Biggish Blue has released details of its revamped channel programme which will start in January 2017.
Apparently the men in suits want to better define the relationship a partner has with IBM and have a common terms used across its channel programmes.
Like most things IBMish this will involve lots of business speak. For example IBM is standardising on the term “competencies” and will have 44 “competencies” in place by the beginning of 2017.
IBM will have new cloud incentives that last the entire life of the renewal process and there will be a programme that specifically rewards builders of IBM embedded systems.
Some new IBM services will only be resold by channel partner. These will be aimed at midmarket customers that the IBM direct sales force does not normally bother with.
IBM wants to put more cash into its channel and give resources to partners that develop its intellectual property.
To fund those investments, IBM is also limiting the amount of money it invests in partners that focus mainly on order fulfilment.
Partners will be assigned a platinum, gold or silver designation based on the amount of revenue being generated over a specific time period, customer satisfaction with that partner and the number of competencies attained. The actual size of the partner will be less relevant in attaining those designations.
