The Ingram Micro ONE global innovation summit brought together prominent figures from the Managed Service Provider (MSP) industry for a compelling panel discussion and press Q&A this week. The panel, guided by moderator Marie Rourke from White Fox PR, explored a wide range of topics, including trust, transparency, the influence of AI, and introduced an exciting piece of industry news—the launch of Ingram Micro’s new Xvantage mobile app.
Notable participants fom Ingram Micro included Sanjib Sahoo, EVP and CDO, and Paul Hager, VP of Services, US.
MSP panelists and Ingram Micro partners included:
- David Frankland, managing partner with Cloud Managed Networks
- Cricket Paulsen, managing director at Complete Technology Resources
- Ryan Overtoom, partner at Sikich
- James Rocker, CEO of Nerds That Care
David Frankland began by expressing enthusiasm about the current state of business. He attributed its success to robust vendor partnerships and identified Ingram Micro’s role as pivotal while underlining the paramount importance of trust within the IT channel. He emphasized that businesses demand more than solutions—they crave trust, which is hard to win and easy to lose.
When asked about trust, Cricket Paulsen framed it as the key to peer relationships. She linked her business’ growth with the power of idea exchange and community support at events like Ingram Micro ONE.
James Rocker echoed that positivity about partnerships, such as the SMB Alliance. He also tied the topic of trust into the value of cultivating an extraordinary company culture. He detailed a unique program within his organization where staff members recognize each other’s performance, ultimately earning gift cards based on their accumulated points. That culture-focused program, he said, was built on trust.
Asked to comment on vendor relationships, Ryan Overtoom discussed the value of picking the right partners and collaborating closely. He underscored the educational aspect of selecting specific verticals and integrating their tools into the MSP tool stack.
Paul Hager addressed growth strategies, championing a dual approach comprised of strategic marketing and automation to improve operational efficiency.
That led directly to thoughts by Sanjib Sahoo on the topic of innovation. He advocated for measured, incremental steps in pursuit of “perfection,” emphasizing the role of calculated risk. He also broached the topic of AI, stressing that this tooling was just a new stage of a machine learning journey that began in the 1950s. He emphasized the importance of human workers and the role of the c-suite in reassuring individuals that jobs will evolve rather than disappear.
The high-level conversation around Artificial Intelligence seamlessly transitioned into a preview of a major upcoming announcement by Sahoo: the launch of the AI-powered Xvantage mobile app. Set to be announced officially in General Session later in the summit, Ingram’s Xvantage app promises effortless access to orders, quotes, and tracking. Sahoo elaborated on the rapid development process, taking less than seven months from concept to beta testing, and the ongoing mission to enhance the product with weekly feature additions.
Each MSP panel member endorsed the existing Xvantage web platform, initially launched in 2022. They validated Sahoo’s claim that the product revolutionizes the user experience, reducing the time to complete routine sales processes from hours to minutes.
The panel conversation reflected many of the same topics that were being shared on both the show floor and in general sessions. With the tech services industry evolving rapidly, the focus on relationships, business processes, and innovation remain major concerns of the channel community.
