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Internally, the team was also at work on ensuring the platform’s adoption and success within Ingram Micro’s own team. To do that, they developed a program that they called a “curriculum for change,” designed to help Ingram Micro’s employees understand and adapt to the new platform. “We needed technical training, because now our reps would be enabled to move from order administrator to sales person,” explained Sherman.
The team also saw a need to design new metrics and rewards for success. Along with the presidents of the company, Sherman led the charge on redefining the ways in which the company would track and compensate the sales force now that their roles had fundamentally changed. “With Xvantage, we’ll now have one way of selling. So now let's create one way, flexibly, that we're going to pay using metrics that align with sales excellence through the platform in a globally consistent manner. They're profit-, not objectives-, based.”
In addition, Bay and Sahoo defined specific goals for platform value capture, as well as technology-focused goals for reliability, stability, and compliance. To monitor progress, Sahoo held a quarterly operating review to go over finances with the broader team. And each week, Bay and Sahoo connected with regional presidents and their leaders in major territories to gather updates and provide direction.
As the platform progressed, the Ingram Micro team made constant adjustments to the organization’s structure, reflecting the new needs of the platform and company. By Sherman’s estimate, more than 1,000 jobs were added to the company as a result of Xvantage. In August 2024, Sahoo and Bay dissolved the DigiOps team, which had succeeded in its planned role as a “bridge” between the legacy digital structure and the new platform. They also created a new Global Platform Group structure to more clearly define the platform operating model.
Customer Impact
The true test of Xvantage’s capabilities would be its effect on Ingram Micro’s business with vendors and resellers. As the Xvantage rollout continued, Ingram Micro’s sales and go-to-market teams learned new processes and strategies for partnering with the platform to deliver results. At the same time, they understood that patience was key in order to make good on Ingram Micro’s commitment to “performing while transforming.”
To convert long-term customers into Xvantage users and quickly prove the platform’s value, Ingram Micro worked closely with partners and eschewed a one-size-fits-all approach to its new offerings. For example, Ingram Micro took a highly collaborative approach when selling the technology to the global cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, which would use Xvantage to transform its U.S. commercial business transactions. Chari Rhoades, Proofpoint’s vice president of Americas channel and partner sales, explained the process this way:
We gave Ingram Micro some business process, description, and rules, and we tested the functionality of the Xvantage platform. Their technical team learned how some things needed to be built. Then we moved into the next phase, which was further definition of business process and roles, understanding what technical integration needed to occur. It's constant communication. Our teams work together many hours a week. They didn't come to us and say, ‘Here's the box, fit in the box.’ They came to us and said, ‘Here are different features. Help us understand your business and how it operates. And then, how do we bring these two things together?’
The impact was immediate. With Xvantage, Proofpoint’s U.S. partners could access pricing and generate a quote without direct communication from a Proofpoint team member. In some cases, quote timelines were reduced from days to hours and minutes. Examples like this offered strong proof of Xvantage’s value even as the Ingram Micro team continued to push the platform—and the company’s disruptive journey—forward. “Transformation doesn't have a stop sign,” Sahoo recalled. “It is in the DNA of our organization.”
Conclusion
Just hours after the bell rang over the NYSE, Ingram Micro’s share price rose from $22 per share to $25.3 per share. By the end of trading that October day, the company’s IPO generated an estimated $409.2 million, raising Ingram Micro’s overall valuation to a new high of $5.82 billion.
It was a moment of celebration and vindication for the Ingram Micro team. But according to Sahoo, it was only the end of the first chapter in Xvantage’s story. “The vision I have is to become the iTunes of distribution, iTunes of technology,” he recalled. “We have the opportunity to change the way the entire industry works. Transformation can be very difficult, but when you look back and see how far you’ve come, it’s all worth it.”
Case writer, Adam Markovitz and Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, Hayagreeva Rao prepared this case solely as the basis for class discussion. Vi Nguyen, Pablo Woythaler and Cristina Munro created the multimedia and web design. Case #E-916 Becoming a Platform Company - How Ingram Micro Disrupted Itself.Contact us at: mailto:businesscases@stanford.edu for ordering information and to request permission to reproduce materials. Browse the collection at Case Studies. Copyright © 2025 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means––electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise––without the permission of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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