Ingram Micro Inc. announced a new Reseller Services Portal value-added resellers (VARs), powered by MaintenanceNet. The new web portal, available to US customers, automates IT product service renewal contracts, in and effort to make it easier to drive incremental revenue on product sales.
Ingram boasts that the portal is “easy to use” and includes tools and resources such as automated e-mail notifications and online access to contract renewal information, unattached/warranty products and online product registration.
The portal’s interface can be used to:
Organize and list customer’s service contracts by expiration status
Filter and list contracts by manufacturer, distributor or end-user.
Search by purchase order numbers, system handles or serial numbers.
View individual contracts by coverage number.
Add contract-specific notes.
Create total inventory reports on all assets for a particular end-user.
Generate customer reports based on select criteria.
List and add users.
Access training materials and resources.
“Service renewal contracts are one of the more reliable ways solution providers can increase revenues and profits, yet managing and selling these services has been a time-intensive, challenging process,” says Justin Crotty, vice president, channel marketing, Ingram Micro North America.
“Our new Reseller Services Portal takes the headache out of renewal services by automating the process. MaintenanceNet gives us a simple web-interface that tracks maintenance contracts, warranties and leases, and helps solution providers maximize their services contract annuity revenues.”
Ingram portal was initially tested as a pilot program for HP service-related information. Based on the success of the pilot and needs identified through Ingram’s partner community, the distributor expanded the portal to include time-sensitive service information for Cisco and IBM products.
“The tracking and e-mail notification tools help remind our sales team about service renewal contracts and enable us to take a more proactive approach to servicing our customers,” says Brian Stora, manager e-business, En Pointe Technologies Inc., a pilot participant.
