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Ingram Micro has announced the launch of its VentureTech Network (VTN) partner community in the UK.
Originally established by the distributor 15 years ago, VTN is an network allowing independent resellers to share ideas, resources and technologies in a non-competitive environment.
VTN allows members to partner with each another, with the aim being to turn a local or regional business into a nationwide or multi-regional operation.
“Having participated in the VTN community for many years in North America, I’ve seen firsthand how committed the partners are and how important VTN has been to helping build their businesses,” commented Brent McCarty, Ingram Micro MD and VP for UK and Ireland (pictured, left).
“Participation is the key to maximising the many benefits the VTN model presents and it’s great to see how much our founding members enjoy taking part and the passion they feel for the programme.”
VTN members have the opportunity to network with and learn from other successful resellers, share their best practices, leverage their capabilities and gain a visibility of vendors and market evolution.
“With VTN, you get out what you put in, and I look forward to seeing VTN become the premier partner community in the UK, as it is in North America,” added McCarty.
Mark Williams, client services director of Wavex (pictured, right), will serve as VTN UK’s first council president.
Williams will also have a position on the VTN North America advisory council, and said of his role: “As a sceptic of B2B initiatives, I was overwhelmed by the passion and the focus from the US VTN members and the support from the team at Ingram Micro.”
“I returned from the VTN event with a brand new perspective on how to analyse growth within our MSPs and a better understanding of how we are performing against the market in the US, which is something I couldn’t have got anywhere else.”
“It was the most valuable business content I could have walked away with.”
The community’s first chapter meeting will take place this month in Surrey and will be hosted by Ingram Micro North America VP of marketing, Jennifer Anaya, and senior director of North America channel marketing and account management, John Fago.
“We’re excited to see the international vision of VTN take hold and look forward to replicating the energy and success of our VTN community in the UK,” said Fago.
The recruitment process for VTN UK started in 2013, with three reseller partners attending the North America VTN invitational in Palm Springs, California. These three partners are now the founding members of the UK community: Lan2Lan, Symitry, Wavex.
Pictured, left to right: McCarty, Ingram Micro VentureTech programme manager Penny Thompson and Williams.
