The mission
Position IBM as a leader in the server market and the logical first choice for specifiers.

The solution
Utilise Cambashi to conduct industry research; lead internal workshop sessions on marketing and provide independent key note presentations at IBM conferences.

The results
More positive coverage by analysts for IBM products. IBM has access to informed, versatile and flexible experts.

The customer: Bill Reed, Analyst Relations Manager, Systems Sales, IBM EMEA
"Our relationship is symbiotic. Cambashi's experts have a clear understanding of my working environment. Within IBM they have a habit of acting as a catalyst. They embody creativity. Someone said to me today how impressed he was with Cambashi; the ability of its people to examine an issue, to get to the bottom of it and articulate what they find. This is a real skill."

IBM System Sales group sells and distributes servers and storage products. These range from commodity based Intel servers to high-end mainframes and associated products.

Bill Reed is responsible for Analyst Relations within Europe, Middle East and Africa. His role is to identify and highlight the qualities of IBM products so that various audiences, including analysts, are aware of the value that the products provide. "IBM has a great set of products. We want to show that IBM is strong in all areas and that the mix of features and pricing we offer can better meet the real and perceived needs of customers. When people think of a server, I want them to think of IBM as setting standards that others follow. My objective is for IBM to be seen as in a leadership position, providing the most logical, lowest risk products."

IBM therefore targets Systems Integrators, Consultants, Business Partners and Internet Service Providers. Bill Reed sees hardware as an integral part of a total solution, the difficulty is that some people still perceive that he is dealing purely in hardware. "Consultants, in particular, care about solutions to customer business problems. It is a tough challenge to match a piece of hardware to a business problem and position it effectively."

Bill Reed spends a lot of time looking at the messages IBM puts out. "One brand, for example, has the best cost of ownership in the industry - should that be put forward as a brand value, a product feature or a business benefit? The question is how to present a lot of messages and how to manage them for different audiences according to their interests."

Bill Reed turned to Cambashi to help him address these issues. "I first worked with Cambashi five years ago and since then our relationship has evolved as we and our audiences have evolved. Cambashi has helped us in three areas: through research, by leading internal workshops and by giving keynote presentations."

Bill Reed noted that as independent analysts, members of Cambashi staff are in an excellent position to see all of the marketplace. "They have a good understanding of the needs of end users and vendors. From them I obtain a high-level perspective on the industry as a whole and other analysts within it. I can pick a sector, see which analysts seem to have understood what we saying and know immediately whether it would be beneficial to work with them in a particular activity. We want to involve analysts to a greater degree in our marketing planning and in our campaigns."

IBM has taken Cambashi's insight into the marketplace to help in the formulation of campaigns. Bill Reed reported that this enabled IBM to create sound messages and to define a campaign clearly in the early stages. As part of this, Cambashi led internal workshop sessions on marketing and also conducted sessions for consultants involved in the decision making process for IT solutions.

"We use Cambashi to create a framework for discussion of our server brands without actually endorsing what we say," noted Bill Reed. "We look at opportunities for Cambashi to stimulate discussion and raise questions. For example with total cost of ownership, Cambashi can set the goalposts in terms of best practice then it is down to us to link our product to those goalposts.

We tend to use Cambashi as a kind of sanity check. One of Cambashi's strengths is to look at technological uptake in a historical context and convert this into guidance for users. Cambashi did some keynote presentations that bridged the gap between visions of the future and the reality of running a business today. Cambashi brings an independent perspective. The feedback we received from these audiences was extremely high because the presentations were so informative."

Since IBM began working with Cambashi it has improved its use of independent comment. For example, when IBM conducts a briefing Bill Reed asks certain analysts if they are happy to be quoted and called by journalists. It has become a standard process that the names of the analysts who agree are included in press releases.

The most notable result of this is an increase in positive reaction from analysts over the past eighteen months. Analysts are expected to give a balanced view and in an article will typically cite the positive aspects of a product then review any limitations. "Several recent articles about our products have focused only on positive attributes," commented Bill Reed. "Cambashi has certainly helped IBM to achieve this change."

As independent analysts, members of Cambashi staff are informed about the marketplace; as consultants they give balanced comment. Bill Reed again: "Their knowledge, particularly within the manufacturing and supply chain, is impressive. It is valuable for us to have access to such knowledge for our campaigns. Cambashi people are also very strong marketeers.

Our relationship is symbiotic. Cambashi's experts have a clear understanding of my working environment. Within IBM they have a habit of acting as a catalyst. They embody creativity. Someone said to me today how impressed he was with Cambashi; the ability of its people to examine an issue, to get to the bottom of it and articulate what they find. This is a real skill.

Finally, Cambashi people are very nice - and people do business with people they get on with at the end of the day. My colleagues within IBM certainly have time for them. Cambashi staff will not overtly sell when there is no opportunity. They will see the opportunity and approach in an appropriate way. Other companies will pick up the telephone and blatantly sell. If I see an opportunity within IBM, I certainly consider Cambashi."

back to top