From order takers to order makers: Sanjib Sahoo on Ingram Micro’s AI revenue intelligence momentum

Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. Today, we’re joined by a man who’s effectively the architect of the modern digital Ingram Micro. Sanjib Sahoo is the EVP and president of the Global Platform Group at Ingram Micro and the visionary behind Xvantage. We’re coming off a week where Ingram reported record Q2 results, and Sanjib joins me to talk about why AI revenue intelligence is the engine behind those numbers.

We dig into the recently launched XI Hub and MCP server—tools that are allowing even the smallest MSPs to connect their own AI assistants directly to Ingram’s data mesh. We talk about how this is saving early adopters up to 1,500 hours a year and why Sanjib thinks the industry is moving from a world of order takers to order makers. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Sanjib Sahoo.

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Robert Dutt: Sanjib, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Robert Dutt: You guys just came off record Q2 results. A big part of that is the idea of what you guys are calling AI revenue intelligence. For the folks on the ground, what does that term actually mean? Is this about Ingram’s revenue, partner revenue, or sort of the intelligence sitting between those two fields?

Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely. If you look at it, intelligence is the key that connects the lifecycle in the channel. What we have been doing in the last year or couple of years is building functionality with Xvantage. But that is the infrastructure. What we have done is train our intelligence layer. All the models we have built—more than 400 models—and the intelligent integrations that we have built, it all added to that AI layer.

Today, that AI layer goes out, looks at all the quotes, looks at multiple parameters, and then stack-ranks opportunities for our sales team to go and outreach our partners. It’s changing the sales motion where we are moving from order takers to order makers. That is converting at almost four times the rate that traditional distribution converted those quotes to orders. That actually has high-quality revenue. And most importantly, it is really giving us a way to close our cycles faster. That is that AI-led revenue—primarily intelligent revenue—that we are doing.

Robert Dutt: That 4x number is pretty striking. You’ve been the architect of Xvantage since the beginning—it’s been your baby. Based on what you described, it’s safe to say we’ve gone from vision well into the momentum phase. I’m curious: what’s the biggest difference in the conversations you’re having with partners today versus, say, even the beginning of the year?

Sanjib Sahoo: I think our partners are understanding more and more that this is not another platform or a tool for doing distribution better. This is a way for them to leverage that intelligence that Ingram Micro has from being in business for more than 45 years. It’s about leveraging insights to drive their business. Ultimately, where we want to move, Robert, is away from just selling products to selling outcomes by intelligence. I think more and more, that intelligence is the new relationship and value that we can create. The platform is immaterial; the experience is great, but the intelligence is what they need to drive operations.

Robert Dutt: I’m curious how you have found the channel’s aptitude or ability—how is the channel prepared for this move towards intelligence? What is the biggest opportunity for the average MSP at this moment to jump on?

Sanjib Sahoo: I think the channel is changing. The entire tech ecosystem is no longer linear. It’s more about solutioning, ecosystem orchestration, and demand gen. We need to scale the “long tail”—the small MSPs and the VARs—and that requires a lot of automation.

Let me ask you a question. What is the operating system you have on your phone? You might know it’s iOS or Android, but you don’t know the exact version, right? Does it matter? No. But the operating system is what does the disk cleanup and the CPU optimization. Without that, it doesn’t work. We want Xvantage to be that agnostic operating system of the channel that solves all these complexities of SKU ingestion, billing, attaching, and reconciliation, powered by intelligence. This leads to our announcement about MCP. We have spent too much time on system integration; now we are connecting and combining intelligence.

Robert Dutt: Let’s get into that. You’ve recently announced XI Hub and the MCP server layer. You guys have positioned this as “operationalizing AI” for the channel. In plain English, how do those two pieces work together to let an MSP connect their own AI to Ingram’s data?

Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely. If I’m a small MSP or an SMB, I don’t have a lot of IT budget. System integration takes a long time. But today, you can quickly write a quick agent or use your own LLMs. How do you connect that to an Xvantage or Ingram Micro without a massive integration? That is MCP. MCP is connecting intelligence to intelligence—agent to agent—versus system integration. It bypasses the complexity.

I recently heard of a partner who got connected with MCP within an hour and is already driving value. Data helps you run the business, but intelligence helps you grow the business. Imagine if an MSP can get that constant intelligence from us for renewals or bundles—fulfillment happens as a byproduct, but intelligence is the value.

Robert Dutt: You’ve described MCP as the “USB-C for AI.” Why was it important for Ingram to go through MCP and use an open standard like that, rather than building a “walled garden” approach?

Sanjib Sahoo: Because a custom approach takes a long time. This is the fastest way to abstract your systems. Imagine you have ChatGPT or Claude and you connect it securely to Ingram Micro’s Xvantage to run your business. That’s amazing. We have architected it this way because ERPs can answer what, but they can’t answer why. Our architecture—with the real-time data mesh, AI Factory, and headless engines—really creates an environment where MCP can work much faster.

Robert Dutt: If I’m an MSP and I’m plugging in an AI assistant to my business systems and to your live data, my first thoughts are going to be security and data leakage. How do the XI Hub and MCP server keep that data secure?

Sanjib Sahoo: We have a lot of work going into security—data segregation, multiple protocols for how we expose data. We have different protocols for read versus write. We have been very careful about the details for obvious reasons, but there is a massive focus on security.

Robert Dutt: You guys have talked about some incredible numbers—early adopters saving 1,500 hours annually and radically reducing quoting cycles. What was the partner doing manually that an MCP-connected assistant can do for them now?

Sanjib Sahoo: They can get instant access to insights and figure out any question they have without needing to invest in extra OpEx or partners to do those activities. That saves them a lot of hours. But it’s also about growth. We see that Xvantage-integrated partners are doing much more business with us. It’s transactional efficiency and growth opportunities.

Robert Dutt: When it comes to quoting, how is AI reducing the cycle? Is it fetching data faster or actually suggesting configurations?

Sanjib Sahoo: MCP itself isn’t doing the quoting. We have worked hard to build a custom quoting engine in Xvantage as one of our headless engines. It takes complexity out and does the vendor integrations from config to order. MCP is just the pipe giving you the data from that engine. The complexity is solved by the Xvantage infrastructure; you’re just taking advantage of it by connecting with the MCP layer. Complex quotes that used to take days can now be done in minutes or seconds.

Robert Dutt: Now that XI Hub and the MCP server are out there, what’s been the most unexpected or novel way that you’ve seen a partner use it?

Sanjib Sahoo: I thought the big customers or the mid-market would lead, but I’m seeing a lot of traction with the “long tail”—small customers. It makes sense because they don’t have the budget to invest in heavy IT. They are connecting to MCP, looking at data, looking at renewals, and getting insights. Some are doing it in less than an hour. It really surprised me how this “relationship fabric” is giving them value through AI rather than just through sales calls.

Robert Dutt: For those smaller partners—that 10-person MSP—what’s the on-ramp? How “AI-ready” do they need to be?

Sanjib Sahoo: They can be ready pretty fast. There are so many models available. They know their own context, and if they plug into us, they can drive their business in a very different way. The XI Hub and MCP server are strategic components of a broader vision to democratize enterprise AI in the channel. The future of distribution is not just moving products; it’s about connecting intelligence across the tech value chain.

Robert Dutt: You’ve talked about the move from “sell-in” to “sell-with.” Does this change the role of the Ingram associate or the account rep? If AI is doing the quoting, how does the human role shift?

Sanjib Sahoo: There is always a human role. First, they are training the algorithms to make the intelligence better every day. Second, they can focus on being proactive rather than reactive. They focus on high-value, high-complexity solutioning with the customer rather than basic operations. We are focusing on the exceptions rather than transactional connectivity.

Robert Dutt: You often talk about “mindset over skillset.” If a partner wants to capture this opportunity, what’s the one big mindset shift they need to make?

Sanjib Sahoo: Think big and act small. Focus on the 60% chance to succeed versus the 40% chance to fail. AI is not perfect, but interacting with it every day makes it better. Data helps you run your business, but intelligence helps you grow it. We need our partners to move from instinct to intelligence.

Robert Dutt: Looking at the rest of the year, what is the next big milestone for Xvantage?

Sanjib Sahoo: The next “hub moment” will be about how we improve the intelligence every day to drive outcomes. We will always build features, but I want to celebrate intelligently operating this channel. We are moving from a platform for distribution to a platform company that does distribution.

Robert Dutt: Last one. If I’m a partner who hasn’t yet looked at the Xvantage developer portal or XI Hub, where do I start?

Sanjib Sahoo: You can Google the Xvantage Developer Portal or talk to your account manager. Some are figuring it out on their own, but we are there to help. Let’s work together to transform this industry.

Robert Dutt: Brilliant. I appreciate you taking the time to walk us through this.

Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely, Robert. Thank you so much.

Robert Dutt: There you have it, Sanjib Sahoo from Ingram Micro. I’d like to thank Sanjib for his time. It’s not often you get a peek under the hood of a platform handling four petabytes of data to see exactly how it’s changing the day-to-day life of the partner. The big takeaway for me was the 4x metric—AI-driven insights are converting at four times the rate of traditional sales motions. For the MSP, the message is clear: the long tail isn’t being left behind here. In fact, if you don’t have a massive IT budget, the MCP server might be your fastest way to operationalize AI without a developer team.

I’d like to thank you for listening. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most major directories. Ratings and reviews go a long way. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.