As technologies and business models continue to evolve within our industry, it’s only natural that our channel partnerships evolve as well. These podcast interviews, co-hosted by ChannelE2E’s Content Czar Joe Panettieri and CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux, talk with channel chiefs to get their perspective on how these relationships are shifting in the presence of innovation.
Jamie Mendez, director of IBM PartnerWorld, discusses how IBM planned and launched a new partner program early this year and what the program means to IBM’s own strategic imperatives – including cognitive computing, big data, cloud, security, mobile and social.
Q: Early this year you launched a new partner program. What has the journey been like over the past year in working with the partners to bring them up to speed? Were there any bumps in the road?
A: The first thing that comes to mind is that we had some overlapping capabilities identified. We came together with the partners and we made adjustments. This has been a true partnership with our business partners in that they were very much part of developing the final go live framework.
Q: How does the new program align with IBM’s strategic initiatives like cognitive, security, cloud, mobile, social and any other new areas you expect to emphasize in the coming year?
A: We absolutely designed this program with our strategic initiatives in mind because they’re critical and all about how IBM is moving with and leading in the marketplace. The competencies are aligned to the opportunities that the technologies and the combinations of technologies enable clients to do in the marketplace. It’s with that in mind that we’ve built these competencies.
Q: Has this new program helped you attract a different type of partner?
A: I think two things have really emerged when we talk about new partners and different kinds of visibility in partners. We’re seeing this surfacing of activity and interest in new ways of doing business with IBM. It’s not just about selling IBM products, but taking those offerings and embedding them in something that is wrapped with their IP and their services to deliver that new value to clients. As a result, we’re seeing partners that weren’t as visible before now rising up.
