The xVantage Man.
I had an opportunity to meet the maverick of a man Sanjib Sahoo at Las Vegas during a Global Cloud Summit 2023.
Ingram was launching its X factor. The Amazon, ebay, Netflix kind of experience to its global partner network. The double whammy was, that the new cloud platform had to serve not just the partners but also Ingrams Principle partners ..marquee tech names..an endless list.
Wrapping all these in one pane of glass lending that click click click- PRESTO Done n Dusted experience seemed a herculean task.
I have been in the industry long enough to know the messy backoffice, finance,logistics mish mash involved yet , Sanjib aced the demo like midas mozart filling out the drop down shopping carts that seamlessly integrated the backoffice. Be it a SI or a VAR or a MSP, the tool a WIP then seemed like an Utopian dream, a refreshing promise. A rapturous round of claps from the global partner network acknowledge the idea whose time had arrived.
Like eager beavers we thronged the man of the hour at the coffee break out. The question I popped to him was , Ai ? He snapped immediately, it is under the hood,and it will only get better.
Ai the Automation engine. Discounts, offers ,financing, and a whole lot more that makes Ingram tick as the largest ICT distributor on the planet.
I reminisced Elihayu Goldratts "Goal" on my mind churning his famous quote on my prefrontal cortex.
“I say an hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour out of the entire system. I say an hour saved at a non-bottleneck is worthless. Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventory.”
xVantage promised to remove the bottlenecks that stifle most large logistics, inventory and supply chain challenged operations. But once organised, the harmony of data that duet with Ai & Automation comes to lend a bleeding edge.
As to the man, he practices what he preaches. First up , clarity of thought, new talent ( his direct reports were nabbed from the top firms like FB and they were operating like a world class product engineering team. Workplace Ecstasy that the Bay Area Kids demand as a norm.
DevOps style integration , using Data and Analytics, integrating 3rd party APIs that plum and pipe the fuel into xVantage cleansed and refined high octane data fluidly like in a high performance Ferrari engine throttling on E10 fuel.
All this to deliver that click click experience. Customers are a discerning lot. Impatient to wait for that application refresh.
Not just technology, one needs to be a corporate statesman too to pull of such a large DX project. It is culture ..remember druid Drucker "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast". Sanjib demonstrates both tech and cultural agility with power packed panache.
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It is little surprise that Sanjib is recognized as a leading luminary in the subject of Digital Transformation, a well earned moniker "The most interesting Man in Tech". The Ai Age Man who iterates his thinking and marshals his team & technology with empowering clarion.
At the after party, what was evident is the affable bonhomie he exuded , the enthusiasm of a leader who takes his people along, a leader of team whose confidence rubs off on team. Like winners his team and partners rocked on at the giant stadium at the events gala night.
As he says, if we cut the clutter, steer away from the hype and embrace the change/ transformation that Data enabled Ai brings about , there is a huge productivity enhancement bonanza on offer.
"AI could increase corporate profits by $4.4 trillion a year, according to new research - McKinsey Global Institute.
Sanjib Sahoo's company also benefits from the stewardship of industry stalwarts like N S Bindra who leads one of the largest ,most dynamic, high growth markets for Ingram. A former colleague I was opportune to work with 2 decades ago. A man who is an embodiment of rationale, practical thinking and a superb executor of business.
Field Intelligence, a Bold Vision, Adroit use of Data drives home an unbeatable competitive advantage. At Ingram, they call it xVantage.
I'd be watching this space for it is an evolving case study. There are lessons to be learnt from the remarkable DX story that Sanjib & Bindra are essaying.
#IngramMicro #DigitalTransformation #Ai