Because of the sheer number of small-to-midsize businesses, the number of technology vendors and large systems integrators going after midmarket services business has increased dramatically. "There's been a big push in the last six to eight months from vendors going into services," says Bryan Adams, sales manager at Emerging Solutions, a VAR in Chicago. "At first, most targeted the Fortune 1000 customers, but now they're realizing that there are a lot of customers in the midmarket that are open to both software and services. Most of the companies that manufacture product are really starting to gear up on the professional services side."
Adams says IBM, one of Emerging Solutions' major partners, has stuck to very clear definitions for targeted sales accounts for IBM Global Services. "IBM usually keeps most customers with revenue over $500 million, and anything below they automatically push off to their business partners," he says.
Big Blue recently launched its Start Now Solutions program in the midmarket. It offers eight branded solutions from CRM to infrastructure management for SMBs. IBM has pledged that all Start Now Solutions will be sold through the channel, and partners will get the services work, not IBM Global Services. So far, IBM's software channel sales to SMB customers has increased 20 percent in the first half of this year, according to IBM officials.
Still, even IBM itself says it's a challenge to deliver the right leads to the right solution providers. "Leads, leads, leads,the No. 1 issue with partners is leads, giving solution providers qualified leads that make sense," Mills says. "We have a good reputation with the midmarket for providing support. We're not perfect, but we're fully committed to our SMB partners."
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