Arrow To Launch Enterprise Partner Portal

The Web site would enable solution providers to post their skill sets and leverage other resellers for services in other geographies or technologies in which they have no expertise.

“We will have deep profiles on core competencies, skills and applications they might sell. We now have a way for resellers to go into a private site to find the skill set they might be looking for. If someone might be looking for WebSphere skills, any partners have that have WebSphere in their profile, they can call,” said Eric Williams, executive vice president of the IBM Group at Arrow’s Enterprise Computing Solutions unit.

Because the portal stretches across Arrow’s IBM, Hewlett-Packard, MOCA and storage business units, solution providers can also leverage help on unfamiliar platforms to retain control of customers with multiplatform environments, he said.

“If partners go in together and spell out the ground rules up front, they can work together today,” Williams said. “In addition, someone may handle enterprise customers in multiple locations. If you’re in the Northeast and the [end user] has a facility out west, you can find someone [in that region] who has the same services. It’s a virtual network between partners that allows you to round out the holes [in your business].”