How To Build Loyalty

Few channel chiefs reign over a partner program and community with the depth of IBM's. For two years, Donn Atkins, general manager of IBM Global Business Partners, has managed, nurtured and grown IBM's partner channel. His initiative to partner complementary solution providers is paying dividends for IBM and its partners.

In recognition of his achievements in IBM's partner program, Atkins was named the Channel Executive of the Year by the CMP Channel Group, which includes VARBusiness, CRN, the Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED), ChannelWeb and XChange.

The timing couldn't have been better. Less than two months after receiving this award, Atkins announced his retirement. But before doing so, he wrote an exclusive column for VARBusiness about how to build loyalty. Here's what he had to say:

When I was asked to write this article, I recalled some of the countless meetings and conversations I've had with partners during my IBM career. I'm fortunate to have worked with the partner community throughout my time at IBM, from my early days in the field to re-engineering IBM's channel structure in Latin America. I forged relationships that stand to this day. In thinking about these partners and tens of thousands of IBM Business Partners around the world, I asked myself, 'What has inspired such extraordinary relationships? What's the secret to building loyalty and sustaining success among a base of independent companies that can choose at any time to align with another vendor?'

The secret is that there is no secret.

What inspires success in the channel is no different than what inspires success in business universally. Collaboration, innovation and technical competency are the pillars of any company's success--whether that company is the largest technology provider in the world or a small consultant with big ideas. Any success I've had in leading IBM's channel organization stems from my team's ability--it truly is a team effort--to take these concepts and translate them into programs, offerings and opportunities that help our partners grow and realize their business objectives.

My role is that of partner advocate. I'm one of countless people across IBM who is deeply committed to enabling our partners' success. What's good for our partners is good for IBM—it's that simple. Our success is inextricably linked with our partners' success, so this is the mantra that guides much of what we do at IBM and the decisions I make on a daily basis.

As an IBM partner advocate, my role is to understand our partners--what their clients want from them, the challenges they face in doing business with IBM and what they need to close more business faster or increase their profitability. Much of my time is spent in the field among IBM's partners; that's where the pulse of the channel beats. Insights I gain across the spectrum of our partners, and the feedback I receive, help define the course I steer.

Our channel partners aren't just an extension of IBM. They're unique businesses, large and small. They share objectives with us, but they're independently focused on issues including their own profitability. As we add value to being an IBM Business Partner and extend profitability, we increase partner loyalty, satisfaction and trust. Ultimately, the more profitable we can help make our partners, the stronger our relationships become and the longer they endure.

As the world, industry and IBM change, our business partners have changed with us. IBM never takes its business for granted. Loyalty is earned. We can't command it based on stature, strength or market share. A sustainable partnership is built on advancing mutual success and the loyalty that derives from that success. I believe the way to sustain loyalty is by listening, learning and taking action. This is the human side of the business equation—forging relationships with partners of all sizes, honoring commitments to our community, and keeping the relationship consistent and vibrant by infusing it with new ideas and innovative thinking.

NEXT: Atkins' personal mandate. My personal mandate is to advance a culture of collaboration in the channel. Our longstanding collaboration with partners is just one facet, although it embraces everything we do at IBM and the millions of dollars IBM invests to enable its partners' success. Inspiring collaboration among our partners and creating strong partner ecosystems is essential to growth and the delivery of innovation to clients.

IBM has established many platforms for true collaboration. We've made considerable investments in extending our business-partner ecosystem, bringing together systems integrators, ISVs and resellers in value networks. We've launched initiatives that enable ISVs to remain the "single face" to their clients by teaming with one of our world-class resellers. Business is won. Core competencies are leveraged. Clients are satisfied. A winning team is assembled to go after future business together. That's the beauty of collaboration.

I believe the value of that collaboration and the opportunities it creates in the channel can't be overstated. No investment in collaboration is too great, and no opportunity uncovered is too small.

Facilitating Innovation

As passionate as I am about collaboration, I'm even more passionate about innovation.

Earlier this year, IBM released the Global CEO survey. The study focuses on the view of innovation at the CEO level. It's an in-depth report based on interviews with 765 CEOs, business executives and public-sector leaders around the world who represent organizations of all sizes and industry. In the report, CEOs stressed the overwhelming importance of collaborative innovation—particularly beyond company walls. Business partners were among those cited as top sources of innovative ideas. Like collaboration, the importance of the innovation agenda can't be minimized. As the "innovator's innovator," IBM is better poised than any other company in our industry to help solution providers use innovation to create competitive advantage.

My job is to help create the opportunity to innovate, guiding our investments in venues, tools and technologies to inspire true collaboration. What can emerge? Game-changing innovations for clients, new products and services with the power to transform companies, new relationships that open new and lucrative markets—the possibilities are infinite.

The next frontier, where a meaningful difference can be made in the channel, is in skills development and the acquisition of technical competencies.

Endeavoring to branch into new markets, better satisfy client requirements, stay on top of technology trends and cement long-lasting client relationships, our partners each year pursue professional certifications, education and training across multiple disciplines, brands and technologies. Collectively, individuals in these firms possess hundreds of thousands of professional certifications.

Each year, IBM invests millions of dollars in channel programs to help partners acquire new skills and refine existing ones. We offer Web-based skills-development and training programs to make education more accessible, affordable and flexible. Sales teams can hone their selling skills. Technical teams can add new areas of expertise in the latest technologies. Industry-specific education opens the doors to new markets and provides insight into the specific challenges clients face in their areas. Technology is making it easier for the channel to acquire the knowledge and skills that support success (which may be one of the reasons [VARs] are registering greater satisfaction with vendor-provided training).

Maintaining momentum is the challenge we all face in the channel. Few investments offer a greater return than what's spent to equip professionals with more knowledge, skills and competency. An investment in skills is an investment in growth and value. It's good for our partners and for our collective clients.

It's my earnest belief that a company's greatest asset is its relationship with partners. A channel leader's job is to earn their trust, build on it and protect it. This requires straight talk, two-way dialogs and meeting objectives. At the end of the day, a consistent, predictable relationship between a vendor and its partners is what really makes the difference.