Its a new year, yet same old, same old...

As we kick off yet another year of IBM's 'marketing' and empty promises to the IIUG, lets take a look at how the world perceives IBM... Here's an excerpt from El Reg: -=- Last week, IBM announced a marketing program aimed at helping its business partners get their feet into more doors among midrange shops to push the portfolio of IBM software. The Business Partner Software Mid-Market Value Initiative Program is available to qualified partners who peddle IBM's Lotus groupware, DB2 and related database management, Tivoli systems management, Rational application development, and WebSphere middleware software. The idea behind the program, says Cromwell-Mackey, is to reduce the sales cycle for software sales and pump up the transaction volume. The marketing program was piloted in the second half of 2008, and it worked well enough that IBM is now rolling it out in a dozen US cities, which Cromwell-Mackey says represents a big piece of the midrange sales opportunity. Those cities include Atlanta, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Denver, Portland, Chicago and St Louis. As the BP software program gets some traction, it is likely that IBM will roll it out in other geographies, since midrange shops pepper the globe. (By some metrics, there is a higher concentration of midrange customers in Europe and Asia.) -=- First off, SMB markets for IBM are horrible. From a price point perspective, they'd rather talk to Tiny Tim and go with either Microsoft or an Open Source alternative to cut down on price. (Oh they do buy IBM hardware but even then, there's also alternatives like Dell) But what caught my eye was 'DB2 and related database management.' Ok, to be fair, lets look at the pilot cities. Cleveland, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis. All midwestern cities that are in IBM's Central North S&D territory. Cleveland - 0 IT Specialists that know how to even spell Informix, let alone know how to sell it. Pittsburgh? The same. Indy? Ditto. In St. Louis, there used to be Cliff Koch. Not an IT Sales Specialist, but a software sales critter. I wonder if he's still there. In Chicago? Rob Beal is the only IT specialist that used to be certified on IDS. Not sure if he got certified on 11.x yet or not. And that's your 5 state midwest region. (I wonder if John "Mr. Potential" Sheppard, or Dave P. are still around in Michigan...) Now how can you sell a product without knowing anything about the product? Oh there are a lot more DB2 IT Specialists in those cities. So the sales teams can and will sell DB2. To the sales team, IBM IM is still DB2 and then some add on products like Ass-n-tail and their in- memory database that ties in to DB2. Of course, we're talking about the SSR, and if there is one, an IM product sales specialist. The client rep will sell whatever they can sell and make money on... including Oracle. (They'll be happy to let the IGS/BCS rep sell all the offshore/onshore labor they can. ;-) But what makes matters worse is that this is an article in el Reg. So its not just an internal impression about IBM but also the rest of the world who is familiar with IBM, they too think of IM in terms of DB2. So I guess we'll start this new year, like the last... lots of hope that IBM will start getting a clue and administer the 2x4 clue stick to their sales and marketing people. Maybe actually deliver an IDS based benchmark like they promised 3 years ago.... But my bet is that we'll hear the same old, same old, and more and more of the old timers will look at MySQL or something else as a way to make money to put food on the table. BTW, in Chicago, there are Informix accounts that Rob doesn't call on. Hyatt, which is outsourced to CSC so the local sales team isn't engaged, or Peapod, which has a Dutch owner and again the local sales team isn't engaged. But hey! What do I know? Its not like I worked for the beast. Oh snap! I did. Oh and the stories I can tell. ;-) -G

Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > As we kick off yet another year of IBM's 'marketing' and empty > promises to the IIUG, lets take a look at how the world perceives > IBM... > > > Here's an excerpt from El Reg: > -=- > Last week, IBM announced a marketing program aimed at helping its > business partners get their feet into more doors among midrange shops > to push the portfolio of IBM software. The Business Partner Software > Mid-Market Value Initiative Program is available to qualified partners > who peddle IBM's Lotus groupware, DB2 and related database management, > Tivoli systems management, Rational application development, and > WebSphere middleware software. > > The idea behind the program, says Cromwell-Mackey, is to reduce the > sales cycle for software sales and pump up the transaction volume. The > marketing program was piloted in the second half of 2008, and it > worked well enough that IBM is now rolling it out in a dozen US > cities, which Cromwell-Mackey says represents a big piece of the > midrange sales opportunity. > > Those cities include Atlanta, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Baltimore, > Dallas, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Denver, Portland, Chicago and St Louis. > As the BP software program gets some traction, it is likely that IBM > will roll it out in other geographies, since midrange shops pepper the > globe. (By some metrics, there is a higher concentration of midrange > customers in Europe and Asia.) > -=- > > First off, SMB markets for IBM are horrible. From a price point > perspective, they'd rather talk to Tiny Tim and go with either > Microsoft or an Open Source alternative to cut down on price. (Oh they > do buy IBM hardware but even then, there's also alternatives like > Dell) > > But what caught my eye was 'DB2 and related database management.' > > Ok, to be fair, lets look at the pilot cities. Cleveland, > Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis. > > All midwestern cities that are in IBM's Central North S&D territory. > Cleveland - 0 IT Specialists that know how to even spell Informix, let > alone know how to sell it. Pittsburgh? The same. Indy? Ditto. > > In St. Louis, there used to be Cliff Koch. Not an IT Sales Specialist, > but a software sales critter. I wonder if he's still there. > > In Chicago? Rob Beal is the only IT specialist that used to be > certified on IDS. Not sure if he got certified on 11.x yet or not. > > And that's your 5 state midwest region. (I wonder if John "Mr. > Potential" Sheppard, or Dave P. are still around in Michigan...) > > Now how can you sell a product without knowing anything about the > product? Oh there are a lot more DB2 IT Specialists in those cities. > So the sales teams can and will sell DB2. To the sales team, IBM IM is > still DB2 and then some add on products like Ass-n-tail and their in- > memory database that ties in to DB2. > > Of course, we're talking about the SSR, and if there is one, an IM > product sales specialist. The client rep will sell whatever they can > sell and make money on... including Oracle. (They'll be happy to let > the IGS/BCS rep sell all the offshore/onshore labor they can. ;-) > > But what makes matters worse is that this is an article in el Reg. So > its not just an internal impression about IBM but also the rest of the > world who is familiar with IBM, they too think of IM in terms of DB2. > > So I guess we'll start this new year, like the last... lots of hope > that IBM will start getting a clue and administer the 2x4 clue stick > to their sales and marketing people. Maybe actually deliver an IDS > based benchmark like they promised 3 years ago.... > > But my bet is that we'll hear the same old, same old, and more and > more of the old timers will look at MySQL or something else as a way > to make money to put food on the table. > > BTW, in Chicago, there are Informix accounts that Rob doesn't call on. > Hyatt, which is outsourced to CSC so the local sales team isn't > engaged, or Peapod, which has a Dutch owner and again the local sales > team isn't engaged. > > But hey! What do I know? > Its not like I worked for the beast. Oh snap! I did. > Oh and the stories I can tell. ;-) I can't wait. -- Cheers, Obnoxio The Clown http://obotheclown.blogspot.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by OpenProtect(http://www.openprotect.com), and is believed to be clean.

On Jan 20, 10:24 am, Obnoxio The Clown <obno...@serendipita.com> wrote: > > I can't wait. > Well since you asked nicely, here's some food for thought... While I've harped on the lack of parity between IDS trained IT Specialists and DB2 trained specialists the problem goes deeper. I literally sat across from Alyse P. at an IIUG dinner talking to her about this specific problem. I told her that from personal experience, the best way to change this with no real cost to IBM would be to put a line item in the FLM (First Line Manager) of the IT Specialists so that a percentage of their staff that wasn't already certified on IDS would have to be certified on IDS, in to their PBCs (Personal Business Commitments). The PBC is really a set of tasks that an IBMer has to achieve as part of their review process. This never happened. Now I'm not the first person to recommend trying this. There was a Julie E. who recommended it when trying to get the mainframe DB2 support team to play ball. (Ok so its internal politics) Once it was part of their PBCs they bent over backwards to make it happen. The same message was relayed by someone else approx a year or so later. Still nothing. So what does that tell us? IBM has a part of the solution, that doesn't cost them to implement. (Outside of the cost of training and/or testing). Yet they refuse to take action. I would consider that the lack of action calls to question any comments made to the 'faithful'. If the IDS business was growing in terms of customer base, they would need to have more IT specialists up to speed on IDS. Its not happening. I'm not going to call Jerry Keesee and his team liars. I believe that there is growth. Just not growth being supported directly by IBM. I just find it interesting that they (IBM) are not trying to capitalize on the growth. But hey! Its 2009. I guess I wasn't on Jerry's 2008 X-mas card list. :-( So what is IBM doing to make this a banner year for IDS? You can build a better product, but that doesn't mean you're going to get more revenue or sales from it when no one knows it exists. But hey! What do I know? Its not like customers are curious about how IBM can sell a product that its own sales teams can't support. L8r -G

> On Jan 20, 10:24 am, Obnoxio The Clown <obno...@serendipita.com> > wrote: > > > > > I can't wait. > > > Oh and one more "gift". IBM has an issue in that they don't want to publish and form of IDS success stories. I mean very few if any success case stories exist. Why is it that IBM can't do benchmarks on IDS and publish them? There are a lot of IBM hardware benchmarks running DB2, Microsoft and even *SYBASE*, talk about a legacy system... ;-) But no IDS. Rumors of testing IDS on cell chips. Turing a playstation 3 into a linux box running IDS. All unofficial. Yet no bench mark of IDS running on a cell blade in a blade station. Its not like IBM's DB2 is ported or going to be show cased on cell. Its been recommended ad nauseum that IBM do a little funding to help promote IDS in certain situations that would get the word out. Not too expensive really. You can lease IBM hardware, work at an IBM 'tec' center, and put together a winning and compelling story that would be of interest to those not already in the Informix fold. But that's not happening. For some reason IBM will only pay lip service to the 'faithful' and when it comes to putting the rubber to the road, oops look at the time, I've got an urgent con call to deal with sales issues in Asia Pac. That sort of says it all. -G PS. Ever also note that by the time the person who is tasked to handle these issues is supposed to deliver, they are shipped to a different job and the next person starts in trying to pick up the make believe pieces? Naw I'm not bitter. I just thought it time to show that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes. Maybe by the time April hits, IBM will have the chance to spin some new BS. After all cow patties are considered a green source of fuel. ;-) _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_explore_012009