New Tibco Program Deepens Training, Certification

To help it compete against its chief rival IBM, enterprise application integration vendor Tibco this week is expected to unveil TeamTibco, a program designed to ratchet up the consulting and implementation expertise of its integration partners.

The program marks the first formal partner initiative launched by Tibco's new channel chief, Sanjay Gupta, vice president of global alliances and channels. Gupta joined the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company in the first quarter of 2004, and previously ran sales and channel efforts at BroadVision, IBM and SAP. By joining TeamTibco, systems integrators in Tibco's Alliance channel program will receive the same consulting and implementation methodologies used by Tibco's professional services organization and other assistance from the vendor.

Tibco's Gupta says a thriving partner ecosystem will help the company grow.

"We recognize we need a healthy and thriving [partner] ecosystem to enable Tibco to grow," Gupta said. "This is a major step for Tibco, assuring customers they can use organizations that have been trained [and] certified and will be effective."

To qualify for the TeamTibco designation, partners must have a record of successful Tibco engagements, commit to training and certifying their Tibco consultants and technicians, agree to a periodic joint opportunity review, and sponsor Tibco user conferences. Partners also must bring in Tibco Professional Services for the planning, architectural design and quality assurance phases of implementations.

Partner benefits will include joint account planning, sales and marketing efforts, as well as access to Tibco's internal systems for support and information.

"Tibco makes sure that every implementation is a success story ... turning into more license revenue for them and more implementation services for us," said Vishnu Choudhary, CEO of Infokall, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based systems integrator. "IBM Global Services is such a gorilla that it often overshadows the channel players. But Tibco wants to help its resources by expanding the knowledge pool. For that, you need a program that says there's a commitment from both sides."

Infokall is among six regional, national and global inaugural TeamTibco partners. Gupta said he hopes to sign up 30 to 50 partners by year's end, half of those in the United States.