IBM targets vertical markets, SMBs

摘要

Lasvegas ― Users can expect to see more products from IBM flavored with industry-specific capabilities and aimed at midsize companies.At least that's the message from IBM's most senior executives, who turned out last week to woo some of Big Blue's 90,000 business partners ― a lucrative sect responsible for $29 billion of IBM's $89 billion 2003 revenue. CEO Sam Palmisano, a rarity on the keynote circuit, kicked off IBM's PartnerWorld conference, stressing that IBM and its partners need to deliver what customers want: integrated, standards-based systems as opposed to the propri- etary piecemeal technologies of the past. "The client is insisting on simple, standardized approaches. They no longer want to be the self-integrator," he said. A number of IBM's new initiatives are aimed at freeing customers' IT resources, which today are consumed by mundane systems ― and application integration work. If the integration burden is removed, customers can focus more on strategic development projects to drive their own revenue growth, which will spur IT spending, Palmisano said.