Tech Data Creates One-Stop IBM Team
The new IBM One team provides solution providers with a cross-trained group to help sell any IBM hardware, software or services offering, according to Pete Peterson, vice president of systems product marketing at Tech Data, Clearwater, Fla.
"The team will work closely with IBM and our customers to identify new revenue opportunities and implement the business-building channel programs resellers can leverage to increase sales and margins,” Peterson said in a statement.
Creating a unified point of contact, the IBM One Team gives VARs dedicated pre- and post-sales support for IBM servers, storage, workstations, accessories and software. Additional services include IBM Channel Program Education, which helps solution providers track the vendor’s channel programs, as well as new end-user recruitment rebates and financial incentives to incorporate IBM middleware into software solutions.
In particular, IBM One is intended to help solution providers hike margins by enabling them to earn IBM incentives through more product-attach sales, rebates based on quarterly goals and software discounts for new customers, according to Tech Data.
To kick off the program, the distributor’s IBM One Team is supporting the new Open Stack Appliance Bundle, which consists of an IBM BladeCenter LS20 Blade Server powered by AMD Opteron processors, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server V9 and IBM WebSphere Application Server Community Edition.