Ingram Micro Combines Advanced Technology, Advanced Computing Divisions

Ingram Micro undertook a major reorganization, bringing its U.S. Advanced Technology and Advanced Computing divisions together under the umbrella of Advanced Solutions.

Ingram Micro's U.S. Advanced Solutions organization will handle everything from data center and storage to enterprise software and specialized solutions. It will be overseen by Tim Ament, who had served as vice president and general manager of Ingram Micro's direct and consumer markets since 2010.

"Bringing these strategic business units under one organization, overseen by a senior executive and managed by a team of proven business leaders, enables us to be more flexible and provide complete solution delivery for advanced and high-value technologies," Paul Bay, president of North America Technology Solutions, said in a statement.

[RELATED: Ingram Micro Shutters Specialty Division]

The reorganization will not result in any layoffs, according to a spokeswoman for the company, and channel partners will continue to deal with the same reps at Ingram.

As part of the reorganization, Ament was promoted to senior vice president of Advanced Solutions. He joined the $42.7 billion distributor in 1997 and has held executive leadership roles within Ingram Micro's sales and vendor management departments, working extensively with the channel along the way.

Reporting to Ament will be Scott Zahl, who previously served as vice president of Advanced Computing and will remain in charge of categories such as data center, storage and virtualization.

The Advanced Technology division has been led since January 2013 by Jay Miley, who left Ingram Micro in November to become president of solution provider PCM.

David DeCamillis, vice president for Platte River Networks, applauded the move, saying it will make it easier and more cost-effective for Ingram Micro partners such as himself to become involved in more technology areas and markets.

He expects to lean more heavily on the distributor going forward in markets and technologies where Platte River doesn't have much expertise.

"I love it," DeCamillis told CRN. "I think it's a terrific move."

DeCamillis, who's a member of Ingram's VentureTech Network partner community, said the complexity of having to deal with different departments dissuaded many partners from taking full advantage of what the Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor has to offer.

From his perspective, interacting with two different departments was a time-consuming and profit-sapping process.

"This definitely makes it a lot easier for resellers like us to say, 'Yeah, let's do it,'" DeCamillis said.

For this reason, DeCamillis expects the shakeup will result in a stronger demand for services and higher revenue at Ingram Micro.

NEXT: What's Included (And Not Included) Under Advanced Solutions

Technology areas under the purview of Advanced Solutions include the data center, enterprise software, infrastructure technology, networking, security, servers, storage and virtualization, as well as specialization solutions such as audio-visual, point-of-sale, digital signage, peripherals, physical security and unified communications.

Systems and tablets will continue to fall under the Commercial and Global Markets organization, according to a spokeswoman for the company, while Cloud operates outside the Technology Solutions purview altogether.

Ingram Micro's Professional and Training Services group, which provides channel partners with professional services, training and pre- and post-sales support, will also be housed in Advanced Solutions, according to the company. So too will be teams that support the Promark General Services Administration (GSA) schedule.

Ament will report directly to Bay in his new role, alongside fellow North American senior vice presidents Kirk Robinson (who oversees commercial and global markets) and Mark Snider (who oversees consumer electronics and Ingram Micro's Canadian operations).

In a February 2014 CRN channel chief profile, Ament urged solution providers to understand their core value proposition as well as the various routes to market that will help maximize profit.

"Understand the value of relationships," Ament said at the time. "Build your go-to-market strategy with a focus on the needs of your customers."

Ingram Micro's stock price remains unchanged at $25.49 per share in after-hours trading. The news was announced following the close of the market Wednesday.

These changes come 13 months after Ingram Micro dissolved its North American Specialty Solutions division, which encompassed areas such as physical security, point-of-sale and mobility, and folded in into the Advanced Technology and Advanced Computing divisions, among others.

That restructuring resulted in Ingram Micro laying off 11 midlevel managers and assigning the remaining employees in the division to other managers.

PUBLISHED JAN. 21, 2015

In his previous role, Ament was responsible for the subsequent integration of AVAD (a standalone entity with AV offerings) into Ingram's digital signage business unit. He said in February 2014 that the move allowed channel partners to expand their portfolio and made cross-selling much easier.