Apay Obang-Oyway, director of cloud Northern Europe at Ingram explains what winning Cloud Distributor of the Year twice in a row means to him and his team
Outline Ingram Micro Cloud's strategy
At Ingram Micro Cloud our channel strategy is focused on empowering service providers and partners to monetise as well as manage the entire life cycle of cloud services and infrastructure, while simplifying digital transformation with confidence, speed and agility.
We are building an Ecosystem of Cloud, an interconnected community that brings together the leading cloud e-commerce platforms from Odin and Ensim, the most comprehensive cloud catalogue in the industry, the largest and most diversified customer base, and end-to-end business transformation and go-to-market enablement programmes. The Ecosystem of Cloud has been engineered to simplify our partners' cloud success, underpinning our channel strategy.
What has been the highlight of 2016 for your business?
I would certainly put this into three key areas for us: firstly our growth - we have seen phenomenal growth again in cloud; secondly our partnerships - we have developed many new relationships while also strengthening our existing community creating a deeper, richer community of loyal partners within our Ecosystem of Cloud; and finally winning this award - this has recognised the hard work we have put in over the last year and confirms the strength in our strategy.
How pleased are you to have won?
As I reflect on 2016, I look at the hard work the entire Ingram Micro team has contributed and the support we have gained from our growing partner community both from our vendor partners and our reseller partners. This award confirms our continued achievements and that we have the right strategy in place. We are extremely proud of this recognition.
How has the award been received in the company so far? How did you celebrate?
It has personally been amazing to see the sense of pride it has generated among our associates at all levels both in the UK and our global organisation. I have been overwhelmed by the numerous congratulations we have received from both our partner community and our global and local colleagues over the last few days. This award means a lot to many of our stakeholders and their delight in us winning this award is humbling.
What would you say is your greatest channel achievement in 2016?
As the market evolves and transforms at pace, we are committed to creating new revenue opportunities for our partners as we continue to innovate within our strategy. Some of the innovations we have launched this year include: new cloud services within our Cloud Marketplace; services enabled by our Comms-care business increasing the depth of professional, managed and support services our partners can offer their customers; plus our innovation in new digital marketing services to enhance our partners' go-to-market offering and drive more business for them to capitalise on.
How important is the channel to your business?
The channel is extremely important to us as a channel-only business. It is in our DNA; it is what we do.
What difference will winning this award make to your business in 2017?
To be awarded CRN Cloud Distributor of the Year for the second year running has given us continued pride in our approach to cloud and our value in the channel. It evokes energy in the team and their commitment to our community and provides a catalyst to drive growth, be innovative and be bold as we move forwards into 2017.
Apay Obang-Oyway is director of cloud Northern Europe at Ingram Micro
