IBM: Partner support program to broaden IT industry

The program will provide support for IBM resellers, partners and developers across the region through a comprehensive marketing and enablement program designed to build broader access to technology skills, services and capabilities for businesses in the Middle East.

"Broadening access to the IT market will be beneficial for customers and channel members alike. The more support given to the channel, the stronger the market will become in terms of choice, service and product development," said Mourad Zohny, IBM Business Partner Organization manager, Middle East. "And that will, in turn, drive access to richer capabilities for a larger number of companies in the region that today perhaps do not feel so confident in building out their technology resources."

PartnerWorld provides IBM channel partners support in terms of selling, marketing, research, technical support, training and certification and more. "Our PartnerWorld program gives all our partners technical support regardless of what facet of the channel they are involved in," said Zohny. More information on PartnerWorld is available on the website at www.ibm.com/partnerworld.

The move to broaden the number of partners working with IBM's offerings, in conjunction with increasing the depth of information, skills and capabilities available to them, will help to drive market growth in the region, particularly in the under-penetrated SMB segment, according to Zohny. "A lot of IT vendors have been talking about developing the SMB business, which is undoubtedly something of an untapped market in the region. We believe that the way to do this is to give businesses access to better skills, better support and better service capabilities through investing in our partners."

IBM's PartnerWorld program will be introduced at IBM's Business Partner Executive Conference (BPEC) on the 10th and 11th of March in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai.