Ingram Micro Selects Leverage Software To Power Four Online Partner Communities

World's largest technology distributor extends communication and partner networking capabilities by leveraging enterprise social networking to connect thousands of solution provider partners.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 15, 2007 -- Leverage Software (http://www.leveragesoftware.com), the leading provider of enterprise social networking and online community solutions, today announced that Ingram Micro (http://www.ingrammicro.com/), the world's largest technology distributor, has selected the CustomerConnect (http://www.leveragesoftware.com/platform/index.html) community-building platform to power four business-to-business, partner networking sites which will debut this week at Ingram Micro's Fall VentureTech Invitational, scheduled for Oct. 14-17 at Caesars' Palace, Las Vegas.

The four sites are designed to complement Ingram Micro's existing partner communities, bringing additional partnership and networking opportunities to thousands of Ingram Micro solution providers across the U.S. and Canada who specialize in providing IT solutions to government agencies, educational institutions, small and mid-size businesses, and large global enterprises. Ingram Micro will re-brand the CustomerConnect platform as "The Zone" and make the technology available exclusively to its GovEd Alliance, SystemArchiTECHs, SMB Alliance and VentureTech Network communities.

"Leverage Software's CustomerConnect is a powerful enterprise social networking solution that will help us build stronger VAR-to-VAR relationships within our four solution provider communities," said Kirk Robinson, vice president of North American channel marketing for Ingram Micro. "Introducing this popular technology into our existing face-to-face partner communities will enable our solution providers to network, partner and share best practices anytime they want. It will also help drive the benefits and value of these communities beyond the principals and owners, which is good business for everyone involved."

Ingram Micro's solution providers will network and generate business opportunities through Leverage Software's proprietary PeopleMap feature. The PeopleMap (http://www.leveragesoftware.com/platform/feature_overview.html) feature is a visual tool that individuals use to find and network with other community members. The PeopleMap engine factors in interests, areas of expertise and other profile attributes when recommending other community members to connect with. The feature looks for and finds people 'like me' and organizes them on a 2D map.

Each of Ingram Micro's four online communities will feature detailed member profiles that allow partners to search for, create and maintain contacts lists, host topical discussion groups, and participate in online chats. Ingram Micro's solution providers can maintain their own blogs and participate in online polls to provide feedback to the greater community and Ingram Micro. Ingram Micro will also use the solution as a means to keep partners up to speed on events and manufacturer information with dynamic banner ads and resources posted throughout the site.

"We're seeing a trend from distributors like Ingram Micro and IT manufacturers who have large partner and reseller networks and see social networking as a way to personally and professionally connect with them," said Mike Walsh (http://www.leveragesoftware.com/company/management.html), CEO and Founder of Leverage Software. "For years, the traditional corporate Web site has allowed companies to communicate to the masses. While this is a very cost-effective way to broadcast business-critical information, it hasn't been conducive to building personal relationships with key constituents that are integral to growing the business. By adding Leverage Software's social networking platform, companies like Ingram Micro are humanizing the reseller experience online and by doing so, they are maximizing the value of working together to deliver products and services to customers."

About CustomerConnect (http://www.leveragesoftware.com/platform/index.html)

Leverage Software's CustomerConnect is a hosted service that gives businesses the ability to design and manage private-labeled customer and partner communities where people can meet, build relationships, contribute content and share ideas. Easy to customize, businesses can enhance their brand, connect with customers and glean valuable community insight by utilizing CustomerConnect's wide ranging feature set such as blogs, chat, file sharing, personal profile pages, discussion forums, file and discussion rating system. Available as a monthly or annual subscription service, CustomerConnect offers businesses a way to engage with their audience by giving their customers a voice.

About Ingram Micro (http://www.ingrammicro.com)

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves 150 countries and is the only broadline global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

About Leverage Software (http://www.leveragesoftware.com)

With innovative enterprise 2.0 and knowledge management solutions, Leverage Software provides companies and organizations with scalable services to host and foster employee, customer, and partner communities where members can meet, build relationships, contribute content, and share ideas while giving companies a way to boost revenue and glean valuable insight to increase customer and employee satisfaction.

Leverage Software can be found powering the online communities and enterprise social networks for over 170 companies including Microsoft, Sun, HP, Salesforce.com, Charles Schwab, McKesson, Nielsen Media, InfoWorld, and The New York Times. For more information, visit www.leveragesoftware.com.

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