March 29, 1999, Issue: 835
Section: News
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Highlights: Event draws more than 800 industry attendees -- At Reseller XChange: IBM Rolls Out ERP Program, Pinacor Forms Compaq Team
Jerry Rosa & Elliot Markowitz
Dana Point, Calif. - IBM Corp. is rolling out a new program that brings together its Business Partners and ISVs to capture new opportunities in the lucrative enterprise resource planning (ERP) market.
The program was unveiled last week to a select group of resellers and integrators attending Reseller XChange, an event coordinated by CMP Media Inc.'s Channel Group. The event drew more than 800 attendees, including resellers, distributors and vendors.
IBM, Armonk, N.Y., needs to partner with the channel to capitalize on the ERP space, which is expected to hit $60 billion by 2002, said Greg Corgan, vice president of Global Industries Solutions Sales at IBM. "The ERP market is huge. We have to get much more effective in using [our Business Partners] in this space," he said.
To achieve this, IBM formed a Solution Specialty initiative revolving around ERP solutions and is providing a joint channel marketing program with key ISVs including J.D. Edwards & Co., PeopleSoft Inc. and SAP AG, to provide complete solutions to enterprise customers, Corgan said. The ERP specialty is based on a portfolio of IBM hardware, software and services, ISVs' software and requires the skills training on ERP from the channel.
"We are teaming up with ERP vendors and partners to try and bring packaged solutions to market," Corgan said. IBM also is looking to roll out similar specialty programs in the near future around electronic commerce, customer relationship management and supply chain re-engineering, he said...."
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