Ingram issues fresh assurance as website problems continue
Identifies bugs and features not working as they should
By Amanda Sachtleben, Auckland | Tuesday, 16 March 2010Ingram Micro says it has a clear picture of what it needs to do to fix problems with its newly-launched website, as partners continue to identify issues with the site.
A fortnight after launch, one partner who didn’t want to be named said many click-throughs were required to find information, and that there were too many pictures on the “busy” site.
Another, who also wished to remain anonymous, said the website was “a retail website not a business tool”, adding that pages contained too many advertisements. Pages were slow to refresh when filter settings were changed, and when navigating forward or back between pages, while lots of scrolling was required to read page content, the second partner said.
Readers of the reseller.co.nz website posted anonymous comments about Ingram’s newly-launched site.
Referring to Reseller News’ previous story that Ingram had identified a configuration issue affecting the site’s stability, one reader said they would accept a site that was half as stable if it was twice as useable.
“The sad thing is, they had something that worked well,” the reader said.
In the second email to resellers last night, managing director Gary Bigwood said the company had received both positive and negative feedback from a large cross-section of partners.
“There are some bugs in the site, and a few of the features are not currently working as they should. These have been captured, are being tested and we are working on multiple fixes to remedy these problems and improve the user experience,” he says.
The site’s performance is improving, and it continues to be optimised, he says.
The distributor has also received a lot of feedback on the look of the site and the user experience, he says.
“This too has given us a clear plan of attack to deliver to our customers what they require. We had members of the development team collating feedback all last week and they followed up by interviewing a cross section of local resellers to ensure that issues had been captured correctly.
“The good news is that we know what needs to be done to fix the issues that resellers have raised, and we have a small army working to deliver the required results.”
In the email, Bigwood says a significant number of issues raised were driven by lack of familiarity with the new website, and differences between the new site and the previous TechLink site.
As a result, it has created a “Web Enhancements and User Guides” section, with 12 PDFs provided so far and more to be created based on feedback from resellers.
“In hindsight, the change management side was handled poorly by us, and we will not repeat the error,” Bigwood says in the email.
Ingram has also worked to resolve issues for partners who take electronic product and pricing feeds from its back-end systems, Bigwood says.
“As a result of our internal system conversion here, there were some issues experienced with some of these feeds that I believe have now all been resolved.”
The email says Ingram remains committed to delivering good customer service.
“Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience that these issues have caused. Rest assured we are taking these problems very seriously and will not stop until we get everything right.”
Ingram Website Random info!
The Ingram site changeover has had a significant impact on our business. We have had orders delayed and dont get released until we chase up each individually, the information online is old or incorrect. Our service delivery has dropped off, and we are now pushing orders through alterative suppliers whenever possible.
I expected teething issues, but this is ridiculous. Our account manager said the problems are still thoughout the system (30th March!)
Posted by Mark Anyon at 10:26 on March 30, 2010
The Ingram site changeover has had a significant impact on our business. We have had orders delayed and dont get released until we chase up each individually, the information online is old or incorrect. Our service delivery has dropped off, and we are now pushing orders through alterative suppliers whenever possible.
I expected teething issues, but this is ridiculous. Our account manager said the problems are still thoughout the system (30th March!)
Posted by Mark Anyon at 10:26 on March 30, 2010
Just some of the disasters still on Ingram Micros site
Apart from all the other dreadful things happening on the new IM site, I found that the RMA request page cannot identify any invoice older 1/3/10, so we now have to manually send an email with invoice/date of sale etc and wait over a week for their manual system to even supply an RMA number. Funny no one tells you this until you call in to find out what's happening. How's that for progress? Over last weekend, some (maybe all?) the prices listed for resellers were in fact IM's own buy prices! They had to apologise to more than a few resellers last Monday. Almost every day, I find that their reseller prices have risen over the last year or so, that you can buy a high percentage of items far cheaper from PB Technologies and elsewhere, and when they arrive, they have IM stock numbers on them. We're being taken for a ride seriously, and my days of buying from them are pretty much over. A few years ago I'd chose them as my primary supplier. These days, they're my last resort. Account managers there, just don't want to know.
Posted by Anonymous at 12:37 on March 23, 2010
Apart from all the other dreadful things happening on the new IM site, I found that the RMA request page cannot identify any invoice older 1/3/10, so we now have to manually send an email with invoice/date of sale etc and wait over a week for their manual system to even supply an RMA number. Funny no one tells you this until you call in to find out what's happening. How's that for progress? Over last weekend, some (maybe all?) the prices listed for resellers were in fact IM's own buy prices! They had to apologise to more than a few resellers last Monday. Almost every day, I find that their reseller prices have risen over the last year or so, that you can buy a high percentage of items far cheaper from PB Technologies and elsewhere, and when they arrive, they have IM stock numbers on them. We're being taken for a ride seriously, and my days of buying from them are pretty much over. A few years ago I'd chose them as my primary supplier. These days, they're my last resort. Account managers there, just don't want to know.
Posted by Anonymous at 12:37 on March 23, 2010
Simply Unusable
I've simply stopped ordering off the site. The old site wasn't great but this site is unusable. I was excited when I heard that they were going to 'improve' the site and, after fanfare reminiscent of Telecoms XT network launch, we took a giant dump. Bring back the old usable site so that I can actually find things that I want to order. So far I've sourced from other resellers but I dread the day when I will have deal with the Ingram Micro web-site. Last time I spent about 20-30 minutes trying to search for something but all the so-called 'smart' search features prevented me from locating what I wanted to order so I gave up in frustration.
An absolute rubbish experience with no redeeming features. This site was never tested with live resellers using it - full stop. It looks to me like a customer facing site which might mean that Ingram Micro are gearing up to bypass resellers and sell direct.
Posted by Anonymous at 11:52 on March 23, 2010
I've simply stopped ordering off the site. The old site wasn't great but this site is unusable. I was excited when I heard that they were going to 'improve' the site and, after fanfare reminiscent of Telecoms XT network launch, we took a giant dump. Bring back the old usable site so that I can actually find things that I want to order. So far I've sourced from other resellers but I dread the day when I will have deal with the Ingram Micro web-site. Last time I spent about 20-30 minutes trying to search for something but all the so-called 'smart' search features prevented me from locating what I wanted to order so I gave up in frustration.
An absolute rubbish experience with no redeeming features. This site was never tested with live resellers using it - full stop. It looks to me like a customer facing site which might mean that Ingram Micro are gearing up to bypass resellers and sell direct.
Posted by Anonymous at 11:52 on March 23, 2010
19 days and counting
The new site been up (almost) for 19 days now and its still crap. We have a website that is supposed to receive daily data feeds... Year right. Got one on the 11th that was screwed up, haven't received one since.
Posted by Anonymous at 10:25 on March 19, 2010
The new site been up (almost) for 19 days now and its still crap. We have a website that is supposed to receive daily data feeds... Year right. Got one on the 11th that was screwed up, haven't received one since.
Posted by Anonymous at 10:25 on March 19, 2010
Yeah Right!
My general comments and feelings about this new site...
1) The whole concepts that they have a site that works is flawed, otherwise we would not see reseller news articles like these.
2) They have consulted resellers? Sounds like a brilliant Tui billboard. I have contacted 10 or so resellers I deal with and none of them had any "consultation" in this so called consultation process. (I personally believe that they have consulted one reseller and that ticked the consultation box)
3) Developments issues and continuous performance enhancements? Yip, another Tui billboard! I have just completed a $200K software project for a government agency and let me tell you that this development game you either get it right or totally wrong. This is not a business tool, neither are there going to be any quick fixes. You cannot improve performance that basic foundation concepts are flawed on, if you are going to push 100-200K+ pages to a workstation, it WILL BE SLOW. Basically it's just a wrong approach, it does not help resellers.
4) I have been told that NZ has been picked as the testing ground for the international group (I Would love for someone to confirm this) to see how well this site will work.... which leads to my next frustration....Only Ingram Micro believe that they are genuinely offering a great reseller service and experience. They are so focused internally and all the little things that are important are forgotten and any attempt to communicate this with them is futile. They have the bulldozer in high gear and no-one will change that.
5) "development team collating feedback", are you aware that you can send Ingram as much feedback as you want... you will not even receive a confirmation of any sort.
Bottom line, Ingram do sell some products that are more difficult to source elsewhere and if I have to I will still get them from Ingram (Unless they read this post, figure-out who I am and close my account, which I would honestly not put past Ingram with their relaxed attitude towards customer services) But unless I have to deal with Ingram I won't.
I do feel for Ingram because they have chosen a very difficult business tool to improve and wish them all the luck, but they should give me the hundreds and thousands of dollars they must be spending and I will resolve this in one day... I will turn on the old site and instantaneously they will have less customer complaints, the customers would actually be able to get hold of Ingram on the currently overloaded phone system and most important I can deliver this on time and within budget!
Posted by David at 01:10 on March 17, 2010
My general comments and feelings about this new site...
1) The whole concepts that they have a site that works is flawed, otherwise we would not see reseller news articles like these.
2) They have consulted resellers? Sounds like a brilliant Tui billboard. I have contacted 10 or so resellers I deal with and none of them had any "consultation" in this so called consultation process. (I personally believe that they have consulted one reseller and that ticked the consultation box)
3) Developments issues and continuous performance enhancements? Yip, another Tui billboard! I have just completed a $200K software project for a government agency and let me tell you that this development game you either get it right or totally wrong. This is not a business tool, neither are there going to be any quick fixes. You cannot improve performance that basic foundation concepts are flawed on, if you are going to push 100-200K+ pages to a workstation, it WILL BE SLOW. Basically it's just a wrong approach, it does not help resellers.
4) I have been told that NZ has been picked as the testing ground for the international group (I Would love for someone to confirm this) to see how well this site will work.... which leads to my next frustration....Only Ingram Micro believe that they are genuinely offering a great reseller service and experience. They are so focused internally and all the little things that are important are forgotten and any attempt to communicate this with them is futile. They have the bulldozer in high gear and no-one will change that.
5) "development team collating feedback", are you aware that you can send Ingram as much feedback as you want... you will not even receive a confirmation of any sort.
Bottom line, Ingram do sell some products that are more difficult to source elsewhere and if I have to I will still get them from Ingram (Unless they read this post, figure-out who I am and close my account, which I would honestly not put past Ingram with their relaxed attitude towards customer services) But unless I have to deal with Ingram I won't.
I do feel for Ingram because they have chosen a very difficult business tool to improve and wish them all the luck, but they should give me the hundreds and thousands of dollars they must be spending and I will resolve this in one day... I will turn on the old site and instantaneously they will have less customer complaints, the customers would actually be able to get hold of Ingram on the currently overloaded phone system and most important I can deliver this on time and within budget!
Posted by David at 01:10 on March 17, 2010
It's bad bad bad dad
The largest IT vendor in the world says this new website was tested.
Yeah Right!
Posted by Anonymous at 09:29 on March 16, 2010
The largest IT vendor in the world says this new website was tested.
Yeah Right!
Posted by Anonymous at 09:29 on March 16, 2010
That website.
1. Why weren't resellers consulted before a change like this. If they did consult, who did they talk to? Obviously not a good cross section of their customers.
2. How do they ever expect the performance to get close to the old website when this one is hosted offshore. Everyone knows NZ's links overseas can slow to a crawl at various times of the day - including all of school holidays. Do they think we are going to sit there waiting for their website to load?
3. I don't want a website to look pretty. I want it to work. This website is a LONG way away from working - it is not just a few minor tweaks that are needed, it is a full overhaul.
4. I am now having to phone/email Ingram as their website search engine does not show the results the old one did - but most of the time the phone call gets pushed to voice mail (which are never returned) or you sit in a queue. I am switching all orders I can to other distributors until this mess is sorted. Other distributors seem quite happy to meet any price discounts we have negotiated with Ingram.
Posted by Anonymous at 10:13 on March 16, 2010
1. Why weren't resellers consulted before a change like this. If they did consult, who did they talk to? Obviously not a good cross section of their customers.
2. How do they ever expect the performance to get close to the old website when this one is hosted offshore. Everyone knows NZ's links overseas can slow to a crawl at various times of the day - including all of school holidays. Do they think we are going to sit there waiting for their website to load?
3. I don't want a website to look pretty. I want it to work. This website is a LONG way away from working - it is not just a few minor tweaks that are needed, it is a full overhaul.
4. I am now having to phone/email Ingram as their website search engine does not show the results the old one did - but most of the time the phone call gets pushed to voice mail (which are never returned) or you sit in a queue. I am switching all orders I can to other distributors until this mess is sorted. Other distributors seem quite happy to meet any price discounts we have negotiated with Ingram.
Posted by Anonymous at 10:13 on March 16, 2010
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Amazing to watch a market leader implode on the back of an bad initiative even more badly managed. While sorry for the poor NZ Ingramites who are going down with the ship, I am not sorry enough to have my staff bash their heads against the new website any longer (try clicking through 500 cables one screen at a time for the one you want).
Wish I'd got some screenshots of the old site before they killed it - this would've made a great design/useability/marketing/customer relationship case study - even without having the nose-diving turnover figures to go with it.
Giant corporations can still come to their senses so there is still hope for IngramMicro I suppose - even Coca Cola brought back the old Coke.
If not, it should't take long for someone else to fill the gap - business abhors a vacuum.
Posted by Anonymous at 17:41 on April 8, 2010
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