Ingram Micro To Debut Two-Tier Cloud Partner Program, Referral Program

Ingram Micro (IM) is upgrading its existing partner loyalty program from a single-tier initiative with the addition of an additional level that will provide more financial and educational benefits to resellers who engage more frequently with the distributor.

The revised Cloud Elevate program is expected to debut in January, with market development funds and co-op dollars among some of the exclusive benefits available for Ingram’s top cloud sellers. The program was announced earlier this week during Ingram Micro’s semi-annual IM ONE channel event in Nashville, Tennessee.

The latest version is the second iteration of the Cloud Elevate program, which debuted last year as a way for Ingram to educate its North American partners about the benefits of working with the distributor and the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, according to Jason Bystrak, executive director of the Americas at Ingram Micro Cloud.

“We launched [Cloud Elevate] to get the brand out there and to start with how to use the marketplace and build your business with enough credentials to get it up and running,” said Bystrak, in an interview with The VAR Guy. “If partners start to grow their revenue, they’re going to earn additional benefits and rewards where they can grow their business even faster.”

The revised program was spurred by direct partner feedback from resellers who liked the existing version of Cloud Elevate but wanted to be rewarded from their increased their cloud sales. Ingram formed the specifics of the program based on feedback from several of its partner advisory councils, including the distributor’s cloud advisory council, according to Bystrak.

While the new Cloud Elevate program is set to debut soon after the start of the New Year, Bystrak stressed that Ingram is still working out many of the fine details, including which partners will be eligible for the higher tier. However, existing members of the partner program will not see any changes once the new program goes into place. All North American partners are still eligible to join the program as base members. Additional information on the requirements to obtain top-tier status should be available once Ingram has had time to assess its partner ecosystem and measure its revenue thresholds.

In addition to the revised Cloud Elevate program, Ingram Micro is also gearing up for the debut of its first cloud referral program, which will allow partners to outsource their invoicing and support services to Ingram Micro while allowing resellers to profit from onboarding new customers. The program is expected to be a hit among born-in-the-cloud companies and telecom agents who are already used to working within a commission-based sales model, Bystrak said.

Ingram is already providing post sales support and migration support for partners, but until now the company did not have the ability to handle end-user invoices, Bystrak said. The addition of the referral program is expected to solve that problem once it goes live in January.

In other Ingram news, the distributor provided details on its recently expanded partnership with Acronis as well as the addition of Dropbox to its cloud portfolio.