ITWire

Auto Quote is claimed to "take incomplete or inaccurate customer data and turns it into actionable business intelligence in order to improve service sales close rates and enhance the accuracy of service quoting and ordering processes."

Ingram Micro is already offering these to resellers in the US and Canada and, in Australia, Weston adopted them last month. They will be branded by Ingram Micro Australia as the 'Cisco Services Portal, powered by MaintenanceNet'.

According to Ingram Micro the portal is "designed to automate the time-consuming administrative tasks of creating service renewal quotes and to ensure that partners can quickly take action on 'low-dollar' service contract renewal opportunities."

David Lenz, senior director of Ingram Micro Australia's Enterprise Technology Group, said: "Low-dollar contract renewals require constant attention because of their sheer volume, and staying on top of them is a complex process for our partners.

"Auto Quote is a channel enablement tool that eliminates the time and hassle of tracking ongoing service expirations and sending renewal notices to customers. With this new automated capability, our resellers are able to sell more services, increase renewal rates and keep a better pulse on customer needs.

"The Auto Quote solution provides the supply chain with an easy, automated way to ensure that all service contract opportunities - no matter how small - are being pursued quickly, efficiently and at a low sales cost.

"All Auto Quotes are auto-generated and pre-validated with Ingram Micro's manufacturer partners and delivered to resellers electronically, via email, 90 days in advance of service expiration."