We are excited to showcase our innovative IBM Business Partner solutions built with IBM Supply Chain Software.
No two supply chains are the same. Instead, they are typically patchwork quilts of stitched-together business systems, B2B networks and human processes. Therefore, it is critical to find the right technology and the right solutions to drive the business innovation required to meet today’s challenging market dynamics.
To help clients find a supply chain solution to address their needs, IBM is launching a new IBM Supply Chain Partner Solution Showcase, cataloging IBM Business Partner-provided solutions built on top of our supply chain and B2B solutions.
IBM has been providing market-leading supply chain software solutions that help form the foundation for many organizations’ supply chains around the world for years. There are more than 55,000 IBM Business Partners in the IBM Ecosystem across the globe, including digital marketplaces, developers, resellers and more — spanning multiple business models. A wide ecosystem of specialized supply chain partners helps clients around the world to take advantage of the capabilities of IBM’s order and inventory management, managed file transfer and control-tower solutions. Combined with their deep client understanding and their own technology and applications, they craft solutions that help to address customers’ needs.
With our newly launched IBM Supply Chain Partner Solution Showcase, we now offer an online catalog featuring our partners’ work with IBM supply chain software searchable by anyone looking to find a supply chain solution that meets their criteria.
The first “partner tiles” in the showcase are now available, each representing a particular partner solution with the partner’s detailed description of their solution, potential benefits, key features and which product(s), industries and potential geographies that the solution is designed for. Also, conveniently, each tile contains a button to directly contact the partner and learn how to get started with the solution:
Four categories of partner solutions
The partner supply chain solutions come in different shapes and flavors. To make it easier to find a solution, we placed each of them into one of four categories:
- Connectors: These solutions are primarily for connecting IBM software with other software solutions or services for the exchange of data.
- Applications: Often written against IBM software APIs, these are typically standalone applications that target specific business functions.
- Accelerators: These are solution blueprints or documented approaches for how to provide an industry-specific solution based on IBM supply chain software, perhaps including samples and examples to get started. The partner would typically implement the accelerator on a per-opportunity basis.
- Extensions: Leveraging documented extension points in the IBM software, these are similar to applications, but do not stand alone as an independent business function. Instead, they provide that business function within the IBM software, itself.
These categories allow both clients and IBM (re)sellers to easily determine if a partner-provided solution that could address their needs already exists or, alternatively, find one that is close and then connect with that specific partner to adapt it to a different business need.
Learn more
Visit the IBM Supply Chain Solution Showcase and witness for yourself the solutions our partners offer to help solve complex supply chain problems in the industry. In the coming months, we will extend the number and variety of partner solutions, and if you are an IBM Business Partner in the supply chain space and want to be added to the Showcase, follow the application link at the top of the Showcase’s home page to get started.
To learn more about what it means to be an IBM Business Partner, visit our PartnerWorld site.