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

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 href="http://www.dqweek.com/Simmtronics-Semiconductors-signs-deal-with-IBM">
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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 successfully selling and implementing
Tivoli'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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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
Tivoli'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 client'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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 Tivoli's solutions value propositions and
understand where we are different from other vendors
in the market.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 client'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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 one-stop-shop for all clients security needs.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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:

face="Times New Roman, serif">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.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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
partners' skills.

face="Times New Roman, serif">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 Tivoli's rapid growth over the last
few years in India.