Re: IBM is so confusing!

YES! We violently agree. Truth is, the lack of notification isn't huge but I just scratch my head sometimes. Why not make it *easier* to do business with IBM? Isn't that the whole rationale behind the "Smarter Planet" campaign? Shouldn't IBM dealing with BP's be just as smart as the ones with customers?

Dunno...just seems logical. Jim seemed to be making the point that I just needed to buck up and deal with it. Yeah, I guess. Just seems like something that IBM could do pretty easy and I could take off my plate....

Pete Helgren
Value Added Software, Inc
www.asaap.com
www.opensource4i.com


On 2/10/2011 3:00 PM, Vern Hamberg wrote:

Pete

That's exactly what I meant. I assumed you are a development partner,
but you must also have been a hardware partner. When I have worked for
companies that are only ISVs and not selling hardware, I always thought
that IBM should be notifying us of maintenance running out. Isn't that
what you also said? Are we agreeing violently?

PID is the old name for PartnerWorld for Developers, right?

:-)
Vern

On 2/10/2011 2:59 PM, Pete Helgren wrote:

Not to butt in, but I think Jim was saying that as a competent BP I am
responsible for keeping up with my customers SWMA renewals and I should
also be responsible for keeping track of my own as well. IOW, it isn't
IBMs job to keep me up to date, it's my job.

Pete Helgren
Value Added Software, Inc
www.asaap.com
www.opensource4i.com


On 2/10/2011 1:44 PM, Vern Hamberg wrote:

Jim

I was speaking of my experience as a development partner, as an ISV, who
may not be a hardware partner. We get the box through Techline on a
lease, as you probably know. In that case, I would expect IBM to notify
when support runs out, just as we do with our software customers. I'm
not sure why that doesn't happen for PID partners, but it doesn't -
there's no other partner in the mix, either.

I think this is different from the scenario you describe here - am I
missing something?

Later
Vern

On 2/10/2011 12:30 PM, Jim Oberholtzer wrote:

Pete:

Isn't an IBM Business Partner's job to understand its customers
environment and assist them in keeping current? Part of that is having
its customer list along with the products they have regardless of if the
partner sold it to them or not and then helping upgrade or maintain the
products, in this case software maintenance, when it is ready to be
sold. That requires knowing your customer's environment and knowing the
expiration dates on the maintenance. Then getting in front of the
customer to sell that maintenance upgrade before the competition does.

Why then should it be IBMs job to remind you to keep up your own SWMA?

SWMA and other maintenance is one of the highest margin deals a partner
can do. Failure to keep up with it separates the average partner from
the great one that makes a profit in today's world.

It is not IBMs job to make a partner have good business practices,
rather to enable it to have good practices. IBM does a great job of the
later....

Jim Oberholtzer
CEO/Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects, LLC