Category Archives: Ingram Micro

Digital Transformation, Enterprise IT, Ingram Micro, News & Analysis

71% of enterprise will be digitally transformed by 2018 – survey

Life cycle of common birdwing butterflyResearch from Ingram Micro Cloud claims the UK is well on its way to the digitally enabled ecosystem, as 71% of enterprise organizations believe they will be digitally transformed by 2018.

The findings highlighted 31% of organizations believe they have a strategy in place currently, 23% are actively implementing one and a further 18% claim they will have one in place within the next 24 months. Roughly 80% of the respondents confirmed cloud played either a critical or very important role within the digital transformation projects themselves.

“Cloud has turned everything on its head,” Apay Obang-Oyway, Director for Northern Europe at Ingram Micro Cloud. “It is no longer about big corporations eating small businesses; now it is small challenging the big because with Cloud, small can be so much more innovative and agile.  Greater opportunities now lie with SMBs. It’s important to realise the potential of the Cloud; it is about doing more with more to develop strong strategic advantage in a world that is fast changing.”

The transition of cloud computing through to the mainstream market has enforced a substantial number of enterprise organizations to redefine themselves through digital transformation projects to ensure they remain relevant in the new digital economy. 56% of respondents highlighted customer engagement was the primary objective of such strategies, 48% claimed identifying cost reduction and 45% stated remaining competitive, were the main drivers of the strategies.

“The ability to digitally reimagine the business is determined in large part by a clear digital strategy supported by leaders who foster a culture of change,” said Obang-Oyway. “While this is nothing new – and let’s be honest the world of business and IT have seen many technical evolutions – what is unique to digital transformation is that risk taking is becoming a cultural norm. More digitally advanced companies are seeking new levels of competitive advantage.

“New market entrants are appearing almost daily, disrupting traditional industries, the small are now challenging the large, the new challenging the old. Just think Airbnb, Uber and Deliveroo. Equally important, employees across all age groups want to work for businesses that are committed to digital progress and this is what will attract the talent of the future. But underpinning this entire revolution is the Cloud. It is without doubt the single most transformative element in this radical rethinking of the way business is done today.”

While digital transformation strategies should not necessarily be considered new within the industry, the increased adoption rate of cloud within enterprise organizations on the whole has accelerated the necessity of such strategies. While it would be considered worst case scenario, Blockbuster is a prime example of the consequences of not accepting the new digital world, and has in turn normalised the concept of digital transformation.

acquisition, Ingram Micro, M&A, News & Analysis

Giant IT distributor Ingram bought by HNA Group for $6 billion

M&A merger acquisitionGlobal technology distributor turned cloud service provider Ingram Micro is to be bought by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group for $6 billion.

Ingram will continue to be based in California but is now a subsidiary of marine logistics specialist Tianjin Tianhai, which is owned by The HNA Group, an aviation, tourism and logistics outfit. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016. Ingram CEO Alain Monié and his management team will remain and its business is expected to continue as normal.

“The addition of Ingram Micro would help the logistics sector of HNA Group transform from a logistics operator to a supply chain operator, and provide one-stop services while improving efficiencies,” said Adam Tan, CEO of HNA Group.

Founded in 1989 when IT was a hardware defined industry Ingram Micro became the world’s largest wholesale technology products distributor with clients such as Acer, Apple, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Microsof and Samsung. It ranks 62nd in the 2015 Fortune 500. As the IT industry evolved to become software driven, it has taken steps to transform itself. It announced cloud partnerships with IBM and Parallels at its Ingram Micro Cloud Summit 2014 and promised tools to help its reseller clients make the transition to selling cloud services. To this end Ingram Micro added three new services, Hosted Exchange, Virtual Private Server and Web Hosting.

However, the funding from the new owners could help it make more of a transition, according to a statement from Alain Monié, Ingram Micro CEO. “Our agreement to join HNA Group delivers near-term and compelling cash value to our stockholders and we expect it to provide exciting new opportunities for our vendors, customers and associates,” said Monie, “innovation, new services introduction, brand management and ensuring the stability and continuity of the businesses joining their enterprise are fundamental to HNA Group’s overall strategy.”

Analyst Clive Longbottom at Quocirca said TTI seems to be ‘paying high’ in order to gain direct access to western markets. “Whether this will work remains to be seen,” said Longbottom, “will the US government and all its dependent departments shy away from Ingram now, fearing that the Chinese will be implementing back doors via firmware or software changes?”

For the general user, this will probably make very little difference, the analyst predicted. “It’s likely that TTI will be hands off, using Ingram to optimise its overall buying power on a global basis to be able to either provide better margins or to compete on price more effectively where required, ” said Longbottom. Ingram shareholders, meanwhile, are getting a 39% premium over Ingram’s closing price.

AWS, Channel, Europe, IBM, Ingram Micro, News & Analysis, VAR

Ingram Micro expands cloud marketplace to EU

Traditional IT resellers are trying to rebuild the business model to fit cloud services

Traditional IT resellers are trying to rebuild the business model to fit cloud services

IT tech distributor Ingram Micro has launched a marketplace for cloud services in Europe in a bid to bolster its appeal to channel partners, many of which are increasingly offering their products as-a-service. The move is aimed at making its proposition in the cloud economy more compelling, particularly as other traditional IT vendors and cloud incumbents move in on reseller turf.

The Cloud Marketplace, which handles billing and service deployment for a range of services offered by cloud vendors, is already up and running in the US. But the most recent announcement will see the platform launch imminently in France, the Netherlands, and the UK.

The company said it plans to launch the marketplace in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden in the second quarter of 2015.

In prepared remarks the company said it wanted to enable channel partners to more effectively sell their cloud wares to clients, and in particular, exploit what Ingram sees as a growing opportunity in the SME market for resellers. With the Cloud Marketplace, channel partners can manage the complete end-customer subscription lifecycle from a single, automated platform, provided and supported by Ingram Micro, the company said.

“For our channel partners, enabling businesses to operate in a hybrid environment that includes cloud-based solutions is as much about business transformation as it is about technology,” said Carl Alloin, executive director Europe, Ingram Micro Cloud. “Our Cloud Marketplace was designed to help channel partners quickly scale as they seek to expand their footprint and profitability in the cloud.”

Ingram is among a growing number of resellers refitting their channel models for the cloud (Arrow is another big one in Europe that recently launched a cloud app marketplace), in part because other traditional vendors and cloud service providers are starting to threaten their role in the market. Vendors like IBM, which launched its cloud service marketplace last year, are much more willing to cooperate with other vendors they would otherwise compete with at different levels of the stack, while cloud incumbents like AWS are attracting a range of other software and service providers to its fast-growing ecosystem.