This article is based on reporting originally published by Gigabit Magazine (gigabitmagazine.com) in 2019, featuring commentary from Greg Onoprijenko, Director of Cloud (Canada), Ingram Micro.
Ingram Micro’s Cloud Strategy: An Overview
Ingram Micro—one of the world’s largest technology distributors—has made cloud services a central pillar of its growth strategy. The company supplies a broad catalogue of products and services, from laptops and smartphones to IT infrastructure, serving customers across retail, telecommunications, and the value-added reseller (VAR) channel. Within that broad portfolio, its Cloud division has become one of its fastest-growing business units.
“As customers transform their businesses and start to adopt more cloud services, their dependence on the IT channel for guidance has become increasingly critical to their success,” said Greg Onoprijenko, Director of Cloud for Ingram Micro Canada. “This increase in demand has resulted in revenue growth as we develop more solutions in the portfolio and add a larger staff to support the demand.”
Three Business Units Driving Cloud Growth
Ingram Micro’s Cloud operations are organised into three distinct business units, each targeting a specific segment of enterprise technology needs:
- Microsoft Team: Focused primarily on Office 365 licensing models and associated Microsoft productivity services.
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Team: Covers cloud security, backup and recovery, and communications and collaboration platforms.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Team: Dedicated to data centre transformation and public cloud infrastructure. The portfolio includes Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud.
“The IaaS team is completely focused on data centre transformation and public cloud infrastructure,” Onoprijenko explained. This three-unit structure allows Ingram Micro to address the full spectrum of a partner’s cloud journey—from productivity tools to heavy infrastructure workloads.
A Globally Distributed Cloud Team
Onoprijenko identified the depth and breadth of Ingram Micro’s cloud workforce as a key competitive differentiator. According to his 2019 statements, the company employed over 1,500 dedicated cloud professionals globally. This team is available to channel partners who need technical guidance, strategic advice, or hands-on support as they migrate workloads or build cloud practices.
“One of the competitive advantages we have in the Cloud division is just the sheer breadth and depth of the team. We have over 1,500 dedicated cloud employees globally, with extensive industry experience,” Onoprijenko commented. “For our customers and channel partners who need guidance and advice, we have the industry’s best team to lean on.”
Internally, Ingram Micro’s Cloud team also provides ongoing education to align the broader organisation with its cloud-first direction—addressing the change management challenges that accompany any large-scale business model transformation.
Automated Platform for Channel Partners
Beyond personnel, Ingram Micro has invested in a purpose-built, fully automated platform designed to streamline cloud service transactions for channel partners. The platform provides centralised dashboards, reporting capabilities, and integrated support—removing friction from the process of reselling and managing cloud services.
“The platform covers any need that a partner may have when delivering cloud services,” Onoprijenko said. “As channel partners become mature and more successful in the cloud, they recognise that automation is critical to scale their businesses and that they need to have their eCommerce platform to transact cloud services. Our global cloud service offerings make us a logical option for these companies.”
This platform approach is particularly important as partners move from occasional cloud transactions to managing recurring, subscription-based revenue streams at scale.
The Shift to Everything-as-a-Service
A fundamental change in how technology is consumed is reshaping the distributor and channel landscape. Customers are moving away from purchasing and owning IT assets outright, toward subscription and pay-as-you-go models where software and infrastructure are accessed as monthly services hosted in the cloud.
“Instead of customers buying and owning IT products, the evolution is towards everything-as-a-monthly-fee,” Onoprijenko explained. “That puts pressure on the IT channel partners to evolve and change to meet customer demands. It also puts pressure on IT distributors to change how they deliver solutions to the market.”
Traditional software licensing—where a customer purchases a perpetual licence and pays annual maintenance—is one of the clearest examples of this shift. Today, many of those same customers are moving to subscription-based SaaS alternatives, eliminating the upfront capital expenditure and ongoing maintenance overhead.
Enabling Channel Partners Through Education and Coaching
Not all channel partners are moving at the same pace. Onoprijenko acknowledged a spectrum of readiness—from partners actively transforming their business models to those who remain resistant to change and risk losing relevance.
To help partners navigate this transition, Ingram Micro offers:
- Seminars and workshops covering cloud strategy and technology adoption
- Educational programmes designed to build cloud competency within partner organisations
- One-on-one coaching for partners who need more tailored guidance
“We can surround our clients with resources which can guide them along and motivate them to change proactively,” Onoprijenko added. This wraparound support model is intended to lower the barrier to cloud adoption for partners who lack in-house expertise.
Ingram Micro’s Own Internal Cloud Transformation
Ingram Micro is not just advising others on cloud transformation—it has undertaken the same journey internally. The company migrated its own workforce from self-hosted email and productivity tools to Microsoft Office 365, and standardised on Microsoft Dynamics CRM rather than running its own CRM infrastructure. These moves reduced the operational burden of managing large on-premises data centres.
“We’re changing our business model and evolving to the cloud. We previously had large data centres with IT infrastructure that serviced the entire company,” Onoprijenko noted. This internal experience also strengthens the company’s credibility when advising customers on similar transformations.
Early Mover Advantage in Cloud Distribution
Onoprijenko argued that Ingram Micro’s most durable advantage is not simply its current scale, but its early commitment to cloud services. According to his 2019 remarks, Ingram Micro began delivering cloud services approximately 12 years prior—placing the start of that investment around 2007, well before cloud adoption became mainstream in the enterprise channel.
“Everybody understands the opportunity and is pursuing it. Ingram Micro envisioned this opportunity before our competitors and started delivering cloud services about 12 years ago. We certainly invested early,” he said.
That early investment translates into mature tooling, established vendor relationships, and a workforce with deep cloud expertise—assets that newer entrants to the cloud distribution market must build from scratch.
Key Takeaways for DevOps and IT Channel Professionals
- Large technology distributors like Ingram Micro are actively reshaping their role—from product fulfilment to cloud advisory and managed services enablement.
- Automation platforms that support billing, provisioning, reporting, and support are becoming a baseline requirement for cloud distributors.
- Channel partners who delay their cloud transformation risk losing customers to more cloud-native competitors.
- The shift to subscription and pay-as-you-go models changes cash flow dynamics for both vendors and resellers—a practical consideration for any organisation designing its go-to-market strategy.
- Internal cloud adoption by distributors strengthens credibility and generates genuine operational experience to share with customers.