EDS Exec Works To Polish Integrator's Partner Image

But in September 1999, EDS Chairman and CEO Dick Brown recruited Wilkerson to help change that reputation. Now as president of global alliances at EDS, Wilkerson has been leading a re-energized partnership effort designed to bolster the channel relationships that work and shake out those that don't.

"First, you have to understand what you sell, where you sell and how best to sell," said Wilkerson. "A natural piece of that is how to be a good partner."

Since joining EDS, Wilkerson has worked to meld the systems integrator's several thousand partnerships and alliances into a sturdy, two-tier channel model that better distinguishes technology and business partner relationships.

"We're very calculated in the way we do these relationships," he said. "We also have metrics we apply to them to make sure we hold each other accountable with specific targets and oversight to make sure we achieve the objectives."

Wilkerson's efforts have begun to yield results. Over the past year, EDS expanded its partnership with Sun Microsystems and allied with PwC Consulting to serve the SAP market. And on Wilkerson's watch, EDS has inked deals with solution providers such as enherent (Web hosting, managed storage), Xdrive Technologies (mobile storage) and Free Drive (Web hosting, data storage).

Such moves would have been unusual for the "old EDS," said Julie Giera, an analyst at research firm Giga Information Group.

"They had a culture that was drilled into every employee: We are the best, period. Never mind partnering with anybody else. They wouldn't even talk to anybody else," Giera said. "I don't think that's the case this year."

In early February, EDS inked a co-development deal with Mi8, a New York-based ASP. Dave Castellani, Mi8's CEO, said that while the ASP business also is a form of outsourcing in its own right, most ASPs lack the distribution reach or brand power of a large services company like EDS.

"So access to that for us is not only critical, but I would say it's essential to survival," said Castellani, who expects to realize a $5 million run-rate revenue from the partnership by year-end.

EDS now has the SMB market in its sights and is trying to figure out how to best engage with solution providers to resell its services, said Doug Frederick, president of EDS' Information Solutions unit. The cost of hardware and software operation, maintenance and support these days often prices many solution providers out of the market, he said.

"If they could buy that as a service from a company like EDS and then put the application services on top of it and be responsible for that, I think we could help them with a tremendous value proposition," Frederick said.

In the middle market, big services firms such as EDS, IBM Global Services and Computer Sciences Corp. really have no choice but to work with partners, Giera said. "EDS' development of a midmarket strategy, minus the overhead baggage to its cost structure, is something to watch this year," she said.