Update On Palmisano's PartnerWorld Plans

Just a short update to yesterday's entry on Sam Palmisano's trip to PartnerWorld. Turns out Big Blue's CEO will be giving the keynote speech at the event in St. Louis on May 1, not a brief fly-by stage appearance. So, partners, stayed tuned to see what he has to say and, more importantly, what he might have to offer.

On that note, more than a few of you e-mailed me some readymade questions for Sam P., which I have included below:

"In the future, is IBM looking in SMB for many small boutique partners that carry IBM as a small part of their business, or...is there a model where IBM sees partners remaining IBM-centric, and profitable?" -- Dan Lowery

"What will be the future importance and role of Business Partners be within IBM? Will there still be a 'Business Partner Charter'?" --Heinz-Paul Bonn

"I left IBM in January after 18 years at IBM. In my new capacity, I am amazed at how difficult IBM is making it for VARs to do business with our clients in the X-Series space. I would like to understand what IBM is doing to simplify the process for ordering, checking inventory, extending special bid pricing, etc. HP and other OEMs seem to get it, but IBM is way to slow to react." -- Mark E.

Keep the questions coming. Write me at [email protected].