Business Partner Café

Want to earn more with IBM Software in 2012? Visit the onsite experts to explore IBM Software tools, such as the Business Partner Profitability tool, the Grow Your Business tool, and the Business Partner Locator. We can help you market your company to potential clients and to easily find complementary products to add to your current IBM Software portfolio.

Are you really leveraging your install base? While new customer acquisition is absolutely important, ICS drives a majority of its revenue from our existing install base. We do that with what we call subscription and support, or S&S.

In one bundled offering, S&S provides clients no cost access to product enhancements, new releases, and high quality technical support for a product they have purchased. Talk to our experts to learn more about how to fully leverage and tap your install base to generate revenue.

Delivering a total solution to your customers makes good business sense for you and for them. By bundling IBM Software into your solution, you provide your customers with all the software necessary to deploy, run, and manage your application. IBM Application-Specific Licensing (ASL) provides you the vehicle to deliver your solution bundled with IBM Software. To meet with an ASL expert and learn more, sign in at the Business Partner Café info desk; and we’ll arrange for a face-to-face meeting. Also, stop by for an invitation to the ASL Reception on Tuesday, January 17.

IBM Demand Generation programs are designed for your business success. Talk to us about our offerings and see how and why smaller deals in larger volumes equals big opportunity. Our IBM experts can talk to you about IBM products, programs, and assets that are available to help you be successful in the mid-market.

IBM Global Financing—affordable, simple, and accessible financing for smarter IT solutions. IT budgets remain tight, yet savvy companies, whether it’s clients or your own firm, must invest if they want to grow. Break through budget limitations with IBM Global Financing solutions. Simplify software, hardware, and service solutions, including your own services, into a single, affordable monthly payment for your clients. Help free up cash for more strategic investments and better align costs to expected business benefits. Come by and discuss how you can use financing solutions to grow your business. Have the BP Café info desk set up an appointment with us or join us at booth #IBM23 on the showcase floor.

Software Value Incentive (SVI) and Value Advantage Plus (VAP) are IBM’s two premier Business Partner incentive programs for software. In addition, these two programs are key value metrics for Business Partner participation in Software Value Plus (SVP). Join members of the IBM team to learn the most effective approaches in executing the SVI process.

SVI offers benefits to resellers and influencers for IBM eligible products. Discover how to effectively leverage this Software Group offering to maximize your return from IBM for being a valued SWG Business Partner. Obtain critical productivity tools to enable your team, learn how to secure eligibility, manage the life cycle, and successfully submit opportunities for payment of SVI fees.

We can also answer your questions about VAP, IBM’s premier value add reseller offering. VAP is ideal for solution providers who have a repeatable solution built around IBM middleware or for resellers who are adding value to government end user opportunities.

Whether you are a new or existing Business Partner, come meet the PartnerWorld experts who are here to help you maximize your PartnerWorld relationship. They will answer specific questions you may have, help you with your PartnerWorld profile, and tell you about key PartnerWorld benefits based on your company needs.

The cloud market is growing at a fast pace. IBM SmartCloud services for email and collaboration offer a number of advantages for customers. Learn what the IBM strategy is for social business in the cloud and understand what is available to Business Partners in 2012. Gain valuable insight into how to best position cloud services from experienced IBM sellers to win more business.

Kick off your 2012 with a marketing plan that extends your reach and incorporates IBM Collaboration Solutions. At this table, we can share with you IBM social business direction, the ICS sales plays for Business Partners, available progress and close kits, and a lot of content from IBM that you can leverage in your demand generation tactics. Spend some time with your IBM team and leave with valuable resources at your fingertips and a road map to build leads.

Get an overview of free social media enablement resources available on PartnerWorld. Understand how social media has changed the business landscape and how these changes affect your company. We’ll teach you how to get started with some of the most popular services and integrate social media with your current demand generation activities.

Excited about the social business opportunity and want to understand how to get started? At this table, join our experts who will get you started with the social business opportunity. View our Business Partner Sales Plays that provide content and messages to share with your customers. Take a look at our demand generation templates that you can easily customize and start driving new opportunities now.

Join Ziff Davis Enterprise/Channel Insider at the BP Café and learn more about demand generation opportunities designed specifically to help IBM ICS partners and solution providers engage with prospects from our award-winning eWEEK, Baseline, and CIO Insight brands.

Speakers: Brian J. Donovan, WW Business Unit Executive, IBM LotusLive and ASL Sales, and Paul Gunn, Lotus ASL Sales | Dates: Monday, January 16 and Tuesday, January 17 | Time: 11:00 AM –12:00 PM

Delivering a total solution to your customers makes good business sense for you and for your customers. By bundling IBM software into your solution, you provide your customers with all the software necessary to deploy, run, and manage your application. IBM Application-Specific Licensing (ASL) provides you the vehicle to deliver your solution bundled with IBM software. Join this workshop to learn more about ASL and how you can increase your solution value and market reach.

Speaker: Pam Sharma, Marketing Manager | Dates: Monday, January 16, Tuesday, January 17 and Wednesday, January 18 | Time: 1:30 PM –2:30 PM

Excited about the social business opportunity and want to understand how to get started? Join this interactive session and become familiar with the resources available to help you get started with the social business opportunity. View our Business Partner Sales Plays that provide content and messages to share with your customers. Also view the demand generation templates and learn how you can easily customize these assets to get started building your own pipeline around social business.

Speaker: Sean Flanagan, Manager of Social Business Competitive Intelligence

The social business competitive landscape is complex and rapidly changing with software and services competitors approaching the space from multiple directions. IBM is helping to shape the definition of the market in a way suited to its uniquely broad capabilities and reputation for applying systems thinking to solve clients’ most challenging problems. In the software space, IBM most often encounters three distinct types of competitors:

• BPCafe101: Monday, January 16, 2:30 PM–3:30 PM

Major incumbents making the shift to social: These competitors take advantage of a sizeable installed base and significant control points within accounts. Microsoft is one such example.

• BPCafe102: Tuesday, January 17, 2:30 PM–3:30 PM

Pure play social business market entrants: These competitors ride a wave of market buzz and are often perceived as innovators in the space. They are unburdened by legacy technology infrastructures. Jive is one such example.

• BPCafe103: Wednesday, January 18, 2:30 PM–3:30 PM

Adjacent market crossover vendors: These competitors hold a strong position in an adjacent market, often focused on a specific business process and use that position to gain entry to the social business space. Salesforce.com is one such example.