REGIONAL CHANNELS
Taking IBM’s
software to
the channel
Gulf Software Distribution is actively enabling a
new breed of channel partners to go to market
with IBM’s analytics, middleware and security.
By Arun Shankar
G
Philippe de Mazières, General Manager
of Gulf Software Distribution
22
ulf Business Machines and Gulf Software Distribution
are listed as distributors for IBM. While Gulf Business
Machines is a system integrator and distributor for
IBM hardware, the role of Gulf Software Distribution is to
increasingly sell out the IBM software suite into UAE, Qatar,
Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. Another gap in the market
coverage of Gulf Business Machines has been its focus on
the high-end enterprise. Gulf Software Distribution plans
to cover this opportunity by targeting the middle size
enterprise business.
“The main objective is to be able to reach the markets
for IBM software where GBM is not so active,” says
Philippe de Mazières, General Manager of Gulf Software
Distribution. Another mandate for IBM’s recent software
distributor is to find business partners that are capable
of reselling IBM software in the markets where GBM is
not so active.
Mazières points out that the IBM software portfolio
is huge and this puts pressure on Gulf Software
Distribution to focus on specific solutions for the
regional market. “We need to be focusing on where we
have good competencies and where the market is also
ready to go,” he explains. Mazières sees an increasing
demand for analytics in the regional market.
Gulf Software Distribution’s first go to market
pillar from the IBM software portfolio, includes the
full spectrum from original analytics, predictive
analytics, cognitive analytics to the Watson offering.
Another component from the IBM software
portfolio that has good traction in the regional
markets is IBM’s middleware. IBM has historically
been strong in this area for building enterprise
application platforms and integrating solutions,
and this is the second pillar of Gulf Software
Issue 05
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS