IBM Initiative Helps Midmarket Partners Grow

IBM wants to show its commitment to midmarket companies by offering its business partners incentives to make investments in the small to medium-size business (SMB) space--and the company is hoping social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn will help.

To help its business partners increase their revenue and grow customer relationships in the midmarket space, IBM has announced the "IBM Business Partner Software Mid-Market Value Initiative," which offers incentives to business partners that plan to invest in driving midmarket revenue through demand generation activity and by progressing midmarket leads passed to them by IBM.

"IBM sees the potential in the midmarket and continues to offer business partners opportunities to increase their profitability in the midmarket by leveraging incentives and rebates that enable them to grow their profit margins," said Bob Finnecy, IBM's vice president of business partner software sales. "This new initiative addresses the business needs of partners serving this fast-growing market and provides support to those that are driving new and continued growth."

IBM continues to expand its presence in the small and midsize business marketplace and to drive growth in the $253 billion sector, which the company touts as one of its largest and fastest-growing market opportunities. IBM said it is committed to helping partners grow profitably, leverage cross-sell opportunities and participate in ample opportunities so they can win in the midmarket. The company is also helping business partners take advantage of sales and marketing resources, as well as have access to deep technical expertise to drive new business.

"IBM's expertise and midmarket strategy align very well with ours, and this new initiative will help to balance our software and systems solutions for customers in this market," said Dan Lifshutz, CEO of Arraya Solutions. "Rounding out our solution offerings with software will drive a higher return on our investment in this growing segment and build momentum for us to capitalize on the tremendous market opportunity."

IBM is also integrating social networking sites and other Web 2.0 developments into the program, requiring eligible partners to enroll in at least one of the company's Express Advantage social networking communities, which can be found on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

IBM said the initial rollout of the initiative will be in 12 U.S. markets that represent "a significant amount" of midmarket revenue potential, including Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Atlanta.