(Pictured above: Ingram Micro’s Nimesh Davé on stage at Ingram Micro One in Washington, D.C., Oct. 29.)

INGRAM MICRO ONE — The ability for partners to create intellectual property (IP) is everywhere; in fact, it’s the future.

That was one key message at Monday morning’s keynote session at Ingram Micro One in Washington, D.C. Another one: If that makes you uncomfortable — get used to it.

“Be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Kirk Robinson, chief country executive, U.S., told the Ingram Micro One audience. “We as a people and business can never achieve our goals unless we get out of our comfort zone.”

So if you’re setting your company’s business goals and you’re not having an “oh, crap” moment, maybe you’re setting the bar too low.

Nimesh Davé, executive vice president, global cloud, at Ingram Micro, is out to get you to push your comfort boundaries with IP — that’s with the help of new investments that Ingram Micro is making.

“The reality is, cloud is here, cloud is here to stay, and everybody in this room needs to help their customers along the cloud journey and this concept called digitization,” he told keynote session attendees. “Digitization is everywhere, and the other important thing is that IP is everywhere.”

What that means is helping partners who are probably already developing some sort of IP, and taking that to the broader partner community. It’s about commercialization of a partner’s assets.

Ingram Micro is also on a mission to bring early ISVs, and new software, to partners.

“In 2008 there were about 10,000 viable SaaS companies; you probably knew about 50 of them. In 2018, there [are] about 100,000 SaaS companies; you probably know about 100 of them. In 2028, there will be about 100 million of them — viable SaaS companies,” he said.

The unprecedented growth is happening because the ability to create IP is everywhere, meaning partners have an overwhelming number of options when putting together solutions. Ingram Micro wants to help.

One initiative at Ingram Micro is adding new features and functionality to the marketplaces of the future via its CloudBlue platform.

“We’re doing this because we believe that digitization is everywhere, and it presents an unprecedented opportunity for the people in this room,” said Davé.

CloudBlue is a division of Ingram Micro, and its cloud commerce platform. It powers Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace as well as the marketplaces of service providers, globally.

Ingram Micro has another initiative underway called Comet, a program that the distributor is running with a global incubator, MassChallenge. It’s a global challenge to find the best ISV software and bring good technology to market.

Actually, the Comet Challenge is a series of developer contests to uncover, invest in, and ultimately bring to market the next wave of ISV innovators. The first contests will be held in the fourth quarter of 2018 and in the first quarter of 2019, in Austin, Texas; Tel Aviv; and Boston. Winners will receive $1 million in go-to-market funds from Ingram Micro, and will be featured at Ingram Micro Cloud Summit 2019.

Partners also heard today that not only is Ingram Micro is out to change the user experience on the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, it’s also adding new programs and new capabilities.

“We’re creating one destination for you to consume all of your SaaS and infrastructure as a service, at scale, and more. As we bring this new technology and these new SaaS applications to you, we’re also bringing all of the digital IP that you need in terms of marketing and demand generation to what’s called PartnerHub,” he explained.

Attendees also got a heads-up about Ingram Micro Connect, a new self-onboarding tool that provides …

… a simple, fast and cost-effective way to deliver new cloud services to a massive distribution network.

This presents a new opportunity for partners. Connect is out to change how partners develop, distribute, market and monetize their products. Partners can submit a SaaS application to Ingram Micro and, within hours, after going through an Ingram Micro process, launch a SaaS application to multiple geographies and territories.

“We’re not only going to be in a supplier relationship; many of you can end up becoming a software provider to the person sitting next you or someone in another country,” said Davé.

Attendees got a sneak preview of Ingram Connect, accessible to partners via the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace. Partners create a Connect account, build their product offering by defining features, plans and pricing, then they choose from the 50 available country marketplaces. Once certified, the partner will be able to launch their product within days, according to the distributor. Partners will also be able to create their sales and marketing assets via PartnerHub and reach more than 200,000 Ingram Micro resellers.

Connect is still being tested in multiple markets. General availability in the U.S. is slated for the first quarter of 2019.