Big Blue's Mighty Midsize Ambitions

When many people think of IBM, they think heavy iron, massive software deployments and armies of consultants built for the largest multinational companies in the world. Big Blue admits that there's some truth to the statement that it's an enterprise-oriented company.

That doesn't mean IBM doesn't offer products and services for smaller businesses. The Express software portfolio and xSeries servers have given it substantial gains in the SMB market. Nevertheless, the company's midmarket share isn't growing fast enough or in the right segments -- particularly among companies in the 250- to 1,000-seat range.

Enter Ravi Marwaha, the relatively new general manager of IBM Global Business Partners. Since taking over for the retiring Donn Atkins in October, the four-decade IBM veteran has picked up on his predecessor's theme of building partner ecosystems for growing revenue, market share and geographic reach. To succeed, though, he says IBM's solution providers -- current and future -- need better tools, training and support to reach and satisfy midmarket customers.

"We're looking at strengthening our own investments so that we can enable our SMB-focused resellers and their distributors to grow profitably in 2007," Marwaha says. "Primarily, we'll do that by investing more in education, demand generation and technical support, giving that coverage to a wider range of partners than we have before."

Marwaha is a commanding figure. He speaks of IBM's strengths and challenges with absolute confidence and candor. Does IBM have problems with its smaller business partners? Yes. Is IBM failing in the midmarket, as some have intimated? No, but it could be doing much better. Does IBM need more smaller and midsize solution providers in North America? Absolutely. Does IBM need to provide more support and facilitate channel opportunities? Without a doubt.

"We believe it's our fastest-growing opportunity now and in in the future," he says. "This is not a new push in the SMB space, because I think our push into the SMB space now is working. But, really, this is a question of redoubling our efforts."

"We welcome smaller partners who have the capability in the local market to provide what the customers want," says IBM's Ravi Marwaha

Where IBM is planning significant investment is in providing low-touch tools that give solution providers access to product information, pricing and partnership opportunities. The faster IBM can put information into the hands of partners, the faster they can hit the streets, form partnerships and close deals. Concurrently, IBM will be offering more training -- in both its technologies and market opportunities -- so solution providers can take advantage of the initiatives.

Part of IBM's ecosystem strategy is knowing more about solution providers, their capabilities and market reach. IBM recently underwent a corporate restructuring, through which its traditional technology business units have been bridged by horizontal slats designed to enable the creation of holistic systems with services components. Not all solution providers -- particularly the smaller ones -- have the technical or infrastructure capacity to leverage the IBM platform of products and services. Marwaha is banking on tying together the capacities of complementary solution providers to open new opportunities.

NEXT: IBM's force-multiplier vision