How else is IBM aligning its sales force and its partners? 

I want our partners to see this and feel this as a big step forward in how IBM is investing in the ecosystem, how we think about our partners and IBM as a single team – a single set of skilling, a single set of badges, a single set of training.

For example, in the Americas … we have our sales kickoff, and then they roll around the world over the next week. That is a single sales kickoff for IBMers and our partners. That wasn‘t the case 12 months ago. We had separate events. So I want our partners to continue to feel and see this as a big investment in them and representative of how focused we are on the ecosystem and how invested we are.

Is it still a good time for IBM partners given uncertainties around inflation and a recession in the U.S.? 

There is obviously macro uncertainty just broadly, but I think from an IT standpoint, people are still seeing the investment in digital transformation.