IBM Offers Vertical Industry Certifications For Software Resellers

IBM is expanding its channel partner certification program, offering software resellers higher margins and other incentives to become certified as vertical industry experts.

The vendor also is creating a security technology certification for channel partners and launching an effort to help ISV partners develop vertical-industry focused products. IBM unveiled the new initiatives, part of the company's Software Value Plus (SVP) program, on Tuesday at the IBM Smarter Industries Symposium in Barcelona, Spain.

The new industry certifications for solution providers and systems integrators are voluntary, however, in contrast to the product certifications that IBM began requiring its software resellers to complete starting earlier this year.

"We expect the industry certifications to be very popular in the midmarket," said Sandy Carter, vice president of software business partners and midmarket, in an interview.

The market opportunity for industry-focused solutions is expected to reach $123 billion this year, Carter said, and market researcher IDC has found that 65 percent of businesses are willing to pay a premium for services from solution providers with vertical industry expertise.

IBM will be offering certifications for partners with expertise in the health care, banking, energy and utilities, government, automotive, aerospace, chemical and petroleum, retail, insurance and telecommunications industries.

Solution providers who achieve certification in one or more specific vertical industries will earn additional "Software Value Incentive" margins of 15 percent, along with additional co-marketing and lead-generation assistance, Carter said.

Certified resellers will have the right to use the "Authorized Software Value Plus - Industry" designation. They also will have access to a number of IBM industry assets, ranging from Cognos business intelligence blueprints, data models for specific industries like financial services, IBM research, process and requirements models, and "technical accelerator" templates.

"No one has the breadth of those assets, let alone [the ability to] make them available to their business partners," Carter said.

To qualify for an industry certification, solution providers must be certified in an IBM product, pass a mastery test that demonstrates their expertise in the chosen vertical, have a solution that's aligned with IBM's vertical industry strategy and software frameworks, provide three customer references, and demonstrate industry leadership through awards and blogs. And they must win certification from a board made up of IBM business partner, industry and technical managers.

IBM has already certified nine solution provider partners through a pilot program, including U.S. partners Ascendant Technology, Summa Technology and Ultramatics in health care; Prolifics in energy and utilities; and Crossview in retail. Internationally certified partners include Croz in Croatia and Elinar Ltd. in Finland, certified for their government expertise; ISF Alpiz C.A. in Venezuela certified for banking; and Informatica El Corte Ingles in Spain certified for the insurance industry.

Next: IBM Sets Bar High For Security Software Certification

"The designation from IBM is an important one. It's recognition that in addition to having deep technical skills, we can provide the business 'what' around the technical solutions," said Ascendant President Jim Deters, in an interview. "Customers are looking more and more for [solution providers] who understand their specific business issues."

Deters said Ascendant was already developing the kinds of capabilities IBM is requiring for certification. Still, the questioning from the IBM board was very rigorous. And that's OK with Deters. "We want the bar to be set high enough so the [certification] designation has meaning in the market," he said.

The new security authorization certification reflects the fact that customers are increasingly buying security solutions rather than point products: IDC said spending for end-to-end security solutions is growing three times faster than for specific security products, reaching $23 billion by 2015.

Partners with the certification will be authorized to sell security solutions incorporating IBM InfoSphere, IBM Internet Security (IIS), Optim, Rational, Tivoli and WebSphere technologies. As with the Industry Authorization program, partners will win additional financial incentives on security software sales and the right to use the "Authorized Software Plus – Security" brand.

To qualify security technology partners must complete security mastery and technical certification tests, provide customer references that demonstrate the partner's proficiency, and register their solution with IBM. But certification in individual IBM security products is not a prerequisite for the new program.

The Industry Authorization effort will provide ISV partners with assistance in becoming experts in vertical markets and developing applications that leverage IBM's industry framework templates. More than 150 ISVs have built applications on those frameworks since they were developed in 2008. Along with access to IBM technical resources ISVs in the Industry Authorization program will receive business development and demand generation funds for industry-specific marketing campaigns.