Ingram Micro is a company that continues to build good relations with its partners and vendors. To date it has done so in the Non-EU region, but also in Croatia and Slovenia, while the goal of the new managing director for the Adriatic region is to continue with its successful trend on new markets
Work from home represented a new opportunity for the IT industry, because it was necessary to create a safe environment in which employees within a single organization will be able to exchange all information in a secure way, explains Vladimir Popović, Ingram Micro’s new MD for the Adriatic Region.
Your impressive career has also included executive positions at companies SAP and New Frontier. You’ve been with Ingram Micro for the last three years and recently took charge of the entire region. How much more work and responsibility does that entail?
– From the start of my career, I’ve approached every obligation extremely seriously and responsibly, striving to give my all, and to do everything in my power to improve the operations of the company at which I was working. This new position also brings with it new challenges, but I will also approach them in an extremely professional and dedicated way. The responsibility is greater because, in addition to the territories I’ve managed to date, I now also manage two developed EU markets that need to be further developed.
The IT market is growing despite global difficulties, but Ingram Micro is also expanding its competencies and field of work. What are the company’s dominant areas of focus in our region?
– As has been the case to date, the main focus of Ingram Micro is on continuing to build good relations with its partners, on the one hand, and with vendors, on the other. We endeavor to support our partners in responding to market demands and challenges in the best possible way. We’ve so far done that successfully in the Non-EU region, and we’ve also done it in Croatia and Slovenia. My goal is to develop even more competencies and knowhow in order to continue the successful trend in the Adriatic region.
How much has the global situation caused changes to the market situation? Has the introduction of work from home changed infrastructure and solutions?
– The global pandemic has confronted all of humanity with the kind of challenge that no one has previously experienced. Changes have occurred in all walks of life, so our industry has also sustained huge changes. The new reality opened our eyes and showed us what employees really need in order to do their jobs efficiently. Although it was thought that working from home, at a distance, would have an adverse impact on team atmosphere, this didn’t happen in our case.
Interestingly, one of the biggest challenges of working from home is security, which many companies only started thinking about with the outbreak of the pandemic. Our product range includes a whole range of excellent security solutions for every situation and challenge that can confront our partners’ clients.
How did you organize training under the new conditions? Have all the advantages of cloud infrastructure now been demonstrated?
– Part of the training has been transferred online, but there are still educational activities that are performed at our training center, with all preventive measures.
We’ve also established a partnership with Pearson VUE, thereby making available to our partners and end users a large number of certificates and tests according to the highest world standards.
It was expected that expansion of cloud infrastructure and cloud-based operations would come, because there are countless advantages in the fact that something exists virtually, with everyone able access it wherever it is located.
Is it difficult to be a high-ranking manager during such times of change? What are your personal motives and driving force?
– There are many possible answers to this question, but here I would like to be short and sharp: Every success of my team gives me new energy to deal with all challenges.