Marc Dupaquier
Marc Dupaquier looks after IBM’s channel business and explains the global business partner strategy for the brand.
When Marc Dupaquier joined IBM Global Business Partners in January 2014 as the general manager of the channel business, he saw more opportunities than challenges. Responsible for the revenue generated through all of IBM’s worldwide channel partners—including distributors, resellers, system integrators, and managed service providers—he was confident that the future would continue to bring great success for the technology giant. Since his appointment, he has played an instrumental role in strengthening these relationships; creating the One Channel Team, launching the IBM Business Transformation Initiative, and also spearheading the specialised curriculum-focused certifications.
Marc says the business division’s overall aim is to have the "best high-value channel in the industry" so that Business Partners can engage with IBM to increase their growth and profitability, while also delivering bespoke solutions to clients.
"We monitor this very carefully," Marc notes. "We look at how much money the partners make with us and we are always trying to make sure IBM is a highly profitable relationship for them.
"What we do is help them to address opportunities in a very profitable way. We bring them three major differentiations—technology which we believe is unique because of the number of solutions we can provide; client success because the IBM brand is very strong and powerful, therefore they can leverage that to have access to clients; and consistency in the programs that we drive. So we are very committed to the partner and we have been that way for many years. We are very predictable in terms of earnings and our goal is to help our Business Partners be successful. In fact, we actually want to build the highest value channel in the industry and in exchange, of course, partner with the highest margin businesses. We have been very consistent at doing this. The partner recognises this and they rely on our technology offerings, our track record of client success, and our consistency. That’s why I tend to see more opportunities than challenges."