'Anywhere, Anytime': Ingram Takes Xvantage Platform Mobile

INGRAM MICRO ONE — Ingram Micro is making its Xvantage digital platform accessible on mobile.

Xvantage, the digital platform Ingram launched last year to create a unified experience for channel partners, suppliers and employees, will add a mobile form. The app will go live on the Google Android and iOS app stores by the end of October, the company said.

“We want to make this experience anywhere, anytime,” Ingram Micro executive vice president and chief digital officer Sanjib Sahoo (pictured on stage above) said.

The distributor at its Ingram Micro One conference this week in Nashville previewed the mobile application for its Xvantage platform. The Xvantage interface shows AI-driven product recommendations and information on quotes, credits and other business information. Attendees watched as Sahoo placed an order through the app.

Ingram Micro’s Paul Bay

The latest update reflects a steady stream of enhancements Ingram has brought to Xvantage since previewing it last year. Xvantage started with Ingram Micro vendor partners in the U.S. and Germany and has been onboarding new countries since. The company in May announced that Xvantage had subsumed the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, moving formerly disparate hardware and its cloud portfolio onto the same platform.

“It’s about making change, but it’s just not about big changes,” Ingram CEO Paul Bay said. “It’s about making small changes incrementally and every day getting better.”

(Above: We sat down with Ingram Micro’s Sanjib Sahoo earlier this year to discuss the Xvantage platform.)

One of the goals of Xvantage is creating a digital version of any activity a partner would conduct with Ingram Micro. That includes transactional elements of moving from quote to cash.

Ingram Micro’s Kirk Robinson

“The main reason we invested and launched this platform was to help you take friction out of your business,” said Kirk Robinson, Ingram Micro’s executive vice president and president of North America. “And I can tell you so far, Xvantage is a game changer. I’ve been at Ingram Micro for 30 years. And in all that time, I’ve never experienced anything to this magnitude. Xvantage is enabling your people and our people to do in seconds and minutes what once took hours and days to accomplish.”

Robinson said the distributor is engaging with partner and supplier groups for feedback about data insights that Xvantage can provide.

Ingram Micro has framed the platform as an infusion of B2C into the B2B technology industry. CEO Paul Bay said last year that the distributor intended to “consumerize” its industry. At the same time, he noted that he considers Xvantage to be more than a transaction tool.

“It’s a place where we want to help you do business more efficiently and more effectively,” Bay told the audience.

Eola’s Kevin Fraser

For example, Orlando, Florida-based MSP Eola Technology Partners is using the platform to conserve the resources of people and time. Eola president and CEO Kevin Fraser said the number people required to process a deal has drastically shrunk. And the time has decreased from sometimes a few days to a few minutes, Fraser said.

“Xvantage has removed that friction from the process. It has also added philosophy to the process,” he said.

Channel Futures is attending Ingram Micro One this week in Nashville. Stay tuned all week for additional content from the distributor’s key annual event.