"”A strong partner ecosystem in India has been key to our high growth”"

Could you articulate your strategies for the Indian market as far as brand Tivoli is concerned?

Globally, India is one of the key growth markets for

IBM. Tivoli is investing in India to ensure its integrated

service management (ISM) strategy is leveraged to help

clients achieve business objectives associated with

high growth rates and increasing breadth and depth

of business service delivery. This spans the ability for

clients to have visibility, control and then automation

of its traditional IT infrastructure as well as its business

assets. Business assets can be managed through

Maximo enterprise asset management solutions.

Security at all levels is also a key aspect of this

strategy. Tivoli brings to the market the widest and

deepest security portfolio available today. Its approach

is to embed this security capability by design rather

than an afterthought. To achieve these objectives Tivoli

is working very closely with Indian solution providers

and systems integrators.

Could you also throw some light on your channel partner ecosystem in India in terms of number of partners? What is the criteria that you have set while appointing any new partner?

Today we have many business partners suc cessfully

selling and implementing TivoliÂ’s full range of

ISM solutions across India. In particular, we have

many certified business partners who are able to

sell, implement and support solutions in security,

enterprise asset management, storage and automation

areas. In addition, as we have also acquired new

software organizations such as Big Fix, Micromuse-

Netcool, ISS, Tririga and Maximo, and have added key

business partners to sell and support those solutions.

New business partners should be able to demonstrate

appropriate commitment and deep skills in supporting

the various IBM Tivoli solutions in order to ensure

that there is high client satisfaction and use of these

solutions and therefore faster RoI for clients.

A key initiative to ensure this is through our

Tivoli certification program which makes sure that

our partners gain experience by training, and can

fully implement these solutions before selling and

implementing them in the market. This program

along with incentives of the Software Group channels

program has been instrumental in attracting the right

kind of business partners to be successful in the

market.

How does a strong partner ecosystem and channels act as a force-multiplier for Tivoli’s growth in India?

A strong partner ecosystem for Tivoli has been a key

factor leading to high growth for the Tivoli business.

Highly skilled, competent business partners will

ensure a lower risk implementation project in quick

time and RoI much sooner. This builds strong client

satisfaction which leads to additional projects and

more opportunities to expand Tivoli solutions in the

clients business and the market place. Higher client

satisfaction ultimately enhances TivoliÂ’s reputation in

the market as the leading supplier of ISM solutions.

Business partners may also provide increased

opportunities for Tivoli solutions to be sold and

implemented to the existing the business partners.

Tivoli is the leading supplier of ISM solutions in the

market and can provide end-to-end coverage of the

clientÂ’s needs. Very often our business partners have

well-developed business relationships with clients

which we have not normally covered due to their skills

in understanding key client applications and business

environment. This serves to expand the number of

Tivoli solutions in the market place and has contributed

to the large growth we have been experiencing in the

Indian market.

Could you highlight the partner enablement/training programs you have in place?

Tivoli enablement/training programs take place on 5

main levels—sales, technical, implementation, solutions

and industry skills. For a business partner to have

successful implementation where the clients gain rapid

time to value, they need to reach a level of competence

in each of the following main focus areas.

Sales: Our business partners, sales teams and

consultants need to be able to understand how Tivoli

solutions can assist our clients to achieve their business

requirements supported by our technologies and be

able to articulate TivoliÂ’s solutions value propositions

and understand where we are different from other

vendors in the market.

Technical: Our business partners need to be able

to clearly define the current client needs and translate

that into the most appropriate solution that can be

successfully installed in the client environment for

maximum benefits.

Implementation: Our business partners need to

be able to install and implement our leading edge

technologies in the clientÂ’s environment which can

often be complex and varied due to the number of

systems, platforms and technologies that already exist.

This is a key strength of the Tivoli ISM solution that we

maximize the use of existing technology investments

that they have made.

Solutions: For example, Security. Tivoli has the

most comprehensive end-to-end solutions from

multiple IBM brands for the entire security needs of

our clients. We have developed training courses for

our business partners that cover a number of leading

edge IBM security solutions thus enabling our business

partners to be in a strong position to become the onestop-

shop for all clients security needs.

Industry: IBM has developed a number of training

courses that provide business partners with in depth

knowledge on industries where our clients operate

such as finance, government, energy and utilities,

health, retail, oil and gas. For our business partners to

succeed, they require a high level understanding of the

issues and opportunities they face in their respective

industries.

IBM runs training and enablement courses in each

of the above areas for our business partners in India

at frequent intervals and at many locations in forms

of classroom and online. In India, we are also able to

make good use of the Tivoli lab resource by engaging

them in many of our training courses.

In general, what are the opportunities that you provide to your partners so they feel well looked after and supported?

The main opportunities include the following key initiatives:

Special incentive programs: IBM software group

has a comprehensive program for partners who

certify and qualify to sell our authorized distribution

solutions. This program is called Software Value Plus

and allows many benefits for the business partners once

they certify in sales and technical skills such as extra

financial incentives, co-marketing budgets and access

to a full range of collateral and technical resources to

assist specific opportunities that may arise. We also

offer extra incentives for key target markets where

business partners have industry certification.

Tiger team resources: Tivoli has increased the

number of deep consulting skills across the world to

ensure mentoring and support of key business partners

who are implementing leading edge technologies

in the market. These Tiger team resources also have

a partner mission and as a result we have seen the

improvement in our business partnersÂ’ skills.

Small deals engine: IBM Software Group has

increased the focus on small to mid-sized business

by increasing the resources we have for marketing

campaigns to generate leads and opportunities that

we can pass on to our certified business partners

to sell and implement our range of solutions. This

increased investment in people and marketing has lead

to increased business and business partner satisfaction

and has been a key contributor to TivoliÂ’s rapid growth

over the last few years in India.