Next generation partnerships for ibm software group

 

 

IBM Software Overview:

IBM Software has consistently grown revenue for the IBM Corporation.  IBM software plays across the entire software spectrum which includes operating systems, middleware, and enterprise applications. Middleware is growing at a 6% compound growth rate, equal to that of enterprise applications, and IBM is the middleware market share leader.

 

Middleware is the glue that ties applications together. Every company runs thousands of middleware applications. These products are needed for messaging, process flow and control, managing data and federation, tooling and so on. Middleware allows people to interact and collaborate.

 

IBM middleware is based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), a business-centric open IT architectural approach that supports integrating businesses using linked, repeatable business tasks, or services. IBM is committed to supporting heterogeneous IT environments via open standards and SOA. This ensures clients can maintain the flexibility needed to evolve to new products and technologies based on value and not on proprietary constraints.

 

IBM’s integrated software platform incorporates virtually all its middleware portfolio to support front-end access requirements and back-end integration requirements with systems management, transaction control, data persistence, and development tools using open standards.

 

The five key areas of IBM’s integrated portfolio are focused on delivering Business Process Flexibility, Next Generation Collaboration, providing Information on Demand, Service Management and Software Lifecycle Management. These focus areas are aligned with what businesses need to enable innovation within their organizations.

 

Next Generation Partnerships

Growth in IBM’s software business comes from three sources:  Organic growth, channel growth, and acquisition growth.  A major opportunity IBM continues to focus on is ‘channel growth’.  IBM research shows that middleware is growing faster through indirect channels and that Business Partners (systems integrators, consultants, solution providers, resellers, managed and application services providers, and independent software vendors) influence brand selection in two out of three middleware opportunities.

As people, companies, organizations, and governments become more interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent a new wave of partnerships will emerge that drive collaboration, efficiencies and cost savings. While traditional high value Business Partners will remain an important component in IBM’s go-to-market strategy, these next generation partnerships will play a critical role in generating revenue for IBM. These partnerships will be found in vertical industries such as healthcare and energy. Customers become Business Partners and merge their business expertise with IBM’s software to generate new growth opportunities.  Partnerships can also evolve with companies that have specific capabilities or domain expertise that complement IBM Software's assets. For example, video surveillance and sensor/actuator companies will need software expertise to produce products and solutions that can deal with huge amounts of information.


Goal of the Practicum:
Identify the next generation Business Partners that can resell, OEM, or influence IBM middleware solutions that will generate revenue and open new opportunities to markets for IBM.  Initially, the practicum would cast a broad net, but it is expected that the final presentation will provide criteria for new partnerships and dive deeply into the feasibility of a few promising and novel relationships for IBM’s software.  

To achieve these goals the Duke team will: