and IoT, Howest oversees the distributor’s global business development of leading vendors and partners, in addition to holding responsibility for increasing value-added capabilities within enterprise and specialty markets.

“IoT remains one of the channel’s must have technology practices, and represents an area where channel partners are able to lead and enable their customers with the technology and services needed to proactively pivot, lean into their strengths and learn from real time data, AI and analytics to make more informed business decisions,” Howest added.

“Our centres of excellence are proven to optimise operations and help empower our people and our partners. We are in this together, and I am eager to work with my new team and put our business process, portfolio and resources – which now include collaborative engineering – to work for our partners and providers, and in turn the customers they serve.”