Looking to find better ways to get software from ISVs around the world into the computers of small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in
China, Big Blue announced Thursday the launch of an IBM Innovation Center in Beijing.
It’s not as easy as it may sound. The hundreds of researchers IBM officials say are now in the country will need to find a way to
match software providers with their Chinese peers.
“There are some unique challenges to the area, I think, that are indigenous
to the local economy and states of modernization,” said Dave Carlquist, IBM
vice president of global emerging marketplaces, in a press conference
Thursday morning. “First of all, SMBs prefer to buy and look to buy from
local solution providers. So while there are some very large, very
well-known and successful packages for ERP, CRM and the like, the small- to
mid-market company is looking for a local software provider, a local systems
integrator.”
The new innovation center is part of an expansion effort at IBM’s China
Research Lab, located in China’s capital city. Officials expect to double
the size of the current facility and later combine the information garnered
at the campus with the seven other research centers around the world.
The SMB market in China is red hot, which isn’t in line with a country
known more for its super-size, government-sponsored companies.
According to IBM researchers, 99 percent of
Chinese businesses can be categorized as SMBs, while the Chinese SMB market
makes up $4 billion to $5 billion of the $300 billion global SMB market.
The Chinese SMB market is so large, in fact, that IBM is calling it the
epicenter of the world’s global supply chain, with the average company doing
business with roughly 485 customers every month. Still, Carlquist said, SMBs
face the logistics costs involved with
transactions, which can sometimes double that of companies in other
locations worldwide.
“One of the biggest challenges that SMB accounts companies face in China are
dealing with is being able to foster and improve connectivity between their
suppliers, their partners, their customers,” he said.
In addition to providing technical solutions for hardware or software problems,
the Chinese lab will also concentrate efforts on meeting the
unique business demands of the country.
The payoff for IBM’s Innovation Center falls on the company’s large ISV
partner base, the members of the PartnerWorld program. Earlier this month,
IBM took the reins off
its advanced-level membership requirements, giving more
ISVs access to the company’s marketing and region-specific assistance initiatives.
Of course, PartnerWorld member software is required to run off the WebSphere
middleware line, which works out well for IBM in the end.
The new lab will be located near the Beijing University and Tsinghua University, two of the top technical universities in Asia, Carlquist said. “The location is analogous to the Charles River in Boston with MIT on one side and Harvard on the other.” The setting will offer both IBM researchers and the ISVs the chance to work with the next generation of technical leaders on solutions for SMBs, according to IBM.
Prior to yesterday’s announcement, IBM had been working on a pilot program at the SMB Innovation Center with efuture, an ISV for the retail industry in China. The goal was to develop a solution combining IBM’s hardware and middleware with efuture’s supply chain management applications.
While the fruits of that project — as well as the ones to come — are designed to help SMBs in China’s retail industry, the infrastructure “can be leveraged by ISVS and SMBs around the world,” said Cathy Lasser, vice president of Emerging Business at IBM Research.
Dan Muse contributed to this story.
Adapted from Internetnews.com.
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