CASE STUDY - IBM
About IBM:
Highlights
IBM is the world’s largest
information technology company,
with 80 years of leadership in
helping businesses innovate. IBM
is dedicated to helping customers,
business partners, and developers
across a wide range of industries
leverage the power of the internet
for e-business.
Industry
More information about IBM is
available at www.ibm.com.
Global Information Technology Provider
Results
•
The Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
Sales cycle efficiency pressures
Unsuitable POC environments
Scarce IT resources
Maximizing sales channel impact
Keeping partners invested in IBM
•
•
•
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40% of “hands-on” trials lead
to the next stage in the sales
cycle
Decreased travel costs
Optimal trial experiences
Increased partner
involvement
Insight into prospect
engagement
IBM Transforms their Proof of Concept Trials
with Hatsize Virtual Labs
Hardware availability, problematic IT environments, and access to expertise are no longer barriers
to successful technology trials and sales.
The Challenges
Sales cycle efficiency pressures
IBM has found that when their prospects are able to try
IBM software and hardware in a “hands-on experience”,
over 40% end up in a live sales cycle. The challenge was
to deliver these Proof of Concept (POC) experiences in
an efficient manner; getting new technology into sales
channel and prospect hands for an effective trial. IBM
has excellent technology centers and online demo
facilities around the world, but knew that many IBM
partners and customers can’t or won’t travel due to
time constraints and travel cost issues. IBM needed
to find a solution that would provide sales channels
and prospects with the full software and hardware
experience, without requiring travel to an IBM lab for
a POC trial.
Unsuitable POC environments
Sales representatives and their customers would
get very enthusiastic about new IBM technology and
invariably want to schedule a test-drive. However,
none of the parties would have unlimited resources
in terms of time, people, hardware, and so forth, to
support a full POC. Also, IBM wanted to be sure that
the IT environment was optimized for the test-drive, but
customer site constraints often made it impossible for
IBM to bring in hardware in a short timeframe.
Some customers would request that IBM put live software
in the prospect’s IT environment, however, “… even if
it’s in a demo lab or anything else like that, it’s like
handing them the keys to a Formula One race car and
saying, ‘Go for it! Gas is on the right, brakes on the left,
and don’t hurt yourself or anybody else on the road!’”
(Art Lewandowski, Director, NA Tech
Channel, Tivoli Netcool – IBM)
Scarce IT resources
The reality is that there are always limits on the IT resources available
for IBM, their sales channels and their customers. Hardware can
be difficult or costly to source for POC’s. Demo facilities and
technology centers are available but can be challenging to schedule
and costly to reach. Each organization has a limited number of
Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) for sales cycle activities including
lab setup, demonstrations, lead management, running POC trials,
and partner management. Leveraging technology to maximize the
effectiveness of these IT resources was a must for IBM.
Maximizing sales channel impact
With sales channel partners around the world, IBM was challenged
to provide these partners with the training and tools they needed
to deliver the most realistic and effective POC’s for customers.
IBM had to rapidly get their channels up to speed on new IBM
products, have them authorized and certified to sell, and provide
all the tools available to help them successfully demo and trial to
their prospects.
IBM wanted to understand how “invested” sales channel partners
were in bringing IBM technology to the marketplace -- who was
spending the most time on IBM product trials, and who really
understood the software. They also wanted insight into how engaged
a prospect or customer actually was during a POC. The company
was missing a real world view of each user’s experience, and it
was difficult to gauge what the interest level was of the prospect.
IBM recognized that understanding the user experience would
benefit not only IBM but the partner resellers as well, shortening
the sales cycle.
Keeping partners invested in IBM
In order to keep IBM “top of mind” with their sales channel
partners, IBM needed to position their company (and deliver on
their commitment) as the channel brand of choice that fully supports
their partners at every step in the sales cycle.
“IBM and the Patner SE can actually drive a customer through a particular scenario; they
can click with the mouse on the appropriate areas of the screen, type in the commands,
check out issues and things like that. So the whole idea of a utilization report is that it tells
me how much time they have invested in this particular scenario.”
(Art Lewandowski, Director, NA Tech Channel, Tivoli Netcool – IBM) Conrad Ogletree – IBM
The Solution
IBM teamed up with Hatsize to use the Enterprise Solution for the Proof of Concept trials.
Virtually no travel required
With Hatsize virtual labs, customers no longer need to be
in the same physicalmlocation as the IBM lab in order to
experience the technology, and partners no longer have to
send SE’s internationally for product trials.
This means a drastic decrease in the costs related to traditional
testing labs in a physical location. With the Hatsize solution,
customers are now able to test-drive technology in a “handson” virtual
environment, utilizing the channel partner’s SE resources
more effectively than in the past. Instead of time spent in
airports and hotels, the SE’s are able to work from their own
location, with the ability to fully guide the user’s experience.
Empowering the people
With the Hatsize Enterprise Solution, IBM partners and
prospects are empowered by the flexibility and capability of
virtual labs for POC trials. Prospects are no longer tempted
to undertake a risky
implementation of live software into their own IT environment
or demo lab. With Hatsize virtual labs, the prospects benefit
from a complete hardware or software trial – without being
overwhelmed by the demands and possible side-effects of a
full on-site trial implementation. “It’s almost like giving the
customer or prospect a race car with training wheels on a
self-contained track. The client gets the full experience,
and nobody gets hurt.” (Art Lewandowski, Director, NA Tech
Channel, Tivoli Netcool – IBM)
Short on hardware? We’ve got what you need.
With Hatsize virtual labs, IBM and their channel partners
are no longer forced to source and transport the required
hardware to a prospect’s location every time there is a
software or hardware POC to be set up. Nor is the customer
trial dependent on whether their own lab environment and
equipment is appropriate and readily available for the trial.
Instead, with IBM’s virtual POC’s, clients are able to fully test
IBM’s products via a web browser, on their own schedule, with
the virtual lab environment available whenever they need it.
Over-the-shoulder insight into the sales cycle
Hatsize virtual lab management tools give IBM a clear view into
their sales cycle. Once channel partners are trained in the virtual
lab, understanding
which partners are
spending time with
THE HATSIZE IMPACT:
the new products
and
presenting
• Reduced lab costs
them to prospects is
• Channel partner
invaluable to IBM.
enthusiasm
Additionally, IBM
• Rapid customer trials
and their partners
can, together, now
• More deals closed
gauge the utilization
of the software by
prospects in a POC
trial. This understanding of how many hours a prospect spends
on the product – and what sections they pay most attention
to – helps IBM manage a busy sales pipeline and close more
deals. Virtual POC trials give IBM a real-world view of the degree
of sales channel and prospect engagement with the product,
and whether or not there are questions or concerns needing
to be addressed.
Passionate partners
“If you make it easier for them to do business with you, they’re
going to think of your software first.”
(Art Lewandowski, Director, NA Tech Channel, Tivoli Netcool – IBM)
The bottom line is that by choosing Hatsize virtual labs for their
POC trials, IBM is able to add more value to the sales cycles of
their channel partners. IBM can cost-effectively provide their
partners with state-of-the art product training, sales tools and
expert support. Hatsize virtual labs allow IBM experts to help
partners learn and trial the products with “over the shoulder”
coaching – having the channel partner drive the actual software
or hardware while IBM’s expert observes and provides corrections
or tips where necessary. This gives IBM partners the confidence
they need when meeting with a prospect.
The Results
IBM teamed up with Hatsize to use the Enterprise Solution for the Proof of Concept trials.
•
40% of “hands-on” trials lead to the
Success Components
next stage in the sales cycle
The Solution Features
The Environment
•
Decreased travel costs
Presence detector
•
Optimal trial experiences
Windows Server 2003
Linux (CentOS, RHEL & Fedora)
Solaris 10 x86
•
Increased partner involvement
Live collaboration tools
Netcool, Precision, ITNM, TBSM, OMNIbus
•
Insight into prospect engagement
Heterogeneous lab environment
VMware
Custom branding for all partners
Many of the world’s most innovative technology companies have already chosen Hatsize online virtual labs to take
their complex hardware and software products to market. Our customizable Hatsize system has removed the barriers
inherent in accessing traditional labs. We help technology communities to easily connect – and efficiently test,
train, demo, trial and collaborate – in an advanced on-demand computing environment. Hatsize applies inventive
thinking and rare technical capability to every problem we solve.
Visit www.hatsize.com to find out more.
For more information, please contact us at:
1200 - 1122 4th Street SW | Calgary, AB | Canada | T2R 1M1
Phone: 1.877.468.5227 | +1.403.538.3295
[email protected] | www.hatsize.com