Bob Cox knows the value of service contract renewals. As president of Nothing But Net, an HP-focused solution provider in Phoenix, Cox considers the recurring revenue they generate essential to his financial health. Keeping customers covered also helps solidify the relationship when a piece of hardware fails.

"If a customer calls us for support on their HP server, only to discover the warranty has just expired, they're likely to say, 'Why didn't you inform me? And what are you going to do about it?' " Cox says. "We've lost revenue and let the customer down."

Today such situations are a thing of the past, thanks to Ingram Micro's Reseller Services Portal. Nothing But Net uses this free service to monitor service contract expirations for HP and other major manufacturers. By automating contract management, the Portal makes it easy to track and renew maintenance contracts, warranties and leases, ensuring capture of all of the contract annuity revenue available.

"The Reseller Services Portal allows us to proactively track service and maintenance contracts, and lets us prepare and quote our customers prior to the contracts expiration," Cox says. "This helps to alleviate headaches caused by not knowing about contracts expiring until it is too late."

Proactive Resource Management
With the Reseller Services Portal, sales order information, including product registrations for HP products, is automatically captured by the system and displayed in an easy-to-use format. Service contract details can be filtered by manufacturer, end user, P.O. number, system handle or hardware serial number. Contract renewal status can be displayed with secure login to the Portal, or by automatic e-mail notification 30, 60 or 90 days before expiration. If solution providers choose, end users can use the tool to manage their own contracts.

Reseller Services Portal Partners

"It's more profitable to sell to existing customers than it is to find new ones," says Andy Keller, director of vendor management at Ingram Micro. "The Reseller Services Portal provides solid leads to help solution providers generate recurring revenue from services that are due to expire. And the inventory reports pinpoint hardware-refresh solutions that might have otherwise been missed."

Leveraging the Portal
Keller and his team use the portal to drive revenue to Ingram Micro's customers. If they find services sold without the proper information being entered into the system, they track it down and enter it. If hardware is sold without an appropriate service attached, they alert the solution provider to the revenue opportunity.

"We're constantly mining the portal to find ways to help partners and their end customers," Keller says. "As an example, a lot of HP printers are sold 'naked' -- without service contracts. The Reseller Services Portal will automatically notify resellers who are logged on and opted-in about these uncovered assets."

Join the Portal Today!
To join the Reseller Services Portal at no charge, or to register for an interactive demonstration, Ingram Micro's customers can go to www.ingrammicro.com/resellerservicesportal or call (866) 490-1304.