IBM Expands Ingram VentureTech Partnership

The move follows an IBM program initiated in May that included assistance with enhanced field coverage and certification training for VentureTech members.

Solution providers hailed the IBM Global Services move as a breakthrough in manufacturer-channel relations.

"It's a super deal," Ted Warner, president of Connecting Point of Greeley, a Greeley, Colo.-based solution provider. "I think this will open up a whole host of opportunities for us."

Frank Vitagliano, IBM's vice president of distribution channels management, delivered the surprise announcement at Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network Invitational in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to a standing ovation from over 350 solution providers. IGS's goal in using Ingram Micro's National Services Network and VTN consortium of SMB solution providers, he said, is simple: to improve IBM's service delivery capability and to increase its market access and penetration into the SMB.

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"We're trying to move away from just selling products to selling full solutions," Vitagliano said. "This is a big deal. This will improve our market access."

To underscore the importance of the announcement, Vitagliano brought with him John Pratt, vice president of channel services at IGS, who spoke throughout much of the 40-minute presentation

"We want to take advantage of the power of this organization," Pratt said, adding that every week distributors ask him to form similar types of partnerships. "We wanted to start here. We want to increase your access, as well as ours, into the SMB market. By working with Ingram Micro and IBM so we can provide what's been missing in the past."

Ingram Micro and IBM Global Services are in the process of working out the implementation details of the program.

Over the next two months, the different teams will meet to hammer out the terms and conditions, said Justin Crotty, Ingram Micro's senior director of channel development at Ingram Micro.

"We have to figure out the skeletal time line, what the engagement is going to look like, what the hand-off points are, what the pilot [programs are gong to encompass," he said. "There are a lot of [terms and conditions that need to be handled. There are a lot of operation questions that need to be addressed."

The germ of the deal started in May when Vitagliano made his first appearance at a VTN invitational. When he asked how IBM could be a better partner, the majority of VTN members said by allowing them to team up with IGS. "They said IGS is either competing with them or, in most cases, just ignoring them," Vitagliano said. "I told them I'd work on it."

But first, Vitagliano had to come through with some initiatives he promised solution providers earlier that day, such as providing them with deep training and certification on wireless and other technologies, improving fill rates, helping them sell more profitable solutions, and setting up a help desk and dedicating account reps specifically for VTN members. Having achieved those goals, which VTN members said proved IBM's channel commitment, Vitagliano felt he was ready to move forward with the services deal. Solution providers said his timing couldn't have been better.

"We've been waiting a long time for something like this," said Pat Mallon, senior vice president of Condor Technology Solutions, Church Falls, Va. "It's going to help IGS by giving them the local touch in the SMB and increasing their credibility in the VAR space. When I think of who the channel friendly manufacturers are now, I can only think of IBM."