10 Questions (and Answers) About the New IBM Partner Plus Program
IBM partners have six months to transition from PartnerWorld to the new program.
January 6, 2023
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Why is IBM retiring PartnerWorld after so many decades? Was it not working anymore?
IBM’s Kate Woolley: “IBM Partner Plus is the next step in our investment in the IBM ecosystem. We have declared the IBM ecosystem as a priority for IBM, and we are doubling down on our investment in [it]. As you think about IBM Partner Plus, it’s all about that next step in the investment. How can we simplify? How can we make it transparent and predictable for our partners? How can we enhance the support and benefits we’re providing to our partners?”
Will IBM reduce its sales force now that it will have fewer direct accounts?
Woolley said a major resource shift would result in IBM direct accounts moving to support the IBM ecosystem.
“This is all about how we continue to invest and have our IBM sellers focused on the IBM ecosystem so they will be focused on working with partners, working with clients with partners,” she said.
What is the timeline for phasing out PartnerWorld and transitioning to the new IBM Partner Plus program?
Through the end of June, IBM will put partners into the tiers based on what tier they’re in today.
The new incentive stack will roll out in April.
Co-marketing and demand generation programs will start in July.
How will IBM determine what tier a partner qualifies for?
Woolley said that for sell and service partners, IBM will determine a partner’s tier based on their expertise, measured by proficiency, badges and revenue. For ISV and build partners, IBM will determine their tier based on the progression of validated solutions that have IBM technology embedded in them, and revenue.
With the new tiering, how many are expected to be platinum partners?
Woolley expects that to be in the hundreds.
“We want to continue to have our partners build skills and drive their revenue and growth so that we continue to move more partners into that [tier],” Woolley said. “We want to continue to grow our number of platinum partners as we bring more partners into the program and grow them and develop them.”
How will IBM and its partners engage with customers moving forward?
KW: If you think about the skilling and the consistency of skilling across IBM and our partners, [partners are] an extension of the IBM team. This means that when IBM and a partner are with a client, they’re all speaking the same language. They’ve all done the same training.
How will the tiering work worldwide? Is it the same across all regions?
While there will be some calibration among small and large countries, the program is designed with single global tiering for each partner. A partner expanding geographically, if they’re at a certain level, should have a “very clear line of sight as to what benefits they have available to them through the IBM program,” Woolley said.
How is IBM weighing proficiency versus revenue?
KW: There’s no weighting of the proficiency versus the revenue. This is all about building the skills within our partners to make sure that we’re continuing to build their businesses. And this is putting expertise at the epicenter of everything that we do with our partners.”
Will there be any integration of the Red Hat and IBM channels?
Woolley said that IBM and Red Hat would continue to have different channel programs.
“The IBM ecosystem is separate from the Red Hat ecosystem,” she said. “I work very closely with my peer [Stefanie Chiras] at Red Hat as we think about continuing to drive opportunities across the IBM and Red Hat portfolio.”
With the newly unified lead-generation platform, what can customers expect regarding the number of competing or potentially overlapping approaches or pitches from partners and IBMers?
According to Woolley, the lead generation platform’s AI engine is designed to pass leads to the best partner based on various criteria. That includes: “their success, skilling, all of the criteria that you could expect.”
With the newly unified lead-generation platform, what can customers expect regarding the number of competing or potentially overlapping approaches or pitches from partners and IBMers?
According to Woolley, the lead generation platform’s AI engine is designed to pass leads to the best partner based on various criteria. That includes: “their success, skilling, all of the criteria that you could expect.”
IBM partners now have less than six months to transition to the new IBM Partner Plus program from PartnerWorld. Kate Woolley, general manager of IBM’s ecosystem, announced the new program on Wednesday, a year after stepping into the new role.
During a briefing with analysts and media, Woolley explained why IBM is retiring PartnerWorld, Big Blue’s flagship partner program for more than 20 years. Woolley said IBM Partner Plus is the outgrowth of the company’s three top priorities: hybrid cloud and AI, which IBM sees as a $1 trillion market; transforming its go-to-market with more technical expertise; and having an open ecosystem.
IBM said that through the new partner portal launched last year, partners would have real-time visibility into the incentives they could receive. It includes an upgraded deal-registration engine and new co-marketing campaign support.
IBM’s Kate Woolley
“There is a very clear line of sight into how a partner’s business decisions impact the incentives they receive,” Woolley said. “Put plainly; we put our partners in the driver’s seat of their incentives. Our proficiency badges are tied to incentives. So, the more our partners learn, the more they can earn.”
During the transition period, IBM will recognize partners in different tiers: silver, gold and platinum, based on training and revenues.
Woolley fielded numerous questions during the recent briefing. See how she answered 10 of them in the slideshow above.
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