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IBM Business Partners: Top Five Best Practices

for Maximizing Your Success Selling IBM Software

Judith Hurwitz

President and CEO

Marcia Kaufman

COO and Principal Analyst

Sponsored by IBM

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Introduction
IBM has a strong commitment to its Business Partners and provides many
opportunities for you to grow your business. As an IBM Software Business
Partner you have access to a vast array of marketing resources, technical
enablement, and sales collaboration to help you bring in leads and close deals.
In addition, IBM has a wide range of software incentives that ensure that you are
rewarded when you deliver true client value and support IBMs most important
go to market efforts. For example, IBMs Software Value Incentive (SVI) is
designed so that you will profit by identifying opportunities and adding value at
different stages of the sales cycle.
This paper provides insights into some of the best practices that make IBM
Software Business Partners successful in their relationship with IBM. Hurwitz &
Associates conducted in depth interviews with seven IBM Software Business
Partners and one services firm to understand how they got started as an IBM
Business Partner, what they did to strengthen their partnership with IBM, and
what they would recommend to new Business Partners.

IBM Software Business

Partners that invest in
building the relationship
with IBM have been
able to significantly
expand their businesses
through participation
in important programs
such as enablement, skill
development and sales
incentives.

IBMs Approach to Working with Business Partners

IBM relies on a network of Business Partners to increase its reach to customers
across the globe. Any successful relationship requires a high level of
commitment between both parties. Business Partners that invest in building the
relationship with IBM have been able to significantly expand their businesses
through participation in important program offerings such as enablement,
skill development and sales incentives. In particular, IBM Software Business
Partners have benefitted from these offerings by expanding into new markets in
a way that increases their profitability while leveraging their skills. The Business
Partners we interviewed recognize that excellent outcomes demand investment
from both the Business Partner and IBM.
To be successful in competitive markets, Business Partners must be able to
provide higher-value software and solutions than the competition. Business
Partners that are able to create unique intellectual property based on IBM
business and technology solution capabilities have proven to be most successful.
In fact, the most effective IBM Software Business Partners are able to leverage a
number of IBMs software capabilities in big data and analytics, security, social
business, cloud, and mobile in the solutions they offer to customers. Successful
Business Partners take advantage of IBM Business Partner program offerings
that provide software sales incentives and financial support for training, and
marketing. In addition, these Business Partners find great value in creating a
strategic and well-planned partnership with their Value Added Distributor.

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Best Practices for Building your

IBM Software Business Partner Relationship
What makes a Business Partner successful in building a relationship with IBM
Software? There isnt one approach that is the answer for every Business Partner.
Rather, there are a series of strategies that Business Partners have found to be
effective. For example, some Business Partners discover that they do best when
they concentrate on a specific software technology or set of capabilities. Other
Business Partners invest heavily in creating their own solutions that leverage
key IBM Software portfolio capabilities. All the Business Partners we spoke with
placed a high priority on ensuring that that their technical teams have deep
knowledge and the right certifications.

To be successful in
competitive markets, IBM
Business Partners must be
able to provide higher-value
software and solutions than
the competition.

The IBM Business Partners interviewed for this paper focus on reselling IBM
Software products and solutions. They are based in various regions across the
world and range in size from 40 employees to more than 6000 consultants. Some
Business Partners specialize in technology areas such as business intelligence or
service management solutions, while others sell across the entire IBM Software
and Systems portfolio.
Their recommendations for success are grouped into five best practices:
1. Be proactive in building your IBM relationship.
2. Understand and use IBM Software Business Partner program offerings.
3. Develop outstanding technical and selling skills across your team.
4. Build expertise in a broad portfolio of capabilities with focus on solution
selling.
5. Leverage IBMs go-to-market resources to build a solid marketing strategy
and plan.
Each of these is described below. In addition, we have spotlighted Business
Partner thought leaders who provide insight into how they have applied these
best practices in their own business.

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Best Practice 1:
Be Proactive in Building Your IBM Relationship
IBM Business Partners recognize that great relationships require lots of attention
and effort on both sides. The rewards can be substantial if you take the time to
understand IBMs requirements and create a well-crafted sales, marketing and
skills management process in collaboration with IBM. The IBM Software Business
Partners we interviewed recommend the following steps to ensure that you
take a proactive approach to building an effective and profitable relationship
with IBM:
Assign someone at your organization to manage the details of the IBM
relationship. You need someone focused on how you can utilize available
resources and program offerings to help increase revenue.
Create a great relationship with your Value Added Distributor (VAD). Your
VAD can help with account strategy, technical support, and advice on how
to get value from the IBM incentive programs. VADs also have sophisticated
processes that will help you grow and deepen your ability to sell and market
IBM Software product and solution offerings.
Find at least one IBM Software coach at IBM. Successful Business Partners
build relationships with IBM professionals who can provide guidance and
direction.
Demonstrate your value to IBM. Identify what makes you unique and show
IBM how you are able to translate your deep expertise into positive outcomes
for customers.
Join IBM Business Partner roundtables and advisory groups. Business
Partners who are able to provide feedback by participating in roundtables,
advisory boards, and beta programs are able to build a strong relationship
with IBM in a variety of software markets.
LPA Systems: Be a Proactive Partner

LPA Systems, based in Rochester, New York, became an IBM Business

Partner when IBM acquired Cognos in 2008. According to John Antonucci,
manager of the IBM relationship, LPA leveraged resources available to IBM
Business Partners to transform the small company from being a Cognos
reseller to a large full services organization offering a large number of
industry solutions focused on business intelligence and analytics. LPA
offers its customers solutions based on both Cognos and SPSS. Antonucci
credits their success with the time he invested in learning all the programs,
understanding how they could be leveraged, and then plotting a course
to build the relationship with IBM.

By structuring marketing
events according to IBM
guidelines we see lots of
payback in terms of comarketing financial support
from IBM.
IBM Business Partners
should consider
participating in the Beacon
Award program. We found
this process helped us to
demonstrate our value as a
partner and the recognition
helped boost our business.
By reaching out to IBM
Business Partner executives
we have received great
insight and help aligning
our strategy with IBM.
Our proactive approach
has been an essential
component of our success.
John Antonucci,
Senior Business
Development Manager,
LPA Systems

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Best Practice 2:
Understand and Use IBM Software Business Partner
Program Offerings
According to the Business Partners we interviewed, it is important to understand
which program offerings and incentives are right for you as they can provide
a fast return. You can leverage these offerings to help expand into new market
segments, speed up sales cycles, and increase revenue. Business Partners
recommend that you keep your certifications complete and up-to-date so
you will be ready to apply for incentives on deals. The following offerings have
provided the greatest value to Business Partners interviewed:
IBM Software Value Plus (SVP). SVP is a global authorized distribution
program for software resellers and influencers.The initiative includes over
6,000 high value IBM Business Partners who have met advanced skills and
solutions program criteria for SVP Authorization.
IBM Software Value Incentive (SVI). SVI will provide you with incentive
payments that recognize the role you play in different stages of the sales
cycle, including opportunity identification and selling IBM middleware and
software solutions to customers.
IBM Software Value Advantage Plus. This incentive will provide you with
rebates on IBM Software as long as you sell solutions that meet certain
requirements for including IBM Software in the applications and services you
sell to customers.
Certification, Authorization, and Accreditation Program Offerings. You
can use these offerings to strengthen your teams technical and industry
competence and build confidence among customers and prospects.

IBM makes resources

available to help educate
sellers. However, it is our
responsibility to create
solutions based on these
products.
We use the IBM Software
Practice Accelerator
Accreditation process
to demonstrate to IBM
management, sellers,
and customers that our
organization has deep
knowledge in key areas of
technology.
Laerte Sabino,
Business Director,
Icaro Technologies

Icaro Technologies: Show competency and build business

with IBM Accreditation programs

Icaro Technologies, a Brazil-based software and integration company,

became an IBM Business Partner in 2006 when IBM completed
its acquisition of Micromuse. Since that time the company has
quadrupled its size, receiving multiple certifications including the SVP
Telecommunications Industry Authorization. Icaro was the first IBM
Business Partner to obtain SVP Industry Authorization in Latin America.
As a manager of the IBM business relationship, Laerte Sabino, Business
Director at Icaro says that partnership with IBM is a two way street. His
organization counts on IBM for help in acquiring the knowledge needed
to be competent in supporting customers with IBMs software product
portfolio. The investment that Icaro has made in certifications has helped
the company to build its business. Sabino comments that, Five years ago
we were typically included in projects led by an IBM team. Now that we
understand the road map the customers need to follow we have been
successful in becoming the prime contractor for bigger projects.

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Best Practice 3:
Develop Outstanding Technical and Selling Skills Across your Team
Increasingly, customers want their Business Partners to be able to provide them
with a full solution to solving their business challenges. They want to work
with vendors that understand all of the components of the solution and the
knowledge needed to implement a full solution. In addition to building your
skills across multiple areas of the IBM Software portfolio you need to find ways
to quickly expand your areas of expertise as needed to support your customers.
You need to keep your teams focused on acquiring skills, building deep
knowledge in IBMs software products and solutions, keeping skills up to date,
and understanding how to use these skills to help solve customer challenges.
Business Partners made the following suggestions on the best ways to build
skills across your team:
Take advantage of tuition reimbursement with You Pass, We Pay from
IBM to keep your training and certifications up to date. IBM recognizes
that customers need Business Partners who are trained on the most up to
date releases of the software they are deploying.
Take advantage of easy access to IBM Software for development and
testing. You can use IBM Software on premise or in your own hosted cloud
environment to help build offerings for your customers, with the purchase of
the IBM Software Value Package or the IBM Software Access Option.
Volunteer for beta test opportunities. You will gain valuable expertise and
continue to build your relationship with IBM.
Use the IBM Software Practice Accelerator. You can work directly with
IBM experts to build technical skills and speed up the process of delivering
integrated IBM solutions to customers.
Align your selling efforts with incentive programs to improve margin
opportunities. Train your sellers to craft a sales strategy that aligns with IBMs
incentive programs.

The company built a

strong team in Singapore
by focusing on the right
combination of business
and technical skills.
Getting the SVP Business
Analytics Capabilities
Solution Authorization
brought us to another
level and this helped with
momentum.
The VAD understands IBM
very well and understands
the programs such as SVP
and other programs. They
taught us how to take
advantage of programs that
have expanded our business.
The VAD has had a strategic
impact on the companys
success.
Rana Banerji,
Sales Director, PMSquare

PMSquare: Use Certifications to Drive Business Growth in New Markets

PMSquare, a business consulting company focused on data warehousing,

business intelligence, and enterprise planning, has been very successful
in partnering with IBM in the analytics market. While the company is
headquartered in Australia, it opened a sales office in Singapore to
increase its opportunities. Rana Banerji, Sales Director at PMSquare
indicated that it took almost 18 months to build trust among the local IBM
sellers in Singapore. However, by investing in building the relationship
with IBM through extensive marketing lead generation events and
campaigns and by leveraging the IBM Professional Certifications program,
PMSquare was able to expand its business significantly.

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Best Practice 4:
Build Expertise in a Broad Portfolio of Offerings
with Focus on Solution Selling
In todays market environment, you will have the opportunity to compete for
larger deals if you can offer customers a comprehensive solution supported by
deep industry and technical knowledge. These solutions can often be effective
when they integrate a number of IBM Software and IBM Systems products. Use
your expertise from selling software into a particular industry to productize
and build an industry solution. This needs to be coordinated with IBMs most
important initiatives.
Within IBM Softwares business the focus is concentrated on supporting
customers in its core technologies areas including cloud, mobile, big data and
analytics, and social. Selling software solutions into a specific industry based on
these core technologies requires a very different type of selling than selling one
specific tool or product. The seller needs to have a deep understanding of the
prospects business challenges and desired outcomes as well as all the products
that make up the solution. Business Partners that understand IBMs go to market
strategy and develop proficiency in areas that align with IBM focus areas have
been able to grow their businesses very quickly.
CDW: Focus your efforts on solution selling

CDW, a Fortune 500 company with more than $10 Billion in 2012 net sales,
has been an IBM Business Partner since 2000. The organization provides
technology solutions to customers in the US and Canada. Nina Lane, IBM
Software Solutions Manager for CDW, credits the companys focus on
solution selling as a key factor in their success.

We have used IBM

Software One resources
on IBM PartnerWorld
extensively to help build
collateral, references, and
use cases on solution areas
like cloud and big data.
The focus on industry
solutions helped the
organization grow and
become more profitable
as it transitioned from a
transactional to a strategic
approach to selling IBM
Software.
Nina Lane,
IBM Software Solutions
Manager, CDW

In 2010, CDW began leveraging resources from IBM and their VAD,
Arrow, to build skills and certifications in cloud, big data and analytics,
collaboration, security, and storage. CDW will be adding a mobility
solution focus in 2014. By taking advantage of SVP and SVI programs and
certification programs on core solutions, CDW built an expert team that
combines inside sales with field sales to focus on solutions for business,
government, education and healthcare in the US and Canada. Their core
solutions expertise includes virtualization, collaboration, security, mobility,
data center optimization and cloud computing. In order to deliver
real value to customers, CDW has focused on building deep industry
knowledge across their key industry verticals. Another winning strategy
for CDW has been to collaborate with their VAD, Arrow, on strategic
planning, co-marketing support, and special programs like a recent
customer initiative around Cognos. This collaboration has enabled CDW to
resell across the entire IBM portfolio.

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Best Practice 5:
Leverage IBMs Go-To-Market Resources
to Build a Solid Marketing Strategy and Plan
IBM offers many well-designed go-to-market resources to help supplement
your own programs. IBM provides extensive marketing resources to Business
Partners including packaged campaigns that can be used as is to support your
go to market activities. If you successfully execute marketing campaigns and
can demonstrate to IBM that you are able to bring in new business based on
campaign results, you can receive funds to support your activities. This is a great
way to grow your business since the more success you have the more marketing
funds you receive.
Take advantage of IBMs Software Co-Marketing offering to earn 50%
reimbursement on approved marketing activities.
Business Partners like to put the co-marketing funds back into their own
marketing efforts and continue to expand on go to market activities.
Use Ready to Execute marketing campaigns.
Make sure IBM knows the success of your campaign.

We have made significant

use of IBM Co-Marketing
funds to help us grow
our business. The more
successful your marketing
programs are in bringing in
new business, the greater
your reimbursement from
IBM. Learn how to take
advantage of this program.
Lori Gianattasio,
National IBM Partner
Executive at Perficient

Perficient: Use IBM Co-Marketing Funds to Expand Your Reach

IBM provides extensive marketing resources to partners including

ready to execute campaigns that can be used as is to support your go
to market activities. Lori Gianattasio, National IBM Partner Executive at
Perficient, says that when her organization was an emerging company,
they used a significant number of IBMs marketing support offerings. Now
that Perficient has grown significantly it can afford to expand its own
marketing team. However, the company finds it is effective to leverage
IBMs Co-Marketing funds to expand its marketing reach. To be effective,
however, you need to understand the requirements for IBM Software CoMarketing funds. For example, if you complete your marketing campaigns
and keep IBM informed on the success you are having in bringing in new
business based on campaign results you can receive funds to support your
activities. This is a great way to grow your business since the more success
you have the more co-marketing funds you receive. Successful Business
Partners often leverage co-marketing funds to increase and deepen their
own marketing efforts and continue to expand on go to market activities.

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Conclusion
There are many years of accumulated experience behind the best practice
recommendations detailed in this paper. One of the strongest messages from
the IBM Software Business Partners we interviewed is to be proactive in building
your relationship with IBM. You need to demonstrate your value to IBM by
developing deep expertise in IBM Software and supporting your customers with
industry solutions that leverage IBMs core technologies. Use IBM PartnerWorld
as a starting point to get connected and engage with IBM. But dont stop there.
Meet with your Value Added Distributor to find out how they can help. Reach
out to your IBM Software Business Partner Sales Representative, arrange to
meet with IBM executives at conferences, follow IBM news on social media, and
connect on the IBM Business Partner LinkedIn Group.

Use IBM PartnerWorld

as a starting point to get
connected and engage with
IBM. Meet with your Value
Added Distributor to find out
how they can help.

Here is how to find excellent resource material to help you get started on your
journey to success as an IBM Software Business Partner:
Twitter:

Follow IBM on Twitter @ibmpartners and with hashtag #IBMPartners

Blogs:

IBM Software Business Partner blog

http://ibm.com/blogs/businesspartners
IBM Business Partner Voices blog
http://businesspartnervoices.com/
LinkedIn:

IBM Software Business Partners LinkedIn group

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IBM-Software-Business-Partners-1996515
YouTube:

IBM Software Channels

http://www.youtube.com/ibmswchannels
Web:

IBM PartnerWorld
http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/software
We would like to acknowledge the following partners for sharing their
experiences and offering recommendations on best practices for partnering with
IBM: CDW, Fritz & Macziol, Icaro Technologies, The Ironside Group, LPA Systems,
PMSquare Pty Ltd., and Perficient. In addition, we appreciate the input from
Channel-Pros, a provider of consulting services to IBM Business Partners.

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About Hurwitz & Associates

Hurwitz & Associates is a strategy consulting, market research and analyst firm that focuses on how
technology solutions solve real world customer problems. Hurwitz research concentrates on disruptive
technologies, such as Big Data and Analytics, Security, Cloud Computing, Service Management, Information
Management, Application Development and Deployment, and Collaborative Computing. Their experienced
team merges deep technical and business expertise to deliver the actionable, strategic advice clients demand.
Additional information on Hurwitz & Associates can be found at www.hurwitz.com.

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