Taking Charge of Your Own Happiness at Work

Robyn Tingley, Ingram Micro

Today’s post comes from Robyn Tingley, Vice President, Human Resources, Americas for Ingram Micro, who talks about the importance of taking charge of your own happiness.

Everyone wants to feel engaged, content and fulfilled at work, but when spending about one-third of your day, five days a week at your job, it can be easy to get into a rut. Most people tend to look for help and motivation from others, but one of the best things you can do is challenge yourself and take charge of your own happiness. Below are a few tips to do just that:

Know what makes you happy: What kind of environment makes you happy? While a basic question, many people do not take the time to really ask themselves. Self awareness is significant when it comes to overall happiness. At Ingram Micro, we suggest associates take a personality assessment like Disc or Myers Briggs because it will give them valuable insight into what types of conditions, interactions and work make them thrive. Then, once they have this awareness, we can help them marry that knowledge with the right kind of job.

Set goals annually or semi-annually: Studies show that when an individual sets goals that are challenging, yet attainable, they have a better sense of control over their work, focus for the day and a sense of reward and accomplishment when they look back and see all they have achieved. Your goal could be as significant as a promotion or pay increase, or as small as reading a book, networking with new colleagues or taking time to go for a walk at lunch.

Goals need to be well rounded and include personal goals around whatever is important to you – health, education, hobbies, family time – whatever it may be. This will give a person a stronger sense of work-life balance. When planning your weekly calendar (which you should always do) employees should think about all of the hats they wear — worker, mother/father, daughter/son, little league coach, etc, – and build that into the schedule. Far too many employees short-change the very important roles they play in life and end up feeling resentful or stressed because they didn’t have time for something.

Use the tools an employer offers: Ingram Micro offers health coaches, financial planning and time management courses, tuition reimbursement and more, all easily accessible and at low or no added cost for employees. These tools are under-utilized by most employees. I urge people to take the time to learn about what their employer offers.

Take Your Vacation Time: There will always be a deadline looming, a meeting that is critical or a customer with a need. However, with good planning, those things will still be taken care of while you are able to take time off. Vacations recharge your energy and creativity – go someplace new, spend time with the people you care about, or escape with books by your favorite author. It’s important to do what you love on vacation and create special moments that you’ll feel good about for years to come.

While there are many things that contribute to happiness, the knowledge that you are doing all you can to secure your own personal happiness is guaranteed to go a long way.

Video Conferencing in a New World

Today’s post comes from Jim Annes, VP and general manager at AVAD, an industry-leading provider of solutions to the residential and commercial custom installation markets and a division of Ingram Micro. Here, read more about how advancements in technology and more affordable price points are bringing effective video conferencing into small-to-medium business spaces and the home.

This story originally ran in Custom Retailer Magazine

When I ask our dealers if they are installing video conferencing systems as part of their residential or commercial solutions, I often get one of two reactions. In one scenario, either their knowledge of, or experience with, video conferencing has left them with the impression that the only workable options are expensive telepresence solutions. In the other scenario, they are dealing with customers who prefer a free solution like Google Chat or Apple’s FaceTime.

Many are surprised to discover that there are several video conferencing solutions in the marketplace—solutions that are far more robust and functional than free offerings, and more flexible than telepresence products.

They are also surprised to learn that these products can be purchased at very affordable price points. These solutions do not replace the ability to chat casually with grandma through your Samsung TV, nor do they unseat Cisco in the very high end of the market. These are solutions that are aimed at the user who wants quality at an affordable price.

So why should you care about this market? First and foremost, the size of the opportunity. Let’s strip out the Fortune 1,000 and other large corporations. Even with those companies removed, there are more than 27.9 million small-to-medium businesses in the U.S., according to the Small Business Administration.

Now that video conferencing solutions are coming down in price and becoming more flexible, the residential market presents an opportunity as well. Fifty-two percent of the aforementioned 27.9 million small businesses are home-based. In addition, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 24 percent of all workers in U.S. companies currently telecommute, ranging anywhere from a few hours a week to full time. In today’s always-on, hyper-connected workspace, video conferencing is most likely the next productivity tool that will be widely adopted in both offices and homes.

Since many dealers want to have an idea of what it takes to be successful in the space before they commit time and resources to learning how to deploy a video conferencing solution, here are some high-level issues we typically address with dealers:

Keep Client Needs in Mind
When you spec a solution, one question that often arises is, “How do I keep myself from making a simple mistake that makes my profits disappear?” Here are some key areas to address:

• What problems are they trying to solve? Business, residential, both?
• How are they currently interacting with others?
• What problems arise in these interactions?
• How could they be enhanced?
• What bandwidth is available?
• How many other offices or people would typically be on one teleconference?
• Is there a need for mobility and flexibility? Many of these solutions integrate with phones, tablets and laptops, and these permissions can be granted to co-workers or business partners on a per user basis.
• What are the unique network characteristics, including the number and type of firewalls and routers? Who manages them?
• Have they identified the size of the room or the number of participants in the office environment?
• Who do they frequently communicate with inside and outside of the company?
• Is there a desire to offer conferencing to valued partners?

Core Technologies
Almost every solution involves the integration of cameras, speakers, microphones, video panels, codecs (also known as “end points”), bridging software or hardware, networking, security and control products.
Some solutions, such as Mondopad, have an “all-in-one” approach, where everything comes bundled with a 55-inch or 70-inch interactive touchpanel display. The key here is integration. High-performance systems require setup and configuration and many of the components are already familiar to installers.

Recurring Revenue
Recurring revenue is big revenue. Don’t miss out on the opportunity. There are maintenance contracts and renewals you can employ to help your customers stay current on patches and updates. There are also hosting and scheduling services that installers can resell to their clients that make it easy to manage their video conferencing solutions.

Partner Support
Don’t forget that your partners have your back. Distributors and vendors who are serious about video conferencing have a lot of resources you can leverage.

At AVAD, we offer experience centers that installers can use to demonstrate the solutions with their clients. We also offer access to our system design, as well as technical support teams for needs-analysis, site visits and client meetings. In addition to this, we offer specification assistance for product and solution design.
Manufacturers like Lifesize and Mondopad also offer trainings on how to give the best demo to a prospective client, as well as needs-analysis checklists and technical support. Occasionally, manufacturers can also provide live demos that are customized based on the needs of your customers.

In summary, the home and small business video conferencing market is large and growing, with plenty of resources that can be used to enable your success today and into the future. Are you ready to get started and be ahead of the pack that will soon follow? CR

Jim Annes is the VP and general manager at AVAD, an industry-leading provider of solutions to the residential and commercial custom installation markets. Learn more at http://www.avad.com, and connect with AVAD on Twitter @AVAD_LLC, or at facebook.com/AVADllc.

The Maker Movement

This article is brought to you by the folks at Ingram Micro’s Business Intelligence Group

An overarching trend we have been observing over the past few years is people are sharing knowledge and innovation across borders at a more rapid rate due to the Internet. Fundamentally, if you want to look up how to fix your lawn mower or washing machine, chances are, someone has posted a video on Youtube.com. In addition, if you feel like taking a refresher course in algebra or chemistry since your child needs help, there is also the Khan Academy which led by Salman Khan. Within the knowledge sharing concept, a key trend that has been taking shape is the do-it-yourself (DIY) or maker movement which is being led by technologies such as the Arduino and Raspberry microcontroller’s (MCU), 3D printers and a private citizen’s willingness to share designs and innovations in public forums. For those that don’t know, a microcontroller is a small computer without the monitor, keyboard and other devices but has a processor, memory and programmable input and output. Often, these are used in non-PC devices such as automobiles, CE appliances and more that are programmed for myriad tasks. A 3D printer reads a 3D software design and prints it out in hard plastic.

In a nutshell, Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards allow people with very crude programming skills to create projects such as robots that can sense and avoid when a wall is coming, an Etch-a-Sketch clock, plants that notify you via e-mail when they need to be watered, etc. In essence, the microcontrollers are allowing people to fuse the digital world with the physical world. On the 3D printer side, an individual can essentially create something via 3D modeling or scanning software to capture and print an object into a physical one. To add more color, Microsoft and others are segueing more 3D capabilities into their gaming platforms and other software applications as consumers want to digitize and manipulate objects. In essence, we will see a thrust of more people scanning and printing their digital environments whether it’s a pencil, a piece of jewelry, a flower and more in the future.

Fundamentally, many believe this is creating a new renaissance in the technology world allowing artists, programmers and hobbyists to unify ideas and innovate. In addition, for countries such as the United States that want to accelerate the rate of innovation, many schools have incorporated STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs that allow students to get exposed to the aforementioned technologies which ultimately exposes them into more technical fields. For example, Century High School in Santa Ana California has one such program and has a 3D printer lab where students can create their own designs and print them out. In our opinion, we believe the maker movement trend is in the early stages and will create a halo-effect of new technologies in the future.

Meet & Greet with… Sam Kamel

At Ingram Micro, we believe It’s the People that make this company great.  Next in our “Five Questions with…” series, we talk with Sam Kamel, senior vice president corporate strategy for Ingram Micro. We hope this gives you a chance to get to know a little bit about the people that make Ingram Micro tick.  

Meet & Greet: Five Questions with… Sam Kamel 

Sam Kamel

Sam is senior vice president corporate strategy for Ingram Micro Inc. As a member of Ingram Micro’s worldwide executive team, Sam is responsible for planning, market analysis and business development with particular emphasis on emerging technologies and opportunities in higher margin markets adjacent to the company’s broadline business.

Q:   What makes you most passionate about your job (or Ingram Micro)?  

A:   There are a few things:

Our Strategy Puzzle: The industries we serve are changing incredibly fast – which makes for a fun and enjoyable challenge of trying to learn and figure out our best path forward. Solving these strategic puzzles has me engaged with associates across Ingram Micro and numerous industries, companies and partners. I love being plugged into the global network of business and both sensing and thinking through how to make our winning moves. 

Our People: We have a wealth of engaging, motivated, fun and smart associates from around the world working at Ingram Micro. I enjoy the opportunity to interact daily with individuals who bring different and fresh perspectives to my work and life. And I highly value being part of the company’s worldwide executive team. I thank my lucky stars that I get to be part of such a capable group, where I have the opportunity to continuously learn while doing my best to contribute to Ingram Micro’s success.

Focusing on Innovation: Innovation has always been a key focus for Ingram Micro; a critical ingredient for being able to deliver ever-greater value to our customers and vendors in ways that will keep us ahead of the game as the world of technology continues to rapidly evolve.

Our Brand and Role in Technology: Working with a company that is so highly respected by its partners and customers is a great reward. We may not be a household name, but when I mention Ingram Micro to people who know our company, I almost always get positive feedback. I am absolutely passionate about technology of all types – from software to smart devices to how key trends such as ecommerce and social networks are changing how we shop, communicate and live.  I am thrilled to be working with a company at the heart of the IT world, partnered with all the great brands. We play an important role in bringing the power of technology to businesses and consumers around the world. 

Q:   Where will the IT distribution industry be in five years, and how will Ingram Micro look? 

A:   I see two key parts to this question: 1) How will IT be defined in five years and separately, 2) What role will distribution play in five years? Either way, I think it’s safe to bet that there will be change.

On the IT side of things, I envision a world far more mobile and cloud-driven, where current forces such as virtualization, ecommerce, broadband and mobility enable instant access to information anywhere, anytime and on any device.

I think Ingram Micro will be generating a greater share of our revenue and certainly our profits from our Mobility, Cloud and other service-based initiatives. I also think that Ingram Micro will be far more data and analytics driven. In this new world marked by massive disruption, everyone will need more insight to make better sense of what customers want or where they are going. We can provide that insight due to our unique place in the IT ecosystem. Ingram Micro is at the center of tremendous data flow, which, when coupled with smart analytics, will make us a critical link and vital provider of insight for vendors and partners to drive marketing, product design, sales and better supply chain management.

Q:   What keeps you up at night, and what are you doing about it?    

A:   Managing multiple priorities. For anyone in a strategy and corporate development role, time and the ability to focus and add value is the key constraint to manage. Hence, I am constantly working to make the right trade-offs and focus on the areas of biggest value to our company.

Cloud – Strategically, we are ahead of the curve in the distribution space and I am excited to see our Cloud businesses taking shape across our regions. Moving quickly in the face of disruptive change is a tremendous challenge for any company. 

Q:   What accomplishment are you most proud of, and why?   

A:   A few weeks ago, I was walking with my boy, holding his hand after playing tennis with him. At one point he calls up and asks me to come down to his level. I stop, bend over and say “Yes Jamie, what’s on your mind?”  He looks me in the eyes, cups my face in his little boy hands and says, “Papa, you are the best papa in the world… I just want you to know.”

That moment will ring true for me for a long, long time. It’s not just the positive feedback of my son to whom I am incredibly devoted, but representative of something fundamentally important to me: service leadership.

I’m proud that in leading my son — from his earliest newborn days through to his early boyhood — that I have been able to be the type of role model, coach and guide that has earned his trust and appreciation. In striving to serve his needs, helping him learn of the world and make sense of all there is in it, increasingly finding his own way and voice — that my “customer” feedback was so positive, generous and unrestrained in goodness — was quite literally my proudest moment.

I could look at my many other accomplishments in sports or academics or business or my military service and frankly, they all pale in the face of my own boy’s acknowledgement, his soft eyes looking into mine and his telling me that I’m doing pretty well in the pursuit of a mission to which I am completely dedicated.

Q:   Who or what has had the greatest impact on your life, and why? 

A:   I know it’s old hat, but I have to admit my dad and mom have had the greatest impact on me. Both of my parents came to the United States to live the American dream — my dad from Egypt and my mom from France. In the early ‘60s they fell in love and with the U.S. and all it stands for.

They embraced the United States, leaving much behind to pursue their dreams and ambitions. They had little to no help and faced incredible difficulties and challenges, but I will always remember their optimism and determination. My dad taught himself English, then computing and then business. He had a great career in the U.S. Navy before starting and running his own business called “Computer Technology International” and he ultimately became a senior consultant with IBM Global Services before retiring. He has always been tremendously grateful for all that coming to the USA allowed him to achieve, for himself and his family.

I am sure the U.S. was a big factor, but it was (and still is) my dad’s boundless optimism, endless curiosity, good and steady nature and can-do attitude and absolute integrity that really had the greatest impact on me. He always played it straight and would never give up despite the odds. He never lost his sense of self and family and gratitude for the many good things that his natural gifts and hard work brought his way. I couldn’t think of a better role model than my dad who, to this day is always teaching me something new and motivating me by his own passion for life … and technology.

Ingram Micro Celebrates The Olympics

Getting into the Olympic spirit, the associates at Ingram Micro’s Santa Ana headquarters recently held an “Associate Appreciation Day” which celebrated the company’s winning spirit, athletes everywhere and the community.

As part of the ceremonies, Ingram Micro donated $10,000 to the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC).  We were lucky enough to have representatives from SOSC, including David Armendariz, regional director SOSC, and Stephanie Hardy, Gold Medalist from the 2003 World Games in Dublin, Ireland.

Associates also participated in their 1st ever Ingram Micro Office Olympics, complete with “Shoe” put, tricycle races and an egg relay race, to mention a few of the competitions.

Another highlight of the day was seeing an actual Olympic Torch, brought in by North America President Keith Bradley, who on June 14, carried the Torch in front of hundreds of cheering onlookers in Walkerburn, a small town near Edinburgh, Scotland, in what he described as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life.  After Keith shared his experience of carrying the Torch, associates got a chance to see it up close.

A good time was had by all!

Our New Series – Meet & Greet: Five Questions with…

At Ingram Micro, we believe It’s the People that make this company great.  In order to help get to know the people behind the company, we’ve started a new series, called “Five Questions with…” which will highlight one of our associates from around the globe.  Today, we’ve got Five Questions for Mario Leone, EVP & CIO.

Meet & Greet: Five Questions with…  Mario F. Leone

Mario Leone

Mario Leone serves as executive vice president and chief information officer of Ingram Micro Inc. Based at the company’s headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif., Leone is responsible for Ingram Micro’s worldwide information and business systems ensuring a stable, effective platform for profitable growth. He leads an information services organization that supports hundreds of thousands of transactions per day through operations on five continents.

 

Q:   What makes you most passionate about your job?  

A:   My passion comes from taking on new challenges and sometimes difficult situations and using the power of technology to discover innovative ways to grow the business and stretch individuals and teams beyond their comfort zone and expectations.

Q:   Where will the IT distribution industry be in five years and how will Ingram Micro look? 

A:   I have a very bullish outlook for distribution at a macro level in most economic scenarios even if there may be moments of trade and industry difficulty or major partner realignments. A very complex partner/ reseller/ end-user ecosystem is developing that will require smart investments and savvy business management across a significantly different and broad and global partner base.

Distribution channels will expand beyond the traditional ones to new large and smaller entrepreneurial competitors and product bundles delivered in more extendable forms. Ideally, this will mean more IP in the distribution channel from previous business networks. 

Ingram Micro should see more global growth in new markets, particularly Asia-Pacific and EMEA; growth in electronic software distribution and the advancement of significant cloud space partners. Also, many small, higher-value niche partners should fill out the line card for Ingram Micro.   

Q:   What keeps you up at night, and what are you doing about it?    

A:   Will we have the patience and steadfast determination to assess our business processes and organization quickly and deliberately in order to take advantage of the enormous technology investments we are making and capitalize on new market opportunities? Can we achieve the productivity improvements necessary to compete in a fast-paced and shifting competitive landscape?

Q:   What accomplishment are you most proud of and why?   

A:   The resiliency to bounce back from early hurdles in the scale-up of our early SAP implementations and  Web search functionality These are classic new product /technology introductions that showcase the company’s commitment to necessary change and the team’s fortitude and ingenuity to overcome adversity and deliver success. 

The improvements we have seen recently have come from business and partner-customer input and Ingram Micro executives and associates working together with fresh and independent rethinking of the problem to provide a very diligent and didactic assessment of the situation and lay out a plan for improvement. 

In the case of the Web, the team ably completed its work and then restructured the Web design to yield a tenfold improvement in search performance. It would have been very easy to give up and languish in the legacy solution. These moments are not for the faint of heart. They are where innovation and leadership emerge.

Q:   If you could have any other profession besides the one you have today, what would it be and why?  

A:   An astronaut — the reliance on a talented multi-disciplinary team and flawless execution in an endeavor that requires consummate vision, engineering mastery, no fear and smart attention to detail to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Social Media and the Workplace: There Are No Do-Overs

By Damon Wright
Executive Director, Investor Relations, Finance, Ingram Micro

Poke, Tag, Tweet, Like, Follow, Friend… While these words may bring back fond childhood memories of chasing classmates around the playground or a first innocent crush, today they are mainstream terminology thanks to social media.

While many people are connecting with friends and family via social media, these online sites have also become an integral part of the outreach and branding efforts by corporations across the globe and social media promises to continue to burrow its way into additional aspects of our personal lives and business careers.

Ingram Micro has embraced social media as a means of communicating with associates, partners and customers and utilizes sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The platform provides a new way to instantly communicate with individuals and large groups, but it is important to remember that unlike the antics of our childhood days, when it comes to using social media, there are no “do-overs.”

The learning curve for understanding the potential power of any new media or communication methodology can be steep and it is important to recognize the broad reach and permanence of a simple tweet, blog entry, YouTube video or Facebook post, particularly where it concerns your job. While it may be a stretch to anoint email as an early predecessor to the current social media sensation, each of us can recall at least one time when we hit “send” prior to fully vetting an email, replied to “all” by mistake, or shot back a terse response in the heat of the moment that became an instant regret. While definitely embarrassing, the risk of such hasty action via email is relatively controllable, as the recipients are generally known and limited. However, the permanence of the message remains a reality that can be forwarded at the whim of any recipient. And even though emails are only sent to a select group, they are not private; they are discoverable and in most companies, accessible by HR and senior executives.

Communication via social media ups the stakes exponentially. Once posted, the message is immediately alive on the Internet and in the public domain.

Depending on the content, communication via social media can also make its way into more traditional media outlets, as we are reminded daily when the latest misstep by a celebrity or politician spreads like a wind fed wildfire across the Internet.

Public personalities are not the only individuals at risk and anyone communicating via social media is fully responsible for their own actions. The business community was recently reminded of this as the Wall Street Journal covered the termination of the CFO of a publicly traded retail company for his use of social media. While it may be easy to dismiss his poor judgment of divulging Board conversations and other non-public, potentially material information as something none of us would ever do, this tale serves as an important reminder of the dos and don’ts of social media, particularly when it concerns your job.

If you are a business, no matter what size, put a social media policy in place to help guide your employees and protect yourself.  If you are an employee, take the time to understand the boundaries of what is permissible under your company’s social media policy.  And always remember that unlike the playful games of our childhood, there are no “do-overs.”