While iSeries sales during the fourth quarter of last year were disappointingly low on a global basis, there was one part of the world where purchases and revenues shot upward--in the Americas region, which consists of both North and South America. Now, IBM's sales team for the Americas region is launching new campaigns to keep the sales momentum going. Those campaigns could help iSeries professionals recapture mind share and computing workloads for their server of choice within their companies.
The fourth quarter of last year was a study in contrasts for server sales worldwide. While overall iSeries revenues declined by 13% over the fourth quarter of 2001, the Americas experienced a double-digit increase according to Paulo Carvao, Vice President of Sales for the Americas region. In discussions with Carvao and other IBM sources, I've learned that three major factors contributed to the Americas success story. First, the GreenStreak promotion--which was exclusive to the Americas region--led to thousands of model 270 and 820 sales. Second, the Americas sales team conducted a massive calling campaign to 42,000 iSeries customers that successfully activated many dormant accounts. Third, IBM account teams sold a large number of iSeries 840s and 890s as dedicated high-availability systems, since Americas customers could get rebates of up to $1 million for such purchases.
The 2003 Game Plan
Now that the end-of-year bonanza from these campaigns is over, Carvao's team is using what it learned from its efforts to keep the sales momentum going via new and expanded initiatives. At the highest level, these initiatives fall into two categories: new variations on last year's customer calling campaign; and a drive to sell iSeries software solutions in comarketing campaigns with independent software vendors (ISVs). Since the second initiative deserves an article unto itself, I'm going to spend the rest of this report discussing the customer calling campaign.
According to Carvao, IBM has identified around 80,000 AS/400 and iSeries customers in the Americas region. In keeping with IBM's pledge to contact those customers on a quarterly basis, he intends to have IBM's own "tele-representatives" contact around 42,000 of these customers each quarter. The other 38,000 will receive calls from traditional IBM sales representatives or local Business Partners.
No matter who initiates the contact, all IBM representatives are doing so while offering specific "reasons to call." During the fourth quarter of last year, those reasons included information about the GreenStreak promotion, a discussion about WebFacing applications, and the high-availability rebate offering. Recently, the January iSeries server announcement has been the reason to call. Now, the focus for many calls is shifting to a new subject: how the iSeries can reduce the total cost of IT by consolidating multiple application workloads, many of which may be running on other servers.
To help organizations identify workloads for consolidation to the iSeries while documenting the cost benefits of such a move, IBM and selected Business Partners are calling customers to offer a free evaluation known as Assessment on Demand. The evaluation uses a spreadsheet-based questionnaire to identify the customer's e-business initiatives and take an inventory of the servers and applications running at the site. It also generates a report that identifies how workloads running on other servers could be consolidated to the iSeries, then points customers to information about the cost and functionality advantages of such a consolidation. In most cases, the information shows how software included in the Enterprise Editions of the new iSeries servers--particularly WebSphere Application Server (WAS) and selected Lotus products--enables the iSeries to cost-effectively support e-business workloads. Customers who want to request an Assessment on Demand can do so starting on April 8 via the iSeries Edition page on IBM's Web site.
IBM's Sales Drive: How Customers Can Leverage It
While some customers may consider IBM's sales calls to be an inconvenience, they can also present iSeries professionals with opportunities to raise the visibility of their server within their organizations. In particular, Assessment on Demand reports could create opportunities to bring workloads running on Intel servers under the covers of the iSeries. IBM is clearly trying to create such opportunities, for it understands that in today's recession-prone economy, sales growth requires aggressive efforts to migrate workloads off competitive servers.
At the same time, some iSeries professionals may find that Assessment on Demand makes recommendations that run against the grain of certain strategic objectives. In its present state, the sales tool focuses heavily on the benefits of the iSeries Enterprise Edition and, by extension, IBM software. If your firm has already invested in third-party iSeries solutions that compete with Enterprise Edition software, you should discuss this with your IBM representative or Business Partner before doing an Assessment on Demand.
If Assessment on Demand doesn't appeal to you, there's a good chance that at least one of IBM's upcoming marketing initiatives with independent iSeries software vendors will help advance your iSeries objectives. I'll have more to say about IBM's plans for these initiatives in a future article, so keep an eye on this space.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
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