Making Sense of IBM

Last week's CRN took a long look at some of the recent changes at IBM, particularly in terms of their small and mid-sized business offerings:

"The cost of doing business with IBM is going up as sales are going down, and the vendor, once the partner of choice and a clear channel leader, simply doesn't matter anymore [to many solution providers]."

Steven Burke has been speaking to many IBM VARs and hears much the same story:

"VARs tell me HP's PartnerOne program is driving more profitable sales in every market segment. These VARs, which once coveted their IBM partnership, say [IBM's] channel programs have become less lucrative. HP's SMB sales coverage model also is outpacing IBM's and has gotten a lot clearer. IBM's SMB sales coverage model has gotten more confusing and costly."

And Robert DeMarzo says VARs are wise to look elsewhere:

"If you're running a VAR organization today, you should take a hard look at IBM's product portfolio and how it fits into your business. The organizational changes are irrelevant, but the field coverage is extremely important."

Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:16 PM, August 13, 2007

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