Need Help With Your Marketplace Strategy? Ingram Micro Cloud Has a Plan

VARs and MSPs seeking help with their cloud marketplace strategy have a new option through Ingram Micro Cloud.

On Wednesday, the California-based cloud marketplace provider debuted the Ultra Membership Program. The company bills the initiative as one that will help channel partners grow faster, support greater customer success and improve value. Ultra targets Ingram Micro Cloud partners in the United States and Canada.

Ingram Micro Cloud’s Eric Gitter

“Partners seeking advanced insight into their recurring and consumption-based business, and requiring consulting to take action on this data and the automation tools to scale, will be delighted to find that the Ultra Membership Program is their one-stop-shop for actionable, big-picture, strategic thinking,” Eric Gitter, executive director of global customer success at Ingram Micro Cloud, said in a press release.

Channel Futures requested an interview for more details but did not hear back from Ingram Micro Cloud in time for publication.

More on the Ultra Membership Program

Ingram Micro Cloud said it built Ultra for resellers of all sizes. But the program best suits VARs with growth goals and solution models, as well as early-scale MSPs. That appears to be because these partners are still expanding their customer networks and increasing profitability; they haven’t yet reached a point of full maturity — they need help with their marketplace strategy.

“The aim of the Ultra Membership Program is to broaden the scope of what’s been traditionally available to channel partners – from a strategic perspective – to solve a wider array of pain points, empower VARs and MSPs in overcoming challenges, and enable them to scale by expanding their networks,” Gitter noted.

To do this, Ingram Micro Cloud will charge Ultra participants $199 per month to take advantage of the following services and capabilities:

Why a Cloud Marketplace Strategy Matters

The Ultra Membership Program comes as defining a marketplace strategy makes more sense than ever for channel partners. That’s because cloud marketplaces continue to deliver new recurring revenue streams in nontraditional ways. Last year, research firm Canalys said cloud marketplaces will account for $25 billion in sales. That represents a 59% compound annual growth rate from 2020.

Canalys further predicts that nearly one-third of all marketplace purchases will flow through partners by 2025.

That’s significant. And VARs and MSPs are especially well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity. That’s because they tend to specialize in a variety of areas. Adding a digital marketplace strategy bolsters their routes to market. Plus, given the projected market share for cloud marketplaces, who wouldn’t want a piece of the pie?

While cloud providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and others all have their own marketplaces, other vendors have emerged. These include Ingram Micro Cloud and Pax8, companies that aggregate a variety of different, often unique, solutions, rather than just teaming with one umbrella vendor. These firms also target channel partners almost exclusively.