Why This Matters to Distributors: Artificial intelligence is shifting from pilot projects to core operations. Ingram Micro’s approach shows how distributors can use AI to automate transactions, improve conversion rates, and increase productivity at scale.
Ingram Micro is expanding the use of artificial intelligence across its global platform, embedding automation into sales, pricing, and order processing as it builds a platform-based distribution model, executives said on its first quarter earnings call.
The company said it has deployed more than 400 artificial intelligence and machine learning models across its Xvantage digital platform, which supports the full B2B transaction lifecycle from product configuration to order execution.
“We have progressed from building the foundation to automating workflows and reducing friction to now scaling intelligence,” CEO Paul Bay said on the call.
Ingram Micro said artificial intelligence is now managing a growing share of customer transactions and sales activity.
In the first quarter, the company’s email to order system processed about 230,000 customer emails into orders, an increase of 78% from a year earlier. Those transactions represented more than $1 billion in sales, while reducing the need for manual order entry.
Executives said the company is extending those capabilities into additional workflows, including email to quote, as part of a broader effort to automate the transaction lifecycle.
The company’s Intelligent Digital Assistant, known as IDA, is also being used to engage customers and recommend purchases.
IDA generated more than 153,000 initiative-taking customer engagements in the quarter and helped drive more than $800 million in sales tied to those interactions. According to the company, opportunities supported by IDA are converting at four times the standard rate.
“This powerful integration of AI throughout the sales life cycle is helping drive materially stronger quote to conversion performance,” Bay said.
The company said it has been granted four patents tied to its artificial intelligence architecture, focused on reducing complexity in B2B commerce.
Those patents include:
- A vendor agnostic integration framework that connects supplier systems and data
- Dynamic SKU generation to automate product configuration and pricing.
- Configure to order and quote to order automation.
- Email to order processing using generative artificial intelligence.
Executives said these tools are designed to address fragmented processes in pricing, quoting and order entry that have historically required manual work.
“Our IP strategy is centered on solving the fragmented sales and fulfillment processes that define B2B commerce,” Bay said.
Ingram Micro said increased use of automation and self-service tools is contributing to higher productivity and customer engagement.
The company processed more than 2 million self-service orders in the quarter. It also reported more than 20% growth in average revenue per customer compared with a year earlier.
Executives said automation is allowing employees to shift time away from manual tasks and toward higher value activities, improving both revenue generation and operating efficiency.
“We believe this is a strong indicator that the digital adoption, automation and AI enabled selling are driving greater efficiency and increasing operating leverage across the platform,” Bay said.
In addition to internal use, Ingram Micro extends artificial intelligence capabilities to its partners.
The company said it recently achieved an artificial intelligence specialization with Microsoft, allowing it to build and deploy AI applications using Azure services for customers.
Those tools are being used to automate tasks such as statement of work creation and to improve sales productivity for solution providers.
At the same time, demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure products, including GPUs and related systems, contributed to growth in the company’s Advanced Solutions business, particularly in North America and Asia Pacific.
Ingram Micro’s update shows artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in the core operations of distribution. The company uses automation and data to streamline transactions, increase sales conversion and improve efficiency, as it shifts from a traditional distributor to a platform driven business model.
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