IBM claims resellers can cash in on GRC
IBM Software wants to help partners in this fast-growing market
IBM Software has teamed up with analyst firm IDL to help its channel partners identify new opportunities in the fast-growing governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) market.
The initiative – which IBM claims is an industry first – has been piloted through five key partners: Morse, Computacenter, Portal Partnership, Logicalis and Basilica. However, it is now being opened up to the rest of IBM’s software reseller base.
Speaking to CRN, Diane Howarth, business partner co-marketing manager at IBM, said the initiative follows IBM’s development of the first end-to-end ‘design and build’ solution for a pre-defined GRC policy.
“Working with IDL, we have identified the first set of key business issues that are affecting the market,” she said. “We can give partners the support – in terms of independent consultancy and the software technology – to identify a set of leads which they can then follow up on and close.”
Howarth added that the scheme covers SME and enterprise end-users.
“Previously, GRC was largely in the enterprise space, but because of new standards, this has opened the market up to SME partners that can help their customers cut costs,” she said.
IBM is aiming to build on the programme and extend it to cover other key business issues in future, Howarth added.
Duncan Alldis, sales manager at Morse, said the scheme was a refreshing change.
“There are not many vendors that will invite partners into a scheme such as this,” he said. “It is very much a business issue-led campaign and we are already able to identify tangible benefits. Although Morse is well known in the market, it also helps add more substance to our business branding and I will be interested to see how the subsequent phases go.”