IBM's North American Channel Chief: Wired For The Channel

IBM's new North American channel chief Tami Duncan says she is channel smart and ready to bring her professional experience -- both as a once IBM partner as well as Big Blue's channel program manager -- to her new job that starts Feb. 1.

In her first interview since being tapped last week as IBM's vice president, IBM global business partners, North America., Duncan shed light on her channel resume and dropped clues about how she will manage Big Blue's 36,000 member North American channel program.

"I've felt a lot of the frustrations partners sometimes feel. I've felt it from the other side as a partner. When someone comes to me at IBM and says something is going to be good for the channel and we have got to do this, my brain goes immediately to, 'is there profit for the channel? Why? Does it make sense, and how much investment will it require and what's the return on the partners' investment?'" Duncan said.

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Duncan, 23-year IBM veteran, said her channel chops trace back to 1996 at IBM where she managed a hardware sales team in the mid-west and where she recruited partners and helped sharpen their skills along with broadening their Big Blue product portfolios. But Duncan gained her deep understanding of what it's like to be an IBM partner during her two-year break from the company, while she served as vice president of sales at solution provider MSI.

"That two years with MSI changed the wiring in my brain and how I think about the channel. That experience is going to be incredibly valuable in my new role. I know every change we make to the channel requires due diligence. We need to make sure we have the right give-and-take with partners," Duncan said.

After her stint with MSI, which was later acquired by Sirius Computer Solutions, Duncan held a number of different positions at IBM that included designing IBM's partner reward program, and she later served as IBM's client director for Avnet.

Duncan -- who spent the last year as IBM's Client Advocacy Executive where she coordinated and managed client relations for IBM's top executives, including CEO Virginia Rometty -- faces big challenges. Hardware sales from IBM's Systems and Technology group for the third quarter plummeted 17 percent in the most recent quarter to $3.2 billion on a loss of $167 million. Sagging hardware sales have partners grumbling and anxious for IBM to turn $2 billion acquisition SoftLayer into a Web service to sell to customers.

"We need to collaborate with partners to reach new markets and look for more ways to drive higher-value opportunities across the board. The market is in a time of amazing change. And with that change brings challenges, but it also brings opportunities," Duncan said.

NEXT: Tackling New Lines Of Business To Increase Deals Through Channel

Despite being gun shy about announcing channel changes before officially taking her new job, Duncan said her mission is to increase the number of IBM deals going through the channel by tackling new lines of business that include Web services, big data and cognitive computing with the Watson supercomputer.

"My focus is on driving simplicity, stability and growth in the channel. I'm going to be interested in taking IT to the next level. But I need a little more time in the job to get specifics on products and services and exactly the granularity where we are going to find the biggest value."

But if "stability" is Duncan's code word for IBM maintaining a channel status quo, some partners that CRN has spoken with will be disappointed. Partners tell CRN they want more co-selling with IBM reps in the field, simplified deal registration and better alignment with the firm when selling end-to-end IBM solutions.

"I have no issue with change. I just want to make sure it's thoughtful change," said Duncan. "I'm all for adjusting and tweaking in areas where we don't have the level of partner satisfaction we need or where programs are causing hardships. But first I need to look at Marc Dupaquier's team and look at his global strategy and see if the change that needs to happen is on a global level."

Duncan's appointment last week to North American channel chief follows the appointment of Marc Dupaquier as IBM's global channel chief the week prior. Both told CRN that the upcoming IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference Feb. 10-13 at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, will be the their coming out party of sorts when they will be rolling up their sleeves and talking channel strategy with partners.

PUBLISHED JAN. 15, 2013