Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network Community Gains Unbeatable New Business Advantages

Top IT Distributor Unveils New Business Intelligence Dashboard and Demand Generation Tool, Vendor Rebate Tracker and Advanced Business Education Series at Fall VentureTech Network Invitational in Denver

DENVER, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Dedicated to enabling the success of its channel partners, Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) today announced a number of innovative business development offers designed exclusively for its VentureTech Network (VTN) community.

During the opening remarks of its 2009 Fall VTN Invitational, Ingram Micro's Senior Director of Channel Marketing, John Fago, outlined details around three new unprecedented business resources developed for this elite channel partner community:

    --  VTN Connect:  The VTN Connect series will provide member presidents,
        CEOs and executive leadership the opportunity to engage in exclusive
        Master Mind groups designed to serve as adjunct business advisory
        boards. In addition, advanced functional training and education tracks
        will allow VTN members to extend key business development and technical
        learning introduced at the community's bi-annual invitational meetings
        further into their own organizations.
    --  VTN Business Intelligence Dashboard and Lead Generation Tool: Leveraging
        Ingram Micro's Business Intelligence Center, this exclusive VTN
        dashboard provides customizable data derived from five years of a
        member's own sales data appended with end-user intelligence from the
        distributor's database of more than two million unique end-user records.
        The data will reveal IT refresh and growth opportunities, chart unique
        sales trends, and give member sales teams a direct road map to end
        customers.  The data is backed by a custom program designed to generate
        closed-loop sales leads for VTN vendor member IT products and solutions.

    --  VTN Rebate Tracker: Eliminating the complexity of vendor rebate and
        spiff programs, VTN members will have access to a service offered by
        Ingram Micro to track, report on and forecast rebate and spiff dollars
        available through the products and IT solutions sold each month.  VTN
        members will be able to use Ingram Micro's tracking service to identify
        more profit, adjust large deals to capture higher spiff incentives and
        forecast the revenue and profit required to advance within a VTN vendor
        member's partner program.

Currently under pilot, these new resources will be available in Q1 2010. Each will radically enhance the business value, partnership and benefits gained from belonging to the VTN community. In addition, Fago proudly announced the VTN community's new live Twitter account (www.twitter.com/VTNCommunity) and exclusive VTN Facebook page (www.facebook.com/venturetechnetwork).

"We're stepping up our game to give VTN members the resources, programs and voice they need to build an even greater competitive edge within the IT channel and mainstream business community," says Fago. "Ingram Micro's VTN community is made up of the best and brightest IT solution providers this industry has to offer. These resources will add even more fuel to the IT growth these channel partners are positioned to generate over the next 12 months."

Ingram Micro VTN Welcomes Coach Lou Holtz and Industry Influencers to Inspire and Educate

In addition to investing in resources to support VTN members' growth and continued innovation, Ingram Micro's 2009 Fall VTN Invitational content is focused around three key areas: demand generation, strategic selling and the power of partnership.

Further, the Invitational agenda is stacked with an impressive list of keynote speakers, in-depth breakouts and discussion roundtables. Headlining this year's Fall event is legendary Notre Dame Football Coach, Lou Holtz. Ingram Micro's executive vice president and president North America, Keith Bradley, will discuss ways VTN members can position their companies to leverage the economic rebound and grow more profitably. VTN favorites Tiffani Bova of Gartner, David Russell of MANAGEtoWIN, and Paul Dippell of Service Leadership are back to share their insight on market trends and how partners can capture opportunity and increase revenue.

Several IT channel leaders, including Cisco Systems' Geoff Fancher, HP's Meaghan Kelly, IBM's Harris Warsaw and Microsoft's Benny Madrid are in attendance to engage with VTN members and provide valuable insight on their growth strategies and product roadmaps. Productivity and sales trainer Patty Webb of Richardson, and social media expert Matt Singley of M80 will also join the ranks of VTN's esteemed presenters. Finally, several VTN members and Ingram Micro executives will round out the agenda to share best practices and insight on value propositions, business analytics, cloud computing, emerging technologies, managed services, and profitability accelerators, as well as discuss additional ways VTN members can capture stimulus dollars.

"The business value and member advantage within VTN is so bright, we're passing out shades at the event," jokes Fago. "This year's Fall Invitational, combined with our new VTN Connect, VTN Business Intelligence, VTN Rebate Tracker and social media outreach, is sure to get the attention of all our VTN members."

More than 600 VTN members and manufacturer sponsors are attending Ingram Micro's Fall 2009 VTN Invitational which is appropriately themed "unite. thrive. collaborate."

For more information about Ingram Micro's VTN, solution providers and manufacturers should contact their Ingram Micro sales or marketing representative.

About Ingram Micro

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves approximately 150 countries and is the only global broad-based IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

SOURCE Ingram Micro