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Local tech leaders willing to 'lean into' change as AI dominates discourse, says Ingram's De Suza. 22 Oct 2026 5 mins Distributor gathered over 140 senior technology leaders at its Executive Connect event. Technology industry leaders gathered at Ingram Micro's Executive Connect event last week displayed optimism and a willingness to lean into change rather than shy away from it, while AI remained a major topic of discussion. This is according to Ingram Micro executive managing director for New Zealand Leon De Suza who shared his insights from the event, which brought together more than 140 senior technology leaders, with Reseller News. Ingram Micro Executive Connect was an invitation-only forum for senior industry leaders to discuss the trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the country's technology channel. De Suza moderated a panel featuring representatives from Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, IBM and Dell Technologies, examining how partners can align strategy, technology and services to deliver integrated solutions as customer needs become more complex. "The overwhelming message was one of optimism," said De Suza. "Nobody is pretending the market doesn't have challenges. Every business is dealing with economic pressures, changing customer expectations and a technology landscape that continues to evolve at an incredible pace." What stood out for De Suza was the willingness of leaders to lean into that change rather than shy away from it. "There was a lot of discussion about growth, capability and how organisations continue to create value for customers in a rapidly changing environment," he said. "The conversations weren't focussed on what might go wrong. They were focussed on how businesses position themselves to win." For De Suza, one of the reasons Ingram Micro Executive Connect is valuable is that some of the best insights do not come from the presentations. "They come from successful leaders sharing experiences, challenging thinking and learning from each other," he explained. Meanwhile, AI remained a major topic throughout the event with the conversation moving well beyond curiosity. "Twelve months ago, the discussion was largely about possibilities. Today our partners are asking much more commercial questions. How do we create customer outcomes? How do we improve productivity? How do we build services around AI? How do we turn interest into sustainable growth?" De Suza said. "What I found encouraging is that the focus is becoming much more practical. Partners understand AI will be transformational, but they're increasingly focused on where they can drive measurable business outcomes and help customers solve real challenges." As AI rapidly becomes embedded into most aspects of business, the opportunity is not simply adopting the technology, De Suza noted. "It's learning how to use it to drive better outcomes for customers and create new sources of value," he said. Beyond AI, capability remains one of the biggest priorities De Suza sees emerging across the channel. "Technology continues to evolve, but people remain the difference," he said. "Whether it's cyber security, cloud, networking, data or AI, partners are investing in the skills, expertise and specialisation needed to support increasingly complex customer environments. "One of the themes I spoke about during Ingram Micro Experience was that growth comes from staying relevant. The organisations that continue to learn, invest in capability and adapt to change will be best positioned for the future." What partners want from distributors. The Executive Connect event took place alongside Ingram Micro's Experience conference, which gave De Suza the opportunity to hear from partners what they are looking for from distributors. "Partners are looking for more than products and transactions," he said. "They want expertise. They want enablement. They want access to new opportunities. Most importantly, they want trusted relationships." The role of distribution continues to evolve, De Suza noted. "We have an important responsibility to help partners navigate complexity, build capability and take advantage of emerging opportunities," he said. "Our purpose is simple. We want to help partners do more, grow more and sell more. That's what guides the investments we're making across our people, our specialist resources and platforms such as Ingram Micro Xvantage." After speaking with partners, vendors and customers at both Executive Connect and Experience, De Suza's biggest takeaway was that the New Zealand technology industry remains incredibly collaborative. "Across every conversation there was a clear willingness to share insights, learn from one another and collectively raise capability across the market," he added. "Technology will continue to change. AI will continue to evolve. New business models will emerge. What won't change is that successful organisations remain focused on people, partnerships and delivering great customer outcomes. "If there's one lesson that consistently holds true, it's that businesses that stay curious, continue to invest in capability and keep their customers at the centre of everything they do will continue to find opportunities for growth." Don't miss a thing Join the Reseller News mailing list for daily news on the IT channel, covering business, technology, products, and services. by Louis van Wyk Senior Reporter Louis van Wyk is a freelance journalist based in the Central North Island, and a former staff reporter and editor at Reseller News New Zealand. He started his career as a local government and crime reporter in South Africa.

Ingram Micro looks to digital platform and AI. Editor's note: Electronics recycling will be featured in sessions at the 2026 E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference in New Orleans October 26-28. Ingram Micro is targeting annual sales growth of 10% to 12% for its Lifecycle business between fiscal 2026 and 2029, compared with 4% to 6% for the company overall. The targets, disclosed at its recent Capital Markets Day, cover a business that includes IT asset disposition (ITAD) and refurbishment, alongside reverse logistics and broader supply chain services. Ingram Micro's position in technology distribution gives it access to enterprise purchasing decisions long before equipment reaches retirement. Its Xvantage digital platform provides a means of connecting those commercial relationships with Lifecycle services, positioning the company to capture recovery business as part of technology replacement projects. Distribution as a route to Lifecycle growth. Ingram Micro supplies technology through a network of resellers, systems integrators and managed service providers. Its Lifecycle business also serves enterprises directly, handling workplace devices and data center infrastructure. The company's distribution relationships provide an established channel for offering ITAD alongside new equipment sales. Resellers can incorporate collection and data sanitization into replacement contracts without developing their own disposition operations. Ingram Micro also manages the resale of equipment with remaining market value. Data center projects provide another source of business. Equipment replacement and consolidation involve deinstallation and secure erasure, with refurbishment or remarketing of recoverable assets. Ingram Micro has described a financial institution project that combined the retirement of redundant data centers with the refurbishment and reallocation of servers that retained useful life. The Lifecycle growth target includes returns management and logistics, as well as fulfillment services. Ingram Micro has not provided a separate growth forecast for ITAD revenue or processing volumes. Xvantage and the distribution network. Xvantage is Ingram Micro's digital platform for channel partners, combining purchasing and account management with transaction processing. It incorporates AI-supported recommendations and automation. Ingram Micro has described more than 400 AI and machine-learning models supporting its broader platform strategy. The platform gives Ingram Micro a channel for connecting equipment purchasing activity with Lifecycle sales opportunities. Replacement cycles create demand for recovery services, and the company's existing reseller relationships provide access to those transactions. Channel partners can incorporate recovery arrangements into new equipment proposals without taking on the underlying disposition operations. This approach brings Lifecycle into the commercial process before outgoing equipment is formally offered for disposition. Xvantage provides the digital infrastructure for extending that approach across Ingram Micro's partner network. The platform's contribution to Lifecycle growth depends on how extensively these services are integrated into purchasing workflows. Ingram Micro has not quantified the additional disposition business attributable to Xvantage. Integrating Lifecycle into enterprise systems. Ingram Micro has also integrated Lifecycle services with ServiceNow, allowing enterprise customers to initiate collection requests and schedule pickups through their existing asset management systems. Customers receive asset-level updates and can retrieve destruction or recycling certificates. The integration also connects with Blancco for data erasure. The ServiceNow connection allows enterprises managing repeated equipment retirements to coordinate disposition within established administrative processes. Collection records and supporting documentation remain accessible through the systems their asset management teams already use. Xvantage supports commercial interactions with channel partners, while ServiceNow connects disposition services with enterprise asset management workflows. These integrations also strengthen customer retention by making Lifecycle services part of recurring equipment management activities. Enterprises with established collection procedures and reporting arrangements have fewer administrative reasons to change providers for each retirement project. Expanding the Lifecycle business. Ingram Micro's Lifecycle growth plans support management's broader effort to increase the contribution of services and higher-value solutions to company profitability. The business combines equipment recovery with logistics capabilities serving manufacturers and enterprise customers. Xvantage extends Ingram Micro's reach through its existing distribution network, where technology replacement decisions are already being made. The ServiceNow integration supports continued service delivery after those relationships are established. The 10% to 12% annual growth target covers the entire Lifecycle business, including activities beyond ITAD. Ingram Micro's strategy reflects a broader evolution in hardware lifecycle management, where digital platforms increasingly connect equipment procurement with recovery and disposition. Xvantage brings Lifecycle services closer to the purchasing process, while the ServiceNow integration extends digital coordination into asset retirement. AI adds another dimension, with growing applications in identifying replacement cycles, anticipating recovery volumes and assessing opportunities for reuse. As these capabilities develop, digital platforms will play a larger role in coordinating hardware lifecycle activities and improving recovery economics. The ability to combine AI-supported decisions with reliable physical processing is becoming an important competitive factor in the industry. David Daoud is a contributor to Resource Recycling and E-Scrap News, covering IT asset disposition, electronics recycling, and circular IT governance. He is the founder of and current Principal Analyst at Compliance Standards LLC, where he conducts independent research and advisory work on ITAD markets, sustainability and ESG compliance, data security, and lifecycle risk management. Daoud has analyzed enterprise IT trends since the late 1990s and was among the first analysts to examine ITAD as a distinct market segment during his time at IDC. He advises operators, OEMs, and investment teams on regulatory, technology, and market developments affecting the electronics lifecycle.