IBM to plough $1bn into partner programme amid raft of changes
At IBM's annual Think conference today, the vendor giant said amended rebates and new specialisations will help partners be more profitable
Big Blue has today unveiled a raft host of changes to its Unified Partner Program as part of its annual conference Think, which it claims will help partners be more profitable with the vendor.
More broadly, IBM told partners that the updates will make rebates "more predictable and transparent", and that there will be an increased focus on specialisation as part of a new competency framework.
Today's program updates include:
- Competency framework launch
IBM says that partners who demonstrate expertise, technical validation, and sales success in specialised areas such as hybrid cloud infrastructure, automation, and security will reap new rewards.
"Based on IBM internal performance data from 1Q2019-1Q2021, IBM PartnerWorld participants that earn one or more competencies drive on average 25x the IBM revenue of partners that have not achieved a competency," the vendor said in a statement.
These include rewards for co-creation of client centres, proof-of-concept incentives and messaging acceleration workshops.
IBM says it will invest more into training partners "to help build credibility for our partners in the market".
"Training to learn market-leading skills, and benefits will cultivate partner success in an increasingly competitive market."
Big Blue says that these changes will go along side an investment of $1bn into its channel.
"IBM's ecosystem is central to our growth strategy," the company said.
"We want partners and their customers capture the estimated $1tn hybrid cloud market opportunity.
"We're simplifying engagements, streamlining go-to-market strategies, and have designed specialized Build, Service, and Sell tracks with tailored offers to help speed time to value."
AI and Hybrid Cloud
The vendor giant also re-emphasised that the company's focus moving forwards will be on AI and hybrid cloud, amid its ongoing divestment of its $19bn managed services business - now renamed Kyndryl.
"In the same way that we have electrified factories and machines in the past century, we will infuse AI into software and systems in the 21st century," said CEO Arvind Krishna.
"What's critical to understand is that the percentage of AI adoption is still in the single digits."
To bolster that, IBM has announced a new fund to help partners invest in digital transformations with hybrid cloud and AI.
"Among the many ways we support our ecosystem is IBM's Cloud Engagement Fund (CEF), an investment in significant technical resources and cloud credits for partners to help migrate customer workloads to hybrid cloud environments.
"Today, we are expanding the availability of the funds to all partner types, whether they build on, service, or re/sell IBM technology."