Product Ideas/Suggestions

During a joint alignment call with Ingram Micro’s MCSA team, several key themes emerged regarding Copilot adoption, the transition from Chat to Paid Copilot, and competitive pressures. Discussion included Copilot Business vs. Paid Copilot positioning, partner enablement gaps, and the need for clearer GTM and enablement motions for distributors.🔹 FeedbackPartners express ongoing confusion between:Copilot for Microsoft 365 (paid)Copilot ChatCopilot for BusinessThey perceive “fine print” and functionality differences that are not yet well understood.Repeated partner trainings are not sticking, especially for Copilot Business.High repetition needed for messaging to land.Distributors report that their current Copilot offerings are basic and not competitive, especially around:Pre‑sales motionsAdoption planningCustomer ROI guidancePartners acknowledge customer excitement for AI but say customers lack clarity on HOW to start. 🔹 Challenges1. Transition from Copilot Chat → Paid Copilot is weakIngram sees high Copilot Chat interest but very low conversion to paid seats.Partners say customers love experimenting with various AI tools (Gemini, GPT, Copilot), but interest does not translate to purchase.2. Copilot Business confusion slows momentumPartners report mixed messaging, confusion about feature differences, and concerns that Copilot Business is “limited.”3. Competitor: Gemini entering aggressivelyIn Mexico, Gemini is undercutting pricing by 20%, including bundles.Competitor offers are easy for customers to compare, contributing to deal friction.4. Distributor Copilot offerings are not matureMany are selling Copilot as a license-only motion.Need stronger:Pre-sales frameworksAdoption servicesDeployment playbooksROI conversation guides5. ROI is unclear for final customersCustomers know they “need AI” but don’t know:What business outcomes to targetHow to operationalize adoptionWhat the implementation path looks like6. Distributor operational constraintsIngram Mexico and others operate as multiple independent country organizations, forcing partner managers to treat them as multiple separate distributors.Nexsys is significantly behind in innovation and cloud-readiness.

General Observation:There is some perceived overlap and emerging competition between ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and to a lesser extent, Google Gemini. However, the use cases and user experiences differ significantly.1. Adoption & Usage PatternsShadow AI:Many organizations see employees using ChatGPT privately or professionally (so-called “Shadow AI”). This happens regardless of corporate policy and can affect Copilot adoption rates.Organizational Deployment:Some organizations experiment with a company-wide version of ChatGPT or a “local” deployment. This group is smaller but visible.2. User Experience DifferencesChatGPT:Perceived as better tuned to users — feels more natural and intuitive.Users appreciate that ChatGPT remembers context and history, which makes workflows smoother.The textual output quality (especially rewritten or summarized texts) is often considered more elegant and better phrased.Copilot:Users find it less fluid, as it doesn’t remember context beyond the immediate prompt — each item must be provided manually.The integration with Microsoft data (e.g., Outlook, Teams, SharePoint) is seen as a huge advantage, but still developing.The RAI principles and enterprise data safeguards make the product feel more secure and compliant, which users appreciate for corporate environments.3. Competitive LandscapeGemini:Some awareness of Gemini rising as another player, but limited direct experience or impact so far.Overall Perception:Users view ChatGPT as stronger in language generation and “creative” use cases, while Copilot is recognized as more governed, secure, and enterprise-ready, though still maturing in flexibility and contextual understanding.4. Individual Remarks“ChatGPT is textually stronger; its rewritten outputs are more beautiful and refined.”“Copilot still needs to build up the same level of contextual memory that ChatGPT already has.”“Integration between ChatGPT and Microsoft data is accelerating — in principle, it could soon do the same as Copilot.”