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In an effort to give server and storage hardware products sales a channel boost, IBM has moved its channel organization closer to the Systems and Technology Group, with channel chief Mark Hennessy now reporting to Rod Adkins, STG senior vice president.
IBM's STG also plans to increase the partner-facing resources it devotes to channel sales by 50 percent this year, IBM executives said Tuesday at the PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in Las Vegas.
"One of the simple objectives is to drive more resources for the partners that are focused on smarter computing and STG products," Hennessy said in a meeting with reporters at the conference.
[Related: IBM PWLC: Partners Seek Incentives, Managed Services, PureSystems Guidance]
"We are committed to providing more partner resources," he said. "And one of the ways we're doing that is by bringing the channel organization and the STG organization more closely together. To share resources, to have a sharper focus in terms of some of the programmatic approaches that we have in STG, some of the different incentives we have, et cetera."
Hennessy said the change is "based on feedback from partners who have said they are interested in more field engagement with us, more technical assistance and resources from us, in order to drive their solutions and have more successes in the marketplace."
Until last month Hennessy reported to Bruno De Leo, senior vice president, sales and distribution.
Hennessy was careful to emphasize that the reporting change does not diminish the channel organization's role in IBM's software and services operations.
"The channel organization will still have a cross-brand focus. We will still be an integration point, if you will, for our partners that have relationships with hardware, software and services," he said. "I continue to have a cross-IBM focus. But [this] also allows us to have a little more sharper focus in terms of STG."
