INGRAM MICRO FESTIVAL OF TECHNOLOGY
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come and where we are pushing our new vendor hardwear and service solutions.” The dominant videoconferencing player in the UK market is Microsoft Teams, and Ingram Micro is a partner of Microsoft, selling the hardwear businesses need to run the technology, while also selling the Microsoft licenses. As with LED, Ingram Micro can provide a full service for resellers. “There are many resellers in the SME space being asked by the end users where do they go to for help? This is where we sit; I have the team, we have invested in it and we can design, consult, build, install and finance all of this on your behalf.” Again, Ian’s message is that selling these solutions doesn’t have to be complicated. “A lot of the SME space think they can’t get involved in Teams Room deployment because its complicated – but it isn’t and we can arm with them the knowledge that they can enter the new market.” Successful Looking back after the event, Raj judges it to have been hugely successful. “Our goal was to bring the four business units together to give opportunities to resellers and make the specialists aware they had the ability to sell across the four platforms,” he says. “From the feedback we have got from resellers and vendors we achieved that objective. We have already seen strong conversation follow ups with partners around technology they are not specialists in.” Following the success of the Festival of Technology, Raj hopes there will be similar events in 2023, although the format has yet to be decided. “But whatever we do it has to have value added, not just to Ingram Micro but also the partners who attend,” he says. “This year has seen a full schedule of industry events after two years of virtual gatherings, but I believe we have to find the balance of value add for these. Vendors don’t want to come and show their technology anymore, it is about what value the vendor can give to the reseller through is and it is more about thought leadership, rather than product.” JABRA: At the Festival we presented “rebuilding ourselves for a hybrid world” in the keynote session and had a breakout session to cover our Jabra PanaCast 50 Room system and the relevant intelligent camera experiences the camera offers. These events are massively important to see the latest trends, network and for us to get our messages across.
“The full package comes with everything you would expect to need to have a fully functional LED wall. “Our screens go from 2x2 up to 165 inches. The good thing about LED is you can build to spec, it’s about how big you want it. Most corporate environments have a large space in their reception area. We can survey what they need and give them options.” Also at the Festival of Technology show, Ingram Micro introduced its mobile LED solution that can be wheeled from room to room, rather than being on a fixed base. Raj notes that there is particular interest in this technology from the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets where it can be rolled out at important times. “It is affordable, starts at £15,000 and we are seeing a lot of small to medium resellers looking at that technology,” he says. Unified communications and collaboration Another area that many resellers are looking to is the UCC sector, especially with meeting rooms – the vast majority of which are still not enabled for video, according to Ian Aitken, general manager of Ingram Micro’s UCC Division. This means the opportunity for resellers in this space is huge. “Everyone must be enabled now,” he says. “Globally, there are hundreds of millions of meeting rooms but 92% are not enabled for video. They are still kitted out for static face-to- face, and PowerPoint based meetings. That is even after nearly three years of the pandemic. What an opportunity there is out there and that’s just the corporate space; there is also a hybrid requirement for classrooms, training rooms etc – we have made a purposeful play into that space as well. This is so important and where the growth is going to
Ian Aitken general manager
Ingram Micro UCC Division
NEWLAND: At Newland EMEA we take pride in constantly developing and designing new technologies for the various industries that have a requirement for data capture. We are especially proud of our latest set up products that enable full hands-free solutions that can be used in any environment and focused around the Nwear and Pro hardware ranges with Ndevor our MDM software that makes technology easy and accessible. Ingram Micro UK has an exceptional partner base, and it was a privilege to be able to demonstrate our portfolio but also meet and understand other business areas that have a massive potential to develop and grow with us. Our products received a lot of interest from the AV and security partners. Events such as this are extremely important to us at Newland EMEA. They enable us to demonstrate our principles, products and software and enable partners to engage with our solutions to see for themselves the potential we offer. Also, today’s markets and environments are ever changing, and it enables us to understand and development to meet partner and user needs. We’d like to see more events like this as they enable everyone to get together to grow, showcase and move forward in the market.
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