(Pictured above: The grand opening of Ingram Micro’s Business Transformation Center.)

Earlier this month, at Ingram Micro’s 2018 Advanced Solutions Summit, partners got a sneak peek at the distributor’s new Business Transformation Center. Today, the doors to the facility are open to all U.S. and Canadian partners in good standing. 

Located in Buffalo New York, at the distributor’s East Coast headquarters, the Business Transformation Center puts the spotlight on three vertical markets — education, retail and health care. It’s designed to showcase real-world use cases, including the underlying solutions. Think of it as technology in action. 

“We created the Business Transformation Center because it’s important for our channel partners and their customers to see the challenges and targeted business outcomes technology can address and deliver within specific working environments,” said Tim Ament, senior vice president, advanced solutions, Ingram Micro. “By spotlighting health care, retail and education technology solutions in a real-world scenario, we are enabling our channel partners and their customers to see the technology in action and make more informed business decisions about what’s needed and why.” 

Tim Ament

Tim Ament

Visitors to the 3,500 square-foot facility will see three showcase areas: one for the three targeted verticals, a data center with hands-on capability, a training classroom, and a unified communications and collaboration area. There are more than 30 vendors featured and multiple market categories. Partners will find a support team of six full-time engineers. 

The Business Transformation Center also is available via web conferencing. 

For channel partners in good standing, the Business Transformation Center is available at no extra cost. Not only do partners get to see vertical solutions upfront and get a hands-on experience, but there’s also the opportunity to learn about value-added opportunities, where Ingram Micro’s vendor partners fit in, and pre- and post-sales support, financing solutions, and refresh and recycle solutions. 

Ingram Micro’s Business Transformation Center Playbook delves deeper into the education, retail and health-care verticals. For example, the education market accounts for about $8 billion in spending, annually. And the retail industry is on the forefront of deploying emerging technologies. For example, by 2022, augmented reality is expected to inject more than $120 billion in retail e-commerce revenue. In the health-care industry, security and remote patient management are just two critical use cases for technology.

Earlier this week, Ingram Micro announced a new Custom Integration Center, also part of its advanced solutions division.