Quebec City – IBM Canada Ltd. (NYSE: IBM)told a packed house at the TechSelect conference something the audience members already knew; that cloud computing is a hot topic these days.
However, IBM Canada added that the Markham, Ont.-based subsidiary is actively working on investing more dollars and resources for the channel to enable more cloud services. At the top of this investment will be the development of a new position at IBM called Cloud Channel Executive. This new hire will report directly to Shannon O’Conner, IBM Canada channel chief. Roy Rivers, business unit executive business partner sales for IBM Canada channels, said this new hire will be someone who understands cloud and can figure out what the offerings are and develop cloud solutions. The company will be doing the same in other geographies around the globe.
Also part of this cloud investment was the recently opened $42 million cloud centre in Toronto and the IBM Smart Business Cloud for Enterprise. Another key attribute to the cloud investment is working closely with Tech Data Canada. For example, Tech Data has autonomy with pricing for all deals $50,000 and under. This removes a step in the competitive bid process as Tech Data staff can now approve these deals without involving IBM Canada.
Frank Haid, the vice-president of Tech Data Canada, said that IBM Canada has the intention to speed up the bid process and this unprecedented move enables the company to work with its Advanced Infrastructure Solutions team and its IBM specialists have the ability now to use the price grid; up to a certain level.
Rivers added that IBM has four cloud solutions developed at Tech Data Canada that are ready to go for solutions providers. They are: Tivoli Live, Remote Data Protection, Smart Business Cloud and Tivoli Fast Protect.
Big Blue Canada is also working on an SMB-specific cloud solution. Rivers said that currently IBM Canada does not have a cloud solution for the “S” of the SMB, but that they are working on one.
Last year IBM Canada blew up its go-to-market model in the mid-market for a channel sales model. No longer will IBM Canada reps call on mid-market clients with zero employees to 1,000. IBM would be working solely with the channel, Rivers said. “This was a bit of a gamble as we took resources from the old model and moved it to the channel, but now we’ve had two profitable quarters since then. The goal is to move to a 100 per cent channel model in the mid-market and I will tell you my day is rarely spent on channel conflict issues,” he said.
Big Blue Canada is also investing in data centres in Canada and will offer two options for channel partners.
The first is a pay-as-you-go and Rivers said this will lead to lucrative margins for solutions providers. Option two is to reserve the boxes and machines to run the data on and this enables solution providers to complete the statement of work and it goes out on your logo. “You can say this is my cloud offering and we can support you and help you customize it for your customers. To me this is our first foray in supporting you. In the cloud you can make it your own so you are not competing with others and getting margins down,” Rivers told many TechSelect members.
In addition IBM Canada has a promo for solution providers who sign up before May 27th can test drive its cloud at no cost. “This promo is your opportunity to get your foot in the door,” Rivers said.