IBM's New Channel Chief Vows To Go After Lenovo VARs

IBM's new global channel chief said he expects no immediate changes to IBM's channel programs or strategy, but he vowed to re-engage smaller VARs that may have lost touch with IBM following the sale of its PC business to Lenovo.

"A clear set of priorities were put in place in the business partner organization under Donn [Atkins], and those priorities have resulted in moving us in the right trajectory," said Ravindra Marwaha, who is replacing Donn Atkins as IBM's general manager Global Business Partners.

Marwaha

"At the moment, my focus is to make sure those priorities continue and are reinforced," Marwaha said.

Still, going after Lenovo VARs whose previous relationship with IBM was primarily through its PC business will be a top priority, Marwaha said. IBM currently has a plan to recruit as many as 5,000 new global channel partners, including many former partners that primarily had a relationship with IBM through its PC business.

"In this particular stage of the IT industry it is possible and in fact desirable that IBM should have a relationship with a very large number of resellers and partners," he said. "This [recruitment] initiative was done to address that. If any of the partners feel that their relationship has gotten weaker, it is something that we should immediately step up and address." Atkins said the Lenovo channel is a partner set that Marwaha knows "better than any of us, and he can only help our initiative."

Mawaha was most recently president of Asia Pacific and senior vice president of Lenovo Group. In the position, he was responsible for sales, marketing, operations and service and support, in addition to full profit and loss responsibility.

Atkins, who retired Thursday after 30 years at IBM, meanwhile, did not rule out resurfacing at some point in the IT industry. "I've had some things I've been thinking about and some conversations that I've been having," he said. "I'm reflecting on a lot of fun and experience and success I've had over the last 30 years and I'm probably not going to sit on some beach at least all of the time yet."