Ingram Adds AIDC/POS Services, Online Training Courses

The SKU'd AIDC/POS services include pre- and post-sales maintenance, rollouts, installation for POS/AIDC solutions, and wireless networking site surveys and installation services, according to Ingram Micro.

The services are fulfilled through National Service Center, a 13-year-old professional services specialist, and can complement a solution provider's existing offerings and serve as both a profit center and a differentiator, according to Justin Scopaz, senior director of vendor management and marketing for Ingram Micro's Data Capture/POS Division.

"The addition of these services offerings enable our partners to enhance, and in many cases expand, their current services portfolio and geographic reach without adding significant costs to their business," Scopaz said in a statement. "Simultaneously, these services make it easier for partners to increase their revenues and profits by simply attaching SKU'd services to every POS and AIDC hardware sale. It's a strong value proposition that really resonates with our growing partner base."

Meanwhile, the Live Online training, certifications and virtual labs include offerings by numerous networking, security and virtualization manufacturers, according to Ken Bast, vice president of vendor management, Ingram Micro U.S.

The instructor-led online classrooms can minimize travel expenses and make it easier and more cost-effective for service providers to train technicians and end users on high-demand technologies, according to Bast.

"Our channel partners can also resell these offerings to their end-user clients, which in turn helps to build up their service margins and strengthen their role as the trusted IT provider," Bast said in a statement.

The Live Online courses are conducted in realtime and and include 24 hours of "sandbox time" so participants can demo the equipment at their leisure, according to Ingram Micro.

The virtual classrooms are limited to up to six people per class and include a guarantee that if a participant is not satisfied, he or she will receive a voucher to retake the class in person at the VPN Dynamics' Santa Clara, Calif., training facilities.

"These new online training courses and virtual labs come at a perfect timeand#8212;especially given the rise in travel costs. Training our technicians is an ongoing, but necessary investment that holds a significant ROI for us and our clients," said David Prince, president of Databranch, an Olean, N.Y.-based solution provider, in a statement.