Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd (IMIL) is a subsidiary of Ingram Micro Inc, USA, with a nationwide presence at nearly 40+ locations. Ingram Micro Inc (the parent company of IMIL) is the world’s largest technology distributor, providing sales, marketing and logistics services for the IT industry worldwide. Ingram Micro India, with many top IT and mobility brands as its clients, is a leading IT distributor in India with robust supply network spread across India. In the modern channel ecosystem with the strategic association of partners, Ingram Micro India serves their partners and customers as a solution provider where they offer a large pool of comprehensive portfolios that helps to advance in their digital transformation journey.and marketing network spread across India.
Mr. Naved Chaudhary, Head of Marketing and PR, Ingram Micro India, is an astute and result-oriented professional and brings a wide experience of over 20 years spanning over multiple assignments in Marketing Communications & Brand Management. He was recently conferred with the Most Influential CMO by a leading Channel Magazine VAR India, and Emerging CMO of the Year Award by leading IT Magazine SME Channels. Leading National magazine Outlook also covered Mr. Naved Chaudhary as one of the brightest marketers doing exceptional work in the rural markets.
He has done B.Tech in Electrical Engineering and MBA in Marketing and Operations from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Prior to joining Ingram in 2012, he worked with Brands like Luminous, DS Group, Hamdard, Intex, etc. He carries the expertise of launching new products and has worked extensively in the areas of Brand Management, Retail, and Channel Marketing over the years. Mr. Naved Chaudhary is based out of New Delhi.
Please take us through your 10- year journey at Ingram Micro—how you started, your experiences, milestones, and how you feel today.
It’s been a great journey at Ingram Micro, and I have enjoyed every bit of it. It’s been 10 years with Ingram Micro and from the day I joined, I was given numerous opportunities and projects to challenge the usual and motivated to do things differently. Being a Marketing resource, there have been lots of opportunities for me to work in a variety of business aspects. There have been a lot of milestones to talk about ranging from helping build the business from scratch to making the brand Ingram stronger in India. A lot of awards and accolades both for Ingram Micro and myself are a testimony to that. Ingram Micro is a great place to work, and I am looking forward to many more years of work at Ingram Micro.
What is your first biggest achievement since you joined Ingram Micro?
I could go on to address this, but the biggest achievement is enhanced visibility for Ingram Micro through various media vehicles, apart from strategic marketing initiatives to bring India on the world map as far as marketing is concerned. I take pride in whatever we have done via Marketing at Ingram Micro, and yes we won’t stop there.
What milestones did that Ingram Micro cross during your 10-year journey?
In the fast-paced business world of today, which is filled with disruptors and displacers around every corner, having success over the last many years is quite an accomplishment. It takes a significant focus and dedication from our people to maintain relevance as a company. To ensure we are always evolving our business ahead of market shifts to provide optimal support in helping profitability and grow businesses, we around the world consistently look to the future, embrace change, and anticipate the needs of our valued customers and vendor partners. Being a preferred partner as a value-added distributor is a considerable achievement.
What changes have you observed in the distribution business in the last 10 years?
The distribution function has undergone internal and external changes over the past ten years to adapt to market demands and help businesses stay competitive. Distribution and logistics have become part of marketing and are now directly linked to sales. It continues to shift to e-commerce, prompting companies to invest in digital-sales training and online capabilities –
1. Accelerate the omnichannel sales approach while revamping the go-to-market strategy
2. Adoption of digital and analytics – boost shipping, warehousing, and inventory control productivity.
As the Head of Marketing and PR, how do you plan the marketing of your products?
Being in this position, we collectively emphasize creating a successful marketing communication and the overall strategic roadmap that we use to organize, execute and track our marketing strategy over a given period. A marketing campaign helps us to connect with vendors, find our strengths, explore potential audiences, develop our core marketing messages, and choose the right set of strategies.
How do you foresee the future of the distribution business?
The future of distribution is developing at an ever-increasing rate. A few key elements, such as assuring expanded market coverage, targeted advertising, reliable market information, providing favourable financials, and many more, are necessary for success in the distribution industry. With uncertain results, producers, distributors, and retailers compete for market share and a larger piece of the total pie.
- For distribution and logistics, sustainability is not only a distant objective. The sector should be uniquely positioned to advance sustainable business practices significantly.
- Automation to boost recruiting and retention of employees. Digitalizing your firm with technology may promote productivity and efficiency, which will improve employee satisfaction and your bottom-line.
- BI examines operational procedures and compiles information on enhanced performance, which needs to be studied for better efficiency and strategic implementation.
- Hi-tech operations are the key.
How is digitalization impacting distribution and how do you leverage this trend?
Digital Transformation in distribution is an essential and much sought-after drive. It gives many advantages across the business. It additionally helps lower operational costs and gives a generally strategic advantage and more prominent productivity, product and service quality, and output flexibility. Digital Transformation has enabled interconnected keen supply chain frameworks assisting distribution with collecting equipment information and leveraging artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. It produces significant real-time data applied across manufacturing activities and the distribution value chain.
How do you plan to carry forward the legacy of Ingram Micro?
We will continue with the strategic framework we have developed and implemented in the last few years. The learnings are going to help us step up the strategic initiatives. To continue being in the space of the most preferred national value-added distributor is of utmost strategic importance to us.
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