Mark Hennessy, IBM

Mobile, cloud, big data and social offer the most opportunities

The four areas that will offer the biggest opportunities in the IT industry in the near future are social business, big data analytics, cloud computing and mobile, said Mark Hennessy, GM of Global Business Partners at IBM.

Hennessy was the MC for the most recent IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference, held in Las Vegas.

These four technology areas were a recurring theme at the conference, with most speakers reiterating their importance to the IT industry. “These four areas are where we see opportunities to make the most difference,” said Hennessy.

He added that the conference was designed around exploring three big changes: the new era of computing, a new kind of customer, and a new type of expertise.

According to the company’s biannual CEO survey, most respondents regard technology as the biggest factor for the success of a company.

Bruno di Leo, senior VP of sales and distribution for IBM, reiterated the need to keep up with changing technology. He said IBM will continue to transform itself over the next few years, and urged all partners to do the same. “It is very strategically important to do so,” Di Leo said.

Smarter computing is about making IT relevant beyond the office of the CIO, he added.

“IBM will lead the new era of computing,” said Di Leo.

THE THIRD ERA

According to Mike Rhodin, senior VP of the IBM software solutions group, we have entered the third era of computing.

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IBM" />He said the first era was the tabulating era, when computers punched cards. Rhodin said they were “machines that learnt how to count. They were mechanical.”

In the 1950s, he said, things started to change. The advent of electronics allowed for computers to be programmed, which enabled a consistent result each time.  He said all the computing that is currently done is based on that premise.

“Now it’s the beginning of the cognitive systems era. Machines that are not programmed, machines that are taught, and learn,” he said. In the new computing era, computers will be able to “connect the dots” by attaching information to other relevant information.

Rhodin mentioned the company’s Watson computing system, which won the game show Jeopardy in 2011. Combining the elements the company has been focusing on at the conference, namely social, big data analytics, mobile and cloud, computers like Watson will be able to perform functions like giving health diagnoses.

“The promise is very real. All this information – these systems – are going to help us bring this new era of computing to fruition,” he said.

THE NEW NATURAL RESOURCE

Jon Iwata, IBM’s senior VP of communication and marketing, reiterated the changing relationship between humans and technology, by outlining instrumentation as a way for companies to ensure technology is no longer about running programs and storing data, but by contributing to a company’s core mission. “But what do we mean by instruments?” asked Iwata. “One instrument we all have is a mobile phone.” He also mentioned the proliferation of other sorts of instruments that help gather data, such as digital cameras, sensors and RFID tags.

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IBM" />“This instrumentation of the planet is pervasive; it’s happening,” he said. “We are embedding what we used to think of as computers into the systems and infrastructure of the world.”

However, now that all this data is being generated, it needs to be collected and analysed. He said the nature of data is changing, not just in volume, but also in variety. Much information generated today is unstructured, and often untrustworthy. “Data is the new natural resource,” he claimed.

The ability to tap into unstructured and previously unexplored data sources is allowing IBM to approach new customers, said Iwata. “Ten years ago, would we have called mayors? Police chiefs?” He said the company’s dealings with clients such as the police force would have primarily been for payroll or backend services. But now, the company has helped implement systems to help a police department in America use analytics to predict, and therefore prevent, crime.

THE WAY WE INTERACT

Where big data analytics is changing the way companies see their customers, mobile technology is changing the way people interact, says Mike Riegel, VP of mobile at IBM.

Riegel says most people with smartphones keep them within arm’s reach, and this dramatically changes the way companies should be looking at customer interaction.

“If you’re a marketer, or a company that sells things, and you realise you could be on this phone, be this close to the consumer 24/7, that’s a dramatically different way to think about selling,” he said.

We are currently experiencing a “mobile revolution”, believes Riegel. Companies need to realise how to get returns on their mobile spend, and how to maximise the consumer experience for mobile devices, he added. According to Riegel, to capitalise on this wave of the business of mobile, IBM recently unveiled its MobileFirst suite of software and services to help companies improve their mobile customer experience.

The software has three major focuses: mobile applications, mobile management, and security and analytics.

One recent acquisition that falls into the “applications” category is Worklight.

Worklight is a platform that enables users to write an application once, which can then be deployed over various operating systems, rather than having to rewrite an application several times.

The “coolest” part of the portfolio is analytics, said Riegel. With the company’s analytics capabilities, customers can track usage data, allowing them to see which part of the app is the most popular when users buy products; what sequence they navigate through the app, etc.

“Getting that type of user insight through our MobileFirst analytics is a real differentiator for our customers that nobody else has. It helps them embrace mobile in the business, and mobile commerce,” he said.

CHANNEL COMMITMENT

At the conference, IBM reaffirmed its commitment to the IT channel. Hennessy said the company’s partner ecosystem is critically important “because of the client insight they have, the relationships they have with clients, and the skills they bring to market”. IBM has a global ecosystem of over 130 000 partners, he said.

Partners are essential to the company’s go-to-market strategy, said Hennessy, and each division of the company – hardware, software and services – must increase their participation rates with partners if the company is to achieve its objectives for the next few years. “We can’t be successful unless the partner network is successful as well,” he said.

As IBM mentions its commitment to transformation, Hennessy said many of the company’s partners are transforming as well. “Many are transforming their businesses to a higher level of value.”

Hennessy said there are several things IBM is doing to facilitate this transformation. The first is to continue to improve the company’s offerings. “From an offering standpoint, we clearly have a set of market-leading capabilities around the infrastructure in terms of smarter computing and integrated infrastructure,” he said. “We have a huge portfolio of software capabilities, and we’re enhancing that all the time with acquisitions.”

The second focus area is on helping its partners get into new markets and obtain new buyers. “Growth markets are a huge opportunity,” said Hennessy, adding that the company’s geographic expansion is being driven, largely, by business partners.

The third aspect is the company’s focus on what it considers to be the four most important IT growth areas: cloud, social, big data analytics and mobile. “Analytics for the IBM company in 2012 grew 13% and business partners were a big reason why. We now have 26 000 partners engaged in analytics. We have eight global analytics centres.”

The last, said Hennessy, is “simplifying day-to-day operations. We’ve simplified programmes and support. We listened carefully to partners.” The company makes $4 billion available for global partner financing, and has made its online financing capabilities available on mobile devices. He added the company is growing its technical support for partners, with some departments increasing their dedicated partner tech support resources by 50%.

LEAD GENERATION

As part of its strategy to help its partners grow, IBM has recently unveiled a lead-generation initiative.

“We’re looking for ways for you to grow, so we can grow,” said Steve Mills, senior VP and group executive, software and systems, at IBM.

The lead-passing initiative was introduced earlier this year.

“It’s focused on leads that are being passed, leads that we want to get closed. We’re very intensely working on our lead-generation processes, our lead-validation processes and obviously trying to drive an ever greater yield for our marketing dollars that we spend across IBM generating the leads we create around the world,” he says.

He believes the lead-generation process will yield greater profit with the help of IBM’s channel.

“We think we can do a better job working with you. Part of this exercise here is for you to engage with us on leads, on verification of leads; we want to improve our validation processes. We want to join in with you on lead validation; we want to join in with you to work on lead generation. And so this is, from my perspective, the first step forward for getting a tighter linkage on leads, lead passing and lead execution.”

He said the company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars within IBM to generate leads, as well as on co-marketing. “We want to continue to improve our joint processes.”