IBM India to Roll Out Flexible CIO

IBM India is in the process of rolling out an innovative service called Flexible CIO for mid-market organizations that can’t afford to hire an experienced CIO.

“The unique service will be rolled out to help mid-market companies take strategic decision with regards to their IT investments. We will have a team of highly experienced consultants who will work with these companies to help them outline their IT strategies and plans, Customers can opt to pay either per hour or per project,” said Jyothi Satyanathan, VP, Mid-size Businesses and Inside Sales, IBM India.
Satyanathan said that services are a key component of IBM’s new mid-market go-to-market formulated in 2010. “Providing services-led solutions is critical in the mid-market. In our estimate, services account for almost 65 percent of the total mid-market opportunity. We need to help our partners achieve greater sales potential by leveraging services and services-led solutions,” added Satyanathan.

In the past six months IBM has launched six types of services keeping in mind the mid-market requirements. These include Data Mobility, Storage Optimization and Integration services; Managed Resiliency services; Maintenance and Technical support services; and Site and Facilities management services.

“All these services have been developed and packaged keeping in mind the Indian mid-market scenario. For instance, the managed resiliency services have been packaged specifically for small co-operative banks that are mandated to have a data recovery (DR) setup as per RBI regulation,” explained Satyanathan.

So far, IBM has activated 30 partners to sell services. “Many STG partners, enabled to sell services, have seen an increase in their hardware sales. Offering complementary services is helping them differentiate from the competition and creating deep-selling opportunities,” says Satyanathan. “Two mid-market partners, Team Computers and Pentagon have done good services business in the past two quarters.” 

IBM has also evolved special incentive and training programs to enable partners sell and deliver services effectively. “We have rolled out co-marketing programs to drive sales, and have integrated the services portfolio with our small deals management system,” he informs.

IBM has evolved three different models to ensure that partners of all sizes get to participate in the services play. Under the first option, a reseller can be an opportunity identifier, wherein they need to generate qualified leads, help IBM in closing them, and earn commission. Second, he resells the services but it’s delivered by IBM Global Technology Services. The partner gets to set his price to customers and do the billing, and thus determine his profits. In the third option, the partner can sell the services and co-deliver it with GTS.

Over the next six months, IBM plans to add two more services which include Tivoli Live and Connect M.
In 2011, IBM’s goal is to have more partners’ co-deliver services. “In Q1 2011, we have planned for 120 hours of tech enablement for 10 key partners. The target in 2011 is to route 80 percent of mid-market services through partners,” informed Satyanathan.