Monday Morning Impact – April 1
Ingram Micro Rolls Out Key Upgrades to its Cloud Marketplace
Ingram Micro has announced the next iteration of the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, adding new features, functionality and resources designed to streamline and standardize processes, and increase efficiencies as part of an effort to make it easier for technology partners and ISVs to profitably leverage the platform.
Among the highlights, the California-based distributor has launched a new module that upgrades the company’s ability to publish, manage and promote cloud services to as many as 200,000 technology partners. Marketed as “Ingram Micro Connect,” the new module provides publishing tools, digital contracting, multi-marketplace targeting, and sales and marketing content creation tools.
In addition, the Cloud Marketplace UI has been updated with the intention of making it easier for partners to find, navigate, and purchase cloud services while streamlining end-customer management.
A new Sales & Marketing Hub provides sales training on cloud services while providing pre-built campaign templates and marketing tools.
Marketplace API enables partners to more easily integrate their own online storefront, CRM and billing systems into the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace.
“Ingram Micro has elevated the experience our technology partners and ISVs are having with the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, enabling them simply to do more with more and capitalize on the growing opportunity cloud continues to deliver,” said Tarik Faouzi, vice president of Cloud Product Management at Ingram Micro. “These enhancements, powered by CloudBlue, all tie to Ingram Micro’s overall vision to provide our partners a hyper-scale digital platform, access to an infinite ecosystem, and proven go-to-market services.”
Launched in 2009, Ingram Micro’s Cloud Marketplace includes vetted security, communication and collaboration, business applications, cloud management services and infrastructure solutions to help manage cloud and digital services, infrastructure and IoT subscriptions. The company says the platform is used by more than 55,000 technology partners worldwide to manage nearly four million fully-automated seats.
Channel Impact®
These upgrades are expected to enable allied technology vendors to automate more processes, operate more efficiently, and increase profits by providing channel partners with a larger pool of available services. They also demonstrate some of the ways that distributors are differentiating themselves in today’s economic climate.
Avnet Now Takes Cash or Crypto
Avnet has kicked off an alliance with BitPay through which the Phoenix-based distributor will begin accepting payments in Bitcoin from allied channel partners. When a customer elects to make a purchase with Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Avnet will work with BitPay to verify the funds, process the order and complete the transaction. Avnet and BitPay will also have the ability to manage and process cryptocurrency requests outside the U.S. on a country-by-country basis.
“Not only is paying with bitcoin easier and faster than with credit cards and bank wires, it is less expensive and acceptance of it is growing,” said Sonny Singh, chief commercial officer at BitPay. “I predict Avnet will attract many new blockchain-focused customers from around the world that want to take advantage of paying with bitcoin.”
Avnet has already closed several multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency transactions within the first month. The distributor is also working with Bitcoin.com to develop a new hardware wallet that will further enable cryptocurrency storage and provide the highest level of security for transactions.
Founded in 2011, BitPay processes more than $1 billion annually from thousands of merchants and B2B customers globally. The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised over $70 million from leading investors including Founders Fund, Index Ventures and Aquiline Technology Growth.
Channel Impact®
This new digital payment option adds flexibility for customers acquiring new technology. It also increases the profile and legitimacy of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general.
Arrow Electronics and Freelancer.com Launch Engineering Service Marketplace
Arrow Electronics has launched a new platform to support the design and manufacture of hardware products through access to over half a million skilled electronic and electrical engineers. Developed in partnership with Freelancer.com, a large freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace,
“ArrowPlus powered by Freelancer.com” provides access to on-demand engineering.
Supported talents include prototyping, analog & digital design, circuit board design, documentation & translation, and development of firmware, drivers and middleware.
“ArrowPlus brings the serious know-how of Arrow’s 80 years of engineering, tools, technology, and services into the platform economy with Freelancer,” said Arrow’s Chief Digital Officer Matt Anderson. “We anticipate in the future that up to 30% of R&D spend could leverage a model where Arrow provides a technical concierge and project management to a vast network of high-end engineering talent.”
“We are absolutely delighted that Arrow chose to team with Freelancer.com on this landmark initiative,” said Freelancer.com CEO and Chairman Matt Barrie. “We have seen increasing demand to solve difficult and complex technology problems from larger organizations.”
Freelancer.com claims a base of more than 32 million registered users, and more than 15 million projects and contests in over 1,350 areas, including website development, logo design, marketing, copywriting, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and manufacturing.
Channel Impact®
The alliance brings a new framework for the “gig economy” that will likely be advantageous to key players in the tech industry.
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