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IBM to spend 500 mn USD on Express plan
 IBM
India has launched a portfolio of Express offerings and programs designed and
priced specifically for small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. The
portfolio will consist of new hardware, software, services, solutions and
financing all designed to meet specific criteria for SMB's with respect to
function, ease of use and management, and price. IBM plans to invest 500
million USD globally in promoting the Express plan.
The offerings within the new
IBM Express portfolio will assist SMB companies with 100 and 1,000 employees
that often have fewer IT skills and tighter budgets than larger enterprises in
their transformation to on-demand businesses using IBM's open standards-based
technology.
Speaking
on the occasion, Abraham Thomas, Managing Director, IBM India said,
"Today's announcement is a big shift for IBM India both internally and
externally. IBM has designed the entire portfolio of offerings based on
customer and partner feedback across our line of products and services for the
small & medium business marketplace. Today's launch represents a major
stake in the ground in IBM India's strategy lo lead in the small and medium
business market."
With the market comprising of
60 to 70 per cent in the SMB category, IBM India plans to reach out to them,
offering solutions at miuch cheaper prices. IBM India plans to enhance the
skills of hundreds of business partners to work and deliver Express-based
solutions across the country over the next couple of months, added R
Dhamodaran, Country Executive, Small and Medium Business, IBM India.,
"Many SMBs are looking to improve the efficiency of their core business
processes. IBM's Express portfolio takes the needs of SMB companies into
account to enable these companies to operate in a more responsive, flexible
and cost effective manner in order to better serve customers and grow revenue,
reduce inventory levels or to take costs out of their supply chain."
With the new Express
portfolio, IBM India will further enable its network of over 750 business
partners, vars, independent software vendors (ISVs), systems integrators and
consultants to deliver complete solutions to SMB businesses in the country.
All Express offerings are business partner enabled. To support the launch of
Express portfolio, IBM has announced a worldwide advertising campaign wherein
IBM will spend over $200 million in demand generation in 2003 to drive
awareness of IBM and business partners solutions for SMB customers.
A problem which many
companies face is the sourcing of material. Purchases from different vendors
also lead to problems regarding integration. IBM will offer all purchases
through them as a single agency, that too from open sources, so that
companies' problems regarding integration are over, Dhamodaran said.
As part of its announcement
IBM is launching the following new Express offerings which are designed and
priced specifically for SMBs:
HARDWARE
A new programme offering ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops from
IBM's personal computing division (PCD) will offer quick new ways for SMB
customers to buy, install and manage their computer systems.
SOFTWARE
WebSphere commerce Express is a new software offering designed to make it
faster, easier and less expensive for SMBs to create and manage e-commerce
sites.
WebSphere
MQ
Express is designed to make it very easy to connect a variety of different
applications together so businesses can efficiently share critical data across
their IT infrastructure.
SERVICES
IBM will deliver a range of services including packaged implementation,
infrastructure support and managed services designed specifically for SMB
companies as part of IBM Global Services Express Portfolio.
For more information on IBM, visit: www.ibm.com
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