Interview: Ingram's Guy Freeland

CRN: Have you been happy with the way the integration of Ingram and Tech Pacific has gone?

Freeland: We think it actually came together reasonably well -- these were two quite large organisations individually. Frankly, we're quite happy with how the staff have come together after some initial culture shock because the two organisations were quite different in their approach. I think the culture has blended nicely and it's quite settled at the moment.

The warehouse has come together well given that we were taking our Matraville [warehouse] and increasing its volumes overnight by 30 percent. We've had some teething problems which have resulted in issues, but it's a temporary thing. The systems integration onto one platform went well -- there was no interruption at all to vendors and customers. That was potentially one of the most challenging tasks.


CRN: Shailendra, how much better are your volumes now that previously?

Gupta: The combined volumes of the two companies are looking very good. Competitors were going all over town saying one plus one is never two and I want to tell them that it's more than two!


CRN: Price is an issue in distribution. Is there a price war or has it gone beyond that?

Freeland: There are segments where time and place and price are key drivers. It will continue to be so we'll fight on the street to make sure we get the share that we deserve. In a number of other areas we're looking to add value to the reseller ... and price is not as sensitive there. But [vendor] exclusivity is very rare, so price will continue to be a factor. But we're not seeing an out and out price war.


CRN: Will you be the price leader?

Freeland: We won't be the price leader in all markets. We will offer a complete value proposition and that might mean we're the lowest price in the market. If we have other value to add to the reseller in a particular transaction that the reseller is prepared to pay a higher price for then that's fine as well. But I don't think we want to be the cheapest outright in all segments.


CRN: What are the challenges that the combined entity faces now and over the next 12 months?

Freeland: We have been through an integration and clearly there was some internal distraction. May was probably the first month for six months where the organisation was free of internal distraction and was able to look at the market place and get back to the heart of what the business is about.

We need to build further on some of the customer and vendor relationships that the two organisations had. The Tech Pacific side needs to understand more about the Ingram relationships and vice versa, because we've got an integrated organisation now where the knowledge is not 100 percent on the customer and vendor side. We want to place some focus on some specific areas of our business where we have a great offering for resellers, particularly in our licensing team where we have an excellent team now, which we think is the largest and the best in the marketplace now.

For the full, extended interview with Freeland and Gupta see the June 27 issue of CRN Australia.

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