Credit: Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro has launched a Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Singapore as part of plans to ramp up investment in partner enablement across Asia Pacific.
Revealed during Ingram Micro One Experience 2020 — the distributor’s first global virtual conference — the launch follows significant investments in the cyber security sector at a global level, with three CoEs already established in Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META), Western Europe and Mexico.
According to Michael Chan — director of Cyber Security across Asia Pacific at Ingram Micro, who joined the distributor in March — the CoE will offer access to dedicated teams across vendor management, marketing and solution architects, in addition to pre-sales support, cyber incubation and consulting services.
“We want to give our ecosystem the ability to position, articulate and sell cyber security solutions with confidence,” Chan said.
The aim of the CoE is to help increase cyber security competencies for partners, spanning areas such as Security Operations Centre (SOC) build-outs and IT compliance, plus identity and privilege management capabilities in a move designed to increase revenue, renewal rates and up-selling opportunities.
Meanwhile Sabine Howest - speaking as vice president of Global Partner engagement and IoT at Ingram Micro - drew upon the importance of cyber security, highlighting the distributor’s CyberGram software that offers a ‘snapshot of an organisation’s cyber security posture in under 10 minutes’, offering up an actionable improvement plan in response.
Beyond cyber security, Howest also revealed plans to expand CoEs in data centre, unified communications and collaboration and IoT markets, which all maintain a common focus on helping partners expand technology practices.
“We’re exploring the vast potential of emerging technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence and mixed reality, and how to best apply them to maximise return on investment,” she said.
Howest showcased the distributor’s latest project in development via a fully integrated and automated, mask, thermal and monitoring report solution. The offering is ready to deploy to help businesses prepare for the "new normal" ahead, ensuring employees can return to work safely during the coming months.
"AI goes beyond temperature screening to provide tools to protect employees, reduce risk of disease transmission, and address COVID-19 compliance issues,” Howest said.
During his keynote address Ingram Micro CEO Alain Monie touched on the year’s challenges such as the pandemic, social unrest and natural disasters, and above all, the importance of partnerships.
“With challenge comes opportunities and I believe that innovation, agility and most of all, technology, have become more important," he said. "We’re all adapting and embracing a different future, despite the challenges and changes.
"Yet somethings remain the same; relationships, co-operation, collaboration and team work, all remain critical cornerstones of success. At Ingram Micro, we’re strong because of our people and our partners, but it is what we accomplish together that matters."
In June, Ingram Micro unveiled increased investment across Asia Pacific through an advanced solutions strategy designed to guide partners across the key areas of technology, sales, solutions and support.
