IBM Global Solution Centers

IBM is instrumental in bridging the gap between business challenges and the deployment of innovative technologies across industries. At our Industry Solution Centers (such as the Global Solution Centers, the IBM Forum La Gaude, Industry and Solution Centers, and Executive Briefing Centers), we discuss and demonstrate several of our methods for integrating high-value industry solutions. At our Industry Solution Centers, we exhibit several of our solutions to clients and prospective clients. Over time, we have fine-tuned these solutions to produce more efficient results and for applicability to other environments. The Industry Solution Centers are our way of showcasing that these solutions have met some of the toughest business needs among a wide range of industries. Figure 4-19 on page 108 shows an example of an Industry Solution Center framework.

Figure 4-19 Framework of the IBM Industry Solution Center

All client Centers worldwide can be identified within their Center category group. The Client Center category groups are:

򐂰 Executive Briefing Centers

Executive Briefing Centers offer sales organizations a powerful tool to help shorten the sales cycle, grow opportunities, and close deals. Briefings are customized to sales objectives. SMEs provide expertise in product, brand, and services.

򐂰 Industry and Business Solution Centers

Industry and Solution Centers are a broad spectrum of Centers that provide sales support to IBM client teams from early in the sales cycle to delivery, including demos, workshops, Proofs of Concept (PoCs), etc. These Centers offer expertise and capabilities in industry-specific solutions, cross-industry solutions, or both.

򐂰 Technology Centers

Technology Centers offer another way to showcase our worldwide Systems and Technology Group SMEs, their technology leadership, and that of our partners in support of the Systems and Technology Group and overall IBM portfolio. These worldwide Systems and Technology Group Client Centers provide access to globally available, large-scale physical infrastructure allowing clients, business partners, and independent software vendors to experience, first hand, how IBM solutions and technologies can add value to their business. A staff of technical professionals, with field and lab experience, provide thought leadership to address a particular business need or

challenge, along with the value of our key strategic initiatives, such as Dynamic Infrastructure®, Smart Analytics and cloud computing.

Technology Centers provide global support for all IBM hardware and software products. They architect and design, prove and measure, and validate and review solutions, based on industry requirements, while highlighting IBM technology.

򐂰 Worldwide Design Centers

Our worldwide Design Centers are state-of-the-art facilities where certified IT architects and specialists work with clients and Business Partners to analyze, assess, and design IT infrastructure solutions.

For details, email [email protected] or visit

http://www.ibm.com/systems/services/designcenter.

򐂰 Business Partner Centers

Business Partner Centers are owned by either IBM or an IBM Business Partner.

IBM-owned Centers provide your Business Partners with customized assistance to help build solutions, grow cutting-edge skills, and explore the latest open standards-based and open source technologies. IBM-owned Centers also provide Business Partners with access to IBM technical, marketing, and sales experts, worldwide.

Business Partner-owned Centers offer a consultative approach to solution selling and strategic initiatives. These Centers focus on cross-selling to increase the clothing rate for hardware, software, and services.

򐂰 IBM Marketing and Conference Centers

Design, build, and operate an innovative and compelling IBM event and collaboration experience, for clients and partners with distinct competencies, to be run in the client or partner proximity.

򐂰 IBM Forum Centers

IBM Forum Centers provide executive-level conference facilities. Experiential solution demonstrations, supported by marketing messaging, and a dedicated staff for logistical, IT/AV, and event management support. This ensures a superior client experience. IBM Forum Centers can be multi-purpose or multi-mission, or for single- and multi-client and Business Partner events.

򐂰 IBM Forum Conference Centers

Host executive-level conferences, including single- and multi-client and Business Partner events at the IBM Forum Conference Centers. Marketing messaging and dedicated logistical, IT/AV and event management support ensure a superior client experience.

Figure 4-20 shows a sample of several solutions deployed in our Industry Solution Centers.

4.6 Conclusion

Make use of these centers that showcase the best solutions. Use them to receive guidance about architecture solutions for your unique business challenges. Then, consider an architecture workshop at one of our IBM Design Centers. To visit an IBM Industry Solution Center, contact your IBM representative.

Chapter 5.

Using IBM Services to

complement your skills and

accelerate value

5.1 What this chapter is about

We discussed the challenges of realizing value from your software purchase in Chapter 1., “Software deployment perspectives and challenges” on page 1 of this publication. We discussed challenges in several categories, including ownership, organizational, and technical challenges. As a whole, this book addresses the best practices, recommended methods, and considerations that can help to address these challenges.

In certain instances, your internal IT organization might not have the required skills or experience to deploy your new software. Or, they might need additional capacity or support to ensure that the new software is not only used, but that it provides the most business value.

More specifically, many IBM services are designed to overcome situations, such as:

򐂰 The project team does not understand the business value of a given product or solution

򐂰 There is not enough knowledge about a product to deploy it successfully

򐂰 Deployment skills for the current software product are lacking and so, even though the value of the software is understood, training is necessary to avoid serious delays in the project

򐂰 A product does not perform or scale (or it is believed that this is the case)

򐂰 There is no bandwidth for people to deploy the software or manage the deployment of software

򐂰 Rapid deployment and quick wins are required that demand using prior experience and patterns of use from the vendor

This chapter is not intended to be an exhaustive list of the offerings available from IBM services organizations, but it does highlight a few specific examples of our services offerings that can address these needs, and that have been designed to address the objective of getting value from your software. See Appendix C., “Services offerings” on page 203 for a list of more relevant services offerings. Speak with your IBM representative about any of these services offerings.