IBM, an international information technology company, has decided to enter the smaller Indian cities in a big way. It will be establishing small branches in almost 40 locations in one year to sell its products and solutions to the SME clients.
It is part of IBM’s strategy to surge the revenue from growth markets, consisting of India, China, Africa and West Asia, to 30% by 2015 from the current 22%. IBM has established a special growth markets unit headquartered in Shanghai.
IBM will be having branches in tier II and III locations. It will also have employees to serve the IT requirements of the local industries, stated Mr David LaRose, Vice- President, Business Partners, Growth Markets, IBM.
IBM will start small branches in almost 100 locations in the growth markets in the upcoming one year. It will be identifying new cities depending upon the IT spend in that region. It will develop an ecosystem consisting of local business partners to deliver the solutions, said Mr La Rose on the sidelines of IBM PartnerWorld. IBM has also decided to spend time and money for training its partners.
On annual basis, IBM invests $2 billion in the business partners internationally with 50% of it invested in growth markets.
