What a Summit!!!

The English-speaking Caribbean received quite a presentation at Ingram Micro’s Virtual Summit on June 15 and 16, 2021

Elaine Love, also known as the Caribbean Queen, Territory Manager for the English Caribbean at Ingram Micro, stated that COVID-19 accelerated the digital transformation throughout the region due to lockdowns, employees working from homes and online schooling. This situation also affected many projects scheduled for 2020. Darren Mohammed, from Microsoft, later endorsed this sentiment by stating “in the first 2 months of the pandemic, we saw over two years’ worth of digital transformation executed.”

Elaine continued to explain that the dynamic had changed, as last year demand for mobile devices increased, but there is now a focus on Cloud services, refreshing Datacenters and Cybersecurity. 

Cisco’s Distribution Sales Manager, Obed Garcia, rejoiced, saying they are finally seeing the light, as Cisco’s third quarter saw the bottom of the business, which was caused by COVID, and the Caribbean business grew in double digits for the first time this year.

Microsoft’s team, led by Darren Mohammed, shared valuable insights into the most recent developments in a wide range of technology that can take businesses from online meeting experiences to managing workflow  with a simple system within
Outlook Calendar.

The ability to adapt to a Cloud strategy is critical for success. Because of the diversity of solutions, business areas, and the demand for agility and flexibility that customers require, coexistence of Cloud and On-Premise environments is now required. 

It was noteworthy in the presentations by Microsoft’s SMB Lead -Yamile Allen, that because of the rise in contactless sales and decreased congregations, Microsoft Bookings, which is integrated with theOutlook Calendar, assists a company’s customers in quickly finding available times and avoiding double-booking which allows small businesses to continue to maintain productivity in the midst of the pandemic. 

While cloud solutions dominated the discussion, DELL Technologies emphasized the importance of storage and data collection, and the focus is on ensuring partners and customers have what they need to move forward.

As the conversation took a turn to cyber-security, Stephen Fallas- Cybersecurity Architect Strategist at FireEye – noted that 74% of cyber-attacks go undetected while 53% are missing or unaware of executed attacks. In fact, only 9% of alerts are correlated by SIEMs. 

Recognizing that people are at the heart of any organization, Proofpoint offers a people-centered security strategy to safeguard those who are a direct link to the company’s most valuable assets with mulit-layered solutions. Proofpoint’s Account Executive-Caribbean, Jose Juan Xicara, and his team discussed the effectiveness of their solutions, which include email gateways and the ability to identify the most vulnerable to be attacked. 

Collaboration continued to be a very common thread across the entire event and Veeam can work with partners across the Caribbean to do account mapping, propose solutions and projects that the end customer may not even be aware of. Collaboration between vendors, Ingram Micro, and partners is essential for business growth.

Ian John, CEO of PBS Technologies Group, emphasized the importance of collaboration, citing the company’s three-decade partnership with Ingram Micro. He brought home a reality that many governments and business leaders have now accepted: the pandemic will have long-term consequences, and it’s really predicated on being able to vaccinate populations and get people back to work, and back in society operating at some level of normalcy. After a year and a half, businesses are being asked to adapt and redesign their business models in order to operate in a hybrid mode.

Ian John’s contribution reaffirmed the need to rethink how they add value to support these businesses in terms of truly accelerating digital transformation as well as providing them with thought leadership and expertise in all the technologies and solutions that allow them to operate efficiently in this new business environment where there are massive disruptions.  

“This is certainly one of the most exciting times in the company’s history; we are now the largest information systems integrator digital transformation company in Central America and the Caribbean, and we’re all excited because this opens up new opportunities to drive and create value, partnering up with Ingram Micro, to provide value to our customers. It’s exhilarating and exciting to be a company that operates in 22 countries, with over 2000 professional subject matter experts and knowledge workers with decades, over 50 years of innovating and creating value for customers. It’s certainly one of the most exciting times to be in the digital space, with all of the emerging technologies of AI, machine learning, quantum computing, and, of course, cloud computing.” – Ian John, PBS Technologies Group.

Meanwhile, HPI still sees the need for superior devices, printing supplies, and continues to meet the need of the Caribbean market by customizing designs to suit the islanders’ unique culture and needs. Thanks to their constant innovation and the right mix of tools, they can ensure the durability and sturdiness of their products. 

“The HPI team and Ingram Micro’s level of flexibility and agility helped us overcome the challenges to meet the needs of our customers, particularly the students who were adjusting to home-schooling and the use of technology. It undoubtedly helped us to position Custom Computers favorably in the minds of our customers and to foster customer loyalty.” – Custom Computers’, Racquella Sweeting

Consumer, commercial, and specialty business units, including a dedicated team at Ingram Micro for consumer devices with leading brands such as DELL, Lenovo, and HPI, continued in this vein, as did the understanding of the various levels of customers in the Caribbean, from students to executives. 

Other supporting vendors included Logitech, which emphasized the importance of having the right technology, infrastructure, and accessories with the quality and dependability to engage in an impactful virtual manner via videoconferencing.

Concluding an amazing 2-day event, many partners expressed their sincere appreciation with heart-warming ‘Thanks’ in the event’s chat window.

Ingram Micro also gave praises to all the vendors, partners and of course the sponsors who made this event possible including Zebra, Logitech, Microsoft, Veeam, Cisco, Vertiv, Suse, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Proofpoint, FireEye, SonicWall, Lenovo, HPI, Dell, Intel, APC and Aruba Networks. 

To learn more about the services of Ingram Micro, visit their website at https://mi.ingrammicro.com

Ingram Micro made evident their commitment to the English Caribbean Market.