Pay for Value’ Program for Solution Providers
Providers selling Storage products
products
Offer Overview
Pay for Value Categories
First-in Enterprise End User eligibility
First-in Enterprise qualification approval process
Special Bid Request process
Eligible products
Exceptions from Pay for Value policy
Where is it available?
Who is eligible?
Additional Terms and Conditions
Need help?
Announcement Letter: ZWEP5194H
Announcement Date: August 13, 2015
Last revised on January 12, 2016
It is IBM's intent to provide predictable, attractive margin on eligible transactions, as described
below. The ‘Pay for Value’ margin policy will apply to special bid requests for opportunities in which
the IBM Business Partner has an approved and maintained ‘Deal Registration for Storage’ prior to
submitting the special bid request using OPRA.
‘Pay for Value’ categories
The ‘Pay for Value’ opportunity varies depending upon End User discount and product category. If a
configuration consists of System Storage products from different System Storage product categories
(single-brand configuration) or includes as well Power products (multi-brand configurations), the
product category with the highest IBM List Price (‘leading product’) in the configuration will
determine the margin to be applied. List Prices of the hardware products of the same 'Pay for Value'
category in the table further below will be summed for the given price request and the category with
the highest list price will be selected to determine the applicable margin.
In Central Eastern Europe (CEE) IBM may exceptionally apply a weighted margin to specific mixed
configurations instead of that of a single (leading) product group.
Standard Margin: System Storage products acquired for an End User that is not recognised as an IBM
Led Account.
Base Margin: where Business Partners are acquiring System Storage products for End User
customers recognised as IBM Led Account.
First-in-Enterprise (FIE) Margin: System Storage products acquired for an eligible End User that is
recognised as an IBM-approved System Storage First-in-Enterprise End User. See below for IBM
System Storage First-in-Enterprise qualification criteria. It will be automatically applicable for
Storwize VersaStack sales, which are denoted by the specific feature code within the Storwize
configuration.
Solution Margin: is applied in addition to the Standard margin (BP led accounts) in Storage price
requests (single or multi-brand) if the Storage Software content of the whole configuration is 35% or
more, measured at IBM list price. This does not apply for DS8K Microcode Software and stand-alone
software deals.
The account eligibility is validated at the time of the Deal Registration (BP/IBM Led) on or before the
submission of the bid request (FIE – through the FIE qualification approval process described later in
this letter) and the Solution adder is calculated during the IBM pricing process.
The margin categories, except for the Solution adder OR FIE, are not cumulative.
The FIE and Solution Adder margin are not combinable.
For standalone Storage Software the Solution Adder does not apply.
The ‘Pay for Value’ program is designed to fairly compensate IBM Distributors and customer-facing
Business Partners for valuable activities they perform in selling eligible IBM hardware and system
software products.
IBM’s view of the minimum margin for the customer facing Business Partner for each type of
transaction is indicated below. Regardless of this view, IBM Distributors shall have sole discretion in
determining the amount of margin the Distributor provides the customer facing Business Partner, if
any.
Product Category
End User Discount off IBM List Price
DS8k
Value Seller
Pricing
79%-91%
>91%%>93%
Storwize GEN 1/GEN 2/ Protectier/
Storwize V5000/Mid-Range Tape/
SVC/XIV/High-Range Tape/High-End
Disk/ Storage Software only bids*
Value Seller
Pricing
72%-77%
>77%
Flash
Value Seller
Pricing
55%-81%
>81%
DCS3700/SAN/Media/N-Series/V3700/
Other
Value Seller
Pricing
55%-64%
>64%
All margin values are calculated off the End User price.
Bid Code
Margin Category
BP Discount off End User Price
All products
Standard Margin
18%
12%
Base Margin
16%
10%
Solution Margin
Adder
6%
6%
FIE Margin or
VersaStack Margin
6%
6%
(*) For Bids with hardware it is only the hardware content that will be used to determine the leading
Product category
The terms and conditions of the IBM Minimum Special Bid List Price Policy apply. For the Minimum
Special Bid List Price levels check the announcement in PartnerWorld.
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/partnerworld/pub/misc/power_storage_nobidpolicy_febsixteenten.pdf
In case the authorised IBM manager granted an exception from the IBM Minimum Special Bid List
Price Policy as described in the Policy, the email confirmation of the exception must be attached to
the Special Bid request.
FirstFirst-inin-Enterprise End User eligibility
In order to qualify as a System Storage First-in-Enterprise End User, the IBM shipped order records
for an End-User Enterprise must show that no Storage hardware product was sold to the enterprise
on or after 1 January 2013.
Customers that are not eligible for the Standard (Business Partner Led) margin cannot be considered
for First-in-Enterprise validation. FIE eligibility requests for these customers will be refused.
IBM records must show eligibility on the date that the IBM Sales Transaction Support organization
(STS) performs the check on the End User Enterprise.
An Enterprise is an entity defined by the IBM ‘top of the tree’ Domestic Client or Domestic Buying
group number in the country of the End User. The Business Partner submits the request for a given
end customer number. It will be established which enterprise this customer number is linked to and
all customer records (customer numbers) of the enterprise will be checked for machine acquisitions.
FirstFirst-inin-Enterprise qualification approval process
IBM Business Partners must apply for, and receive, a First-in-Enterprise qualification approval prior
to submitting a special bid to receive the additional discount. The qualification request form
(SSQUAL) can be downloaded from
https://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/RedirectServlet?cmsId=pw_ast_exh_general_terms_d
ealregistration&attachmentName=ssqual.xlsm
and must be sent to the following task ID: [email protected]
First-in-Enterprise qualification approvals are valid for use in all End User locations within the End
User Enterprise (see definition above).
Unless advised otherwise by their Distributors, Solution Providers who acquire their IBM Products
from an IBM Distributor should complete the SSQUAL Qualification form. Qualification approval
numbers will be provided by IBM to the requesting Solution Provider or Distributor. If the request
was submitted by a Distributor, the confirmation will be associated with the unique Distributor and
Solution Provider relationship included in the request.
Upon receipt of a completed SSQUAL Qualification form, IBM STS (OTO) will perform a System
Storage First-in-Enterprise check on the End User. If approved as a First-in-Enterprise customer, a
qualification approval will be returned.
Qualification approval forms will be processed and responded to within one working days of their
receipt.
First-in-Enterprise qualification approvals must be attached to the special bid in order to receive the
associated incentive discount. The Business Partner must include SFIE in the Pre-approved code
section of OPRA.
Barring any Business Partner relationship changes, qualification approvals will expire one year
after date of issue to the Business Partner by IBM.
Special Bid request process
IBM System Storage Distributors submit special bid requests online, using the Opportunity Price
Request Application (OPRA) tool. If the Business Partner’s bid request cannot be validated for a
defined value margin but can be accepted, it will be processed using the Base Margin.
Eligible products
All System Storage hardware products and standard, one-time-charge (OTC) software licence
charges are eligible.
The IBM System Storage Product Lists are available in PartnerWorld:
https://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/mem/ContentHandler/pw_ast_exh_storage_productlist
Exceptions from the ‘Pay for Value’ policy
1. Managed Services
Opportunities where the IBM Business Partner purchasing the product directly from the Distributor
is operating under the terms and conditions of the Managed Services attachment where they are
retaining title to the hardware, are not eligible for this program. Where the IBM Business Partner is
purchasing the product from the Distributor on behalf of another IBM Business Partner who is
operating under the terms and conditions of the Managed Services attachment where they are
retaining title to the hardware, are eligible only for the Base margin.
2. Internal Use
Products acquired for Business Partner internal use do not qualify for this program.
BP Internal Use - where a Remarketer retains ownership of the Products for internal use within their
Business Partner operations. These purchases will be priced using Value Seller Grid Pricing terms.
3. Demonstration or development or evaluation (DDE) use
Demonstration, Development, Evaluation (DDE) – where the Business Partner is acquiring products
under the terms of the DDE program.
4. Special Bid requests for sales to customers who have a valid IVO Agreement or other pre-agreed
commercial terms and conditions with IBM
Business Partners should seek advice from their STG sales contact when working with such
customers.
Start and/or End Dates
This program is valid from August 13, 2015 until withdrawn.
This program is applied to Special Bid request received by IBM on or after September 1, 2015.
Effective January 13, 2016, IBM Business Partner Solution Providers in Albania, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia can request new
bids under this program. IBM Business Partners need to define in the Bid Justification if either Pay
for Value or the Minimum Margin Policy program should be applied. From 1 February 2016 onwards
the IBM Pay for Value program will become effective for all new bids.
Whe
Where is it av
availab
ilabl
able?
This program is valid in Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel,
Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova,
Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Vatican State
Marketing channels
IBM Business Partners Solution Providers for System Storage products
Additional Terms and Conditions
The Special Bid Pricing terms may be accessed on the following website:
https://www304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/mem/ContentHandler/pw_com_agr_special_bid/lc=en_ALL_EMEA
The Deal Registration terms are defined in the ‘General Terms for Deal Registration’ Business Partner
exhibit document. For the details of the Deal Registration process please visit the IBM PartnerWorld
website and look for the ‘General Terms for Deal Registration’ document.
https://www304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/mem/ContentHandler/pw_ast_exh_general_terms_dealregistration
IBM reserves the right to ensure compliance through audit and/or to withdraw or modify this
program and/or the enhanced margins at any time.
Price quote requests with ‘Value Seller Grid Pricing’ terms are not eligible for this program.
It is IBM’s intention to apply the Pay for Value policy to all eligible transactions. IBM reserves the
right to reject the bid request or not apply the Pay for Value policy.
Questions regarding the terms or requirements to qualify for the enhanced discounts should be
directed to your IBM Channel Sales Representative.
Void where prohibited or restricted.
Need help?
Questions about this announcement should be directed to your IBM Business Partner
Representative
History of Revisions
Date of revisions
Details of revisions
Effective date of change
January 12, 2016
All CEE except RCIS countries become
eligible for this program;
FIE definition has changed to 1 January
2013
January 13, 2016
December 2, 2015
Change end user discount grid for Flash
System to 55%-81% in amber zone
December 3, 2015
September 24, 2015
Standalone SW added into the Storwize
category
September 24, 2015
27 August 2015
Correction of broken FIE Link
August 27, 2015
21 August 2015
Add FIE margin for Storage, terms
clarification
August 13, 2015
12 August 2015
Re-announcement of the program
August 13, 2015
24 April 2015
Program is withdrawn form marketing
April 24, 2015