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IBM drives its partners to thrive
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Kate Woolley: General Manager, IBM Ecosystem
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BM views its business partners as a critical part of the ecosystem and therefore, it enhances its engagement, provides partners with access to resources, incentives and tailored support to thrive and evolve.
While fueling the growth of its partners through its recently launched Partner Plus program, IBM has reinforced its commitment to helping Indonesia increase essential technological skills and realize the value of the digital economy.
IBM Ecosystem General Manager Kate Woolley explained how partners were involved in the early process of designing the IBM Partner Plus program.
“I spent a lot of time listening to partners. I heard loud and clear from partners. They said that IBM was a central part of their business and wanted IBM to be more essential to them and to be easy to do business with them,” said Woolley, who has a background in consulting and who loves working in the technology industry because of the impact it has on society.
She added that during the program-designing process, IBM involved partners with ideation of what the program should look like and the benefits that they would receive.
The new IBM Partner Plus program, as well as the new incentive program, was rolled out in early January and will fully take effect on April 1.
The Partner Plus program is a simple integrated program that engages all categories of IBM partners, built on the premise of “how do we progress our partners so we give them access to all of our resources, badging, skilling and materials free of charge. The training materials are exactly the same with the ones that our IBM sales team use,” Woolley said.
IBM Partner Plus, a core part of the company’s hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence strategy, is the result of the company’s investment in elevating the role of partners and accelerating partner-led sales by enabling the ecosystem to become a preferred route to market, offering clients an optimal mix of technology, services and consulting expertise, the company said.
To drive continued growth, IBM will increase its capacity to support partners by doubling the number of partner-facing brand and technical specialists to help them prospect and win additional client business.
Woolley said further that IBM used a simple tier system of silver, gold and platinum levels that partners could use to assess progress. “It is very simple program that partners can see where they are and have the visibility to continue to grow with IBM,” she said.
According to Woolley, the program’s tier-based system is also meant to create a competitive incentive for partners.
As partner businesses grow with IBM, they can unlock additional benefits designed to help them expand their capabilities and find new clients, she said.
Under the program, the existing partners are encouraged to have a clear understanding of how to continue to grow with IBM. “We also design the program to be very simple way for new partners to engage with IBM,” she said.
She also revealed IBM’s new program Partner Accelerator, through which partners can easily join IBM within a day, compared with a week previously.
Woolley pointed out that the partners welcomed the IBM’s Partner Plus program as it reflected the company’s continued business commitment on ecosystem, demonstrated through simplicity, transparency and predictability that partners loved.
Commitment
IBM Asia-Pacific general manager Paul Burton said, “in the context of Partner Plus, IBM helps local partners enhance their marketing, drive demand and bring all together to help them grow.”
“The key thing is to help partners with different areas of interest and passion, whether automation or AI, to scale their skills and have access to education,” Burton said, adding that Partner Plus was streamlined and adopted less friction approaches.
Burton also highlighted Indonesia’s promising future when it came to digital transformation as the country was on its way to shaping the future of digital economy.
Indonesia is the fastest growing IT market in the Asia-Pacific, and perhaps in the world, with 16 percent growth, followed by India with 12 percent, according to Burton.
“There is a tremendous appetite of the government and companies in Indonesia to modernize. So, it is important to make sure that they have the right technology, have the capability and work in partnership with the right partners,” Burton noted.
“Our commitment is to provide skills training and make contribution to Indonesian industries,” said Burton, who, along with Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, discussed the establishment of the IBM Hybrid Cloud and AI AI Academy in Batam back in 2022.
The academy came into existence in conjunction with Kampus Merdeka, of which one of the policies is to build a forward-minded Indonesian workforce that can meet the demands of the growing digital economy sector.
The academy, operated by Infinite Learning, a division under PT Kinema Systrans Multimedia, will be offering courses in the fields of AI, Hybrid Cloud and cyber security from the IBM SkillsBuild and Red Hat programs.
The first batch of 150 students will soon join the five month-program. Three-and-half month courses will be held through virtual class and they will also be given on-the-field training for six weeks with guidance and insight from industry experts in the tech field.
The opening of the IBM Hybrid Cloud and AI Academy is part of an effort to accelerate the growth of the digital economy of Indonesia so that it can become a leading force in the development of technology in Southeast Asia.
According to Burton, Indonesia has an interesting position in terms of digital technology, which is currently 0.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with Singapore’s 3.5 percent, Australia’s 2 percent, New Zealand at 3 percent, India at 0.9 percent and the United States at 3.5 percent.
“This means that Indonesia has still a very small [percentage of] technology relative to the size of the economy. But there is tremendous market opportunities and the market is growing fast,” he said.
According to him, having skill in technology is of paramount importance to accelerate the growth of digital economy.
He expressed confidence that Indonesia with 0.2 percent of the GDP as a starting point would grow to 3 or 3.5 percent of the GDP in a relatively short time. “I see strong commitment, strong passion for technology here in Indonesia,” Burton said.
This article was published in collaboration with IBM
