Ingram UK chief: We are going to be more aggressive
Brent McCarty was in fighting talk mode at distribution giant's annual showcase IM One event in Milton Keynes
Ingram Micro’s UK boss used his opening keynote to explain how the distributor is getting aggressive and investing in future growth.
The event saw hundreds of resellers from all over the UK gather at The Stadium in Milton Keynes for a day of strategy, collaboration and learning,with more than 60 of Ingram’s vendor partners in attendance.
Speaking to a packed room, Brent McCarty, vice president and chief executive of Ingram Micro UK and Ireland, said: “As a distributor, we are number one globally and we have a very good view of how the market is changing. We see how every vendor is evolving. We have over 250,000 customers around the world and we can get a macro view of how the world is changing. I don’t think I have ever seen the market changing as fast as it is today.”
He said he felt distribution had not perhaps demonstrated its value enough to the channel up to this point, and admitted that Ingram had been slower off the mark to react in the past.
“Distribution has not been leveraged enough by the channel. I want partners to start thinking differently about distribution. We can enable your business and scale your capabilities and help keep your costs down. We will bend over backwards to make this happen. We [at Ingram] have been more historically slow in terms of adapting and adjusting to how the market is moving. But that has changed.”
McCarty (pictured) said Ingram was not a tanker, it was a mammal that was still growing and evolving.
“We have acquired several companies recently; we do a lot of reverse logistics and of course we have the cloud. That is a mega trend. Every vendor that we have in one shape or form is thinking about the cloud. And that creates complexity for the channel. We see resellers that have grasped this and are flying, but we also see a large number who are struggling to make the adjustment,” he said.
McCarty added: “We are not here today to talk about pricing and availability – we continue to do that well. We are going to be more aggressive, and be that mammal that is constantly evolving – extending our capabilities through organic investment and also acquisition. We are looking at life cycle services, commerce solutions and will be making further investment in the cloud. We have the reach to vendors and believe that we are investing in the right areas.”