Building Rock-Solid Relationships with Partners

Sundar N Balasubramanian
Country Manager - STG Channels, SI & ISV,
IBM India South Asia 

IT Giant IBM recently rolled out Channel Yatra, a new initiative by the Big Blue in India to engage more vigorously with its partners, focussing its attention on the solutions-centric approach to enable partners deliver greater value to their clients.

In a bid to deliver the best of what it promises and guarantee client satisfaction, IBM announced Channel Yatra in the month of August. Sundar N Balasubramanian, Country Manager – STG Channels, SI & ISV, IBM India South Asia, says, IBM, as always, is meeting its commitment to help drive growth and profitability for its partners who stand quite high in Big Blue's scheme of things. 

The agenda for Channel Yatra has been designed specifically for business partners from IBM's channel ecosystem in India. 

This initiative by IBM is considered to be an honest best effort to grow partner's participation across brands to increase partner profitability as well as highlight the concept of solution bundles that help channel partners sell and position their products better. The move will help the partners develop expertise needed for selling solutions. Needless to say, this expertise can stand them in good stead in gaining more business. 

The Channel Yatra is a highly effective initiative that builds our Business Partner interface, optimize IBM channel marketing and enhance Business Partner incentives across the brands, says Sundar N Balasubramanian, Country Manager – STG Channels, SI & ISV, IBM India South Asia.  In a Q & A with VARINDIA he details the solution-in-a-box approach to enable Business Partners on value sale and customized solutions.

With the passage of time, the IT giant has built rock solid, trust- based relationships with its many channel partners.

The event has concluded in Delhi and Mumbai, with Bangalore Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata set to roll out this month. Over 50 CEOs of various partner organizations in Delhi and Mumbai celebrated the achievements of top performers from IBM Business Partners.

Channel Yatra has been rolled out in 8 cities covering over 70 key Business Partner CEOs. The cities include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. 

BRIEF US ABOUT THE CHANNEL YATRA, IBM RECENTLY ROLLED OUT IN INDIA.

SUNDAR: IBM announced Channel Yatra, a new initiative to strengthen its engagement with partners, highlighting the solutions-centric approach to enable partners deliver greater value to their clients. 

IBM addressed the key concerns of partners in these cities by providing assistance in deep technical sales skills, lead generation, sales transaction progression, training and certification in order to facilitate growth. This initiative also highlighted the solution-in-a-box approach to enable Business Partners on value sale and customized solutions. These include solutions like VDI-In-a-Box, High Capacity CCTV Solution, AIX Scholar Program, DataCenter-in-a-Box and Compiler Server for Developers among others. IBM hardware optimized for 15 such sales plays were one of the key highlights of this initiative. 

This platform helped Business Partners to discover collaborative ways to work with IBM, tap into IBM's technology resources for better product positioning as well as benefit from various incentives that are in store. IBM's offering for Business Partners in the areas of cloud computing, business analytics and Smarter Planet solutions were also among the key focus areas. With a competitive marketplace and an ever-demanding clientele, it is important that our Business Partners are well equipped to handle these requirements. 

IBM also celebrated the success of its Business Partner representatives by acknowledging their contributions. The event has concluded in Delhi and Mumbai, with Bangalore Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata set to roll out this month. Over 50 CEOs of various partner organizations in Delhi and Mumbai celebrated the achievements of top performers from IBM Business Partners.

HOW MANY CITIES HAVE BEEN COVERED IN THIS YATRA AND SHARE SOME FEEDBACK FROM THE PARTNERS.

SUNDAR: Channel Yatra has been rolled out in 8 cities covering over 70 key Business Partner CEOs. The cities include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. 

Partners saw business value in the solution bundles, and also saw value in having a richer conversation with their customers on solutions. They also saw this as an opportunity for sharing concerns and feedback to the STG leadership.

HOW FAR HAS THE YATRA BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN HIGHLIGHTING THE CONCEPT OF SOLUTION BUNDLES?

SUNDAR: IBM aims to creating value and profit for our resellers while sell and position their products better. With this concept we are setting the pace for our partners' continued success to drive growth and address clients' business challenges more effectively. Partners are seeing enhanced profitability, increase in ROI and an upper hand from the competition. 

IS THERE ANY PLAN FOR ADDING MORE CITIES UNDER THE AMBIT OF YATRA? 

SUNDAR: We are looking at adding twenty more cities this year.

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