IBM Extends Consulting to New and Existing Clients with Click-to-Buy Services

Global Business Services Creates Simple, Rapid Access to High-Value Analytics and Other Capabilities

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Aug 06, 2014, 09:00 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an innovative move to extend its consulting services by offering clients simple, direct access to analytics assessments and other click-to-buy services. The new offerings -- called IBM Global Business Services Online -- make IBM the first major IT consultancy to offer both new and existing clients this kind of immediate access to its capabilities and expertise.

Supporting IBM's growing social business strategy and digital portfolio, the new Global Business Services Online offerings will extend IBM's consulting capabilities to new buyers through a fast, seamless and convenient digital delivery model. Clients in the United States and the United Kingdom will now have direct access to these digital services through Global Business Services Online. Once purchased, a consultant will contact the client within one business day of contract confirmation to commence fulfillment.

These services will be integrated into a client's Web experience with IBM, giving them an easy, digital way to engage IBM and tap direct services. The digital offerings are available now to manage a variety of business actions, such as migrating mobile applications, analyzing social media presence, and application development and testing. Live, online support is available to answer a range of questions -- from basic website navigation to technical inquiries about the offerings -- providing a true end-to-end client experience.

"This is a new model of engagement that expands our consulting capabilities to provide broader access to our world-class consultants and their expertise," said Sarah Diamond, general manager and global consulting leader, IBM Global Business Services. "IBM's Global Business Services Online anticipates the demand for fast and simple access to digital solutions that are focused and easy to implement for any size business. New clients can get started quickly with analytics assessments and a range of other offerings to drive growth or improve engagement with their customers."

Clients can purchase the new, digital offerings packaged for short-term engagements with clear, actionable recommendations. IBM offers multiple payment options, including credit card. The five services currently available include:

IBM Social Media Analytics and Customer Insights – This offering helps clients analyze social media to grow revenue, optimize marketing spending, improve the customer experience and enhance brand value by shaping social opinion. By providing front-end access to a dashboard, clients can track positive and negative sentiment across multiple touch points.
IBM Continuous Delivery Maturity Evaluation – Clients will receive an analysis of their current development environment and a clear recommendation for capability improvements aligned to their specific business goals, as well as recommended roadmap based on proven best practices. IBM can bring together the infrastructure, skills and tools to support the full application life-cycle across all major platforms and operating systems.
IBM Mobile Applications Migration to Worklight – Through a combination of services from IBM Interactive Experience and development, clients can migrate mobile applications from one platform to another in order to upgrade to the latest version. This solution allows clients to respond quickly to fast-changing customer and market expectations, as well as access real-time intelligence and actionable insights.
IBM Technical Healthcheck for SAP Applications – For clients currently implementing SAP, this solution performs upgrade support for SAP applications and performs a comprehensive health assessment to pinpoint any performance issues.
IBM Performance Roadmap for Oracle Applications – Enables clients to assess the value of existing Oracle applications and provides a roadmap for improved return-on-investment as well as a strategy that effectively uses cloud, analytics, social and mobile technologies. The assessment is designed to measure the maturity level and complexity of the client's Oracle landscape and identify potential areas of improvement.