With the US$5 billion acquisition of Cognos by IBM (NYSE: IBM), Cognos partners needn’t worry about being swamped by the over 90,000 members of IBM’s PartnerWorld program. Cognos partners will be protected, and IBM partners wanting to sell Cognos will need to apply to join the Cognos program like any other partner.
As IBM integrates Ottawa-based Cognos into its information management business, opportunities for synergies are being created both ways. However Mel Zeledon, senior vice-president of global alliances at Cognos, says Cognos partners will be protected.
The integration is being driven by three guiding principles: preserving the partner ecosystem, growing the ecosystem, and leveraging the broader ecosystem.
On the first point, Zeledon says no partner will be left behind. It’s a lesson he says IBM has learned from previous acquisitions, when the new company’s products would be opened-up to the entire IBM partner-base. The old partner eco-system of the acquired company would be swamped, diluting its investment and expertise.
“That was a lesson learned,” said Zeldon. “When IBM acquired FileNet they applied a controlled-distribution model, and now we’re going to do the same with Cognos.”
The Cognos program will sit as a separate, value-based program on-top of PartnerWorld. While all Cognos partners will be automatic members of the IBM program, any PartnerWorld partner that wants to have access to, sell or implement Cognos software will need to join and qualify for the Cognos program, just like any other prospective partner.
“This is the plan going-forward,” said Zeldon. “It not only protects the partners initially, but also establishes and rewards partners for providing value to customers. We’re going to provide support and incentives to the partners that provide more value.”
While protecting Cognos partners, Zeldon says they will be looking to grow the ecosystem by selectively adding partners, both IBM and non-IBM, that can add value in the mid-market, emerging markets, and around creating point-solutions.
Cognos has also set a goal to double its revenue from US$1 billion to US$2 billion by the end of 2010, so partner enablement will be a key priority going forward.
“That means there’s a tremendous opportunity for the partner ecosystem to seize that growth,” said Zeldon.
The third priority for Zeldon is helping Cognos partners leverage the wider set of offerings available through the acquisition by IBM. In particular, Zeldon says Cognos partners can now leverage the offerings within IBM’s information management group, which includes data services, business process management and integration platform and solutions, to deliver a more complete solution to their clients.
“When you look at those different products and the synergies, you’ve got this whole stack of capabilities that enable information management,” said Zeldon. “Many of our partners help their customers in these areas, but in the past they didn’t have an integrated suite to be able to go out there and sell those capabilities. Now they can invest and deliver those capabilities to their customers.”
While Cognos partners are encouraged to leverage the wider IBM ecosystem, Zeldon stresses Cognos will be continuing with an open and heterogeneous approach and will continue to partner with companies that compete with IBM in some areas such as Teradata, which competes with IBM‘s DB2.
Cognos partners will also be encouraged to leverage some of the greater partner enablement, marketing and lead generation tools and support available through PartnerWorld.
Raymond Pineda, a consulting partner with Deloitte in Toronto, which partners with both IBM and Cognos, says he sees definite synergies between the two companies and agrees maintaining Cognos as a separate partner program is the right approach, particularly given that IBM competes with companies like Deloitte in some areas and partners with them in others.
“That’s one of the ways they’re managing that partner ecosystem that allows them to distinctly manage the partners,” said Pineda. “Cognos is one of IBM’s largest acquisitions. I’d imagine they’re motivated to make good on it, and part in parcel of that is the ability to drive business.”
Cognos is holding its annual Partner Summit today, and Pineda says he’ll be looking for a continued commitment from Cognos to investing in and growing the business.
“We have a good track record with these guys,” said Pineda. “What I’d like to hear is more of the same in terms of executive commitment and support. I’d like to see continued investment in developing business together, because that’s what drives a sustainable relationship.”