Ingram's SA/ACT office closures not a big worry for resellers

However, a couple of resellers told CRN that the closures won't affect their business at all.

According to John Walters, director of sales and marketing for Ingram the distributor was realigning its "resources according to the current market conditions".

It has lost seven people in Adelaide but will keep five for that region; two commercial sales reps, two retail sales representatives and one solutions architect.

In Canberra, Walters said, Ingram had lost three people but was keeping two sales reps to focus on the region.

The distributor was rehiring people in Sydney and Melbourne to cover the branch closures in those two areas.

"Key managers are either leaving or moving into other areas of the business," claimed Walters.

"People in Adelaide and Canberra have the opportunity to reapply for the new jobs that have been created in Melbourne and Sydney and a couple of people have already shown interest.

"The feedback from employees is what you'd expect. People are very surprised but we have got to make a business decision to go forward."

Walters claims it has been a very tough week to end long standing relationships.

"We had to stand up and make some tough decisions to avoid giving customers a poor level of service," he claimed.

Andy Mckiggan, owner of KickStart Computers (aka Bandit Technology), a South Australian based reseller, told CRN it didn't make any difference to his business where Ingram's sales representatives were located.

"Our clients are spread nationwide, so we're not really affected. Although to be honest it's always nice to be able to call local sales reps, above interstate ones.

"However, most of our correspondence with Ingram has been over email and we don't make that many calls to the office.

"The majority of Ingram's stock is held in the Sydney warehouse, so it doesn't matter where its offices are located."