IBM works on public-sector foothold
- By Dibya Sarkar
- Jul 04, 2001
Expanding its efforts to gain a stronger share of the public-sector market,
IBM Corp. recently announced it has forged new alliances with four e-government
companies.
The companies — Image-X/E-Filing.com, Infocorp, Sysinct and TekInsight.com
— will become part of a year-old IBM program known as Government Specialty
for e-business, joining seven other companies.
The program is designed to seek out companies that offer a particular
expertise in the public-sector market, which is defined as government, education
and health, said David White, director of IBM solutions and business partner
sales. In exchange, partners would implement an IBM platform.
"Some of these firms have grown up and developed niche markets in the
e-government [arena]," he said. "It would be ludicrous for us to compete
with them."
He said IBM looks at a company's financial viability and long-term business
plan before it decides to form a partnership. White said IBM's partnerships
are different from those of its competitors because the company doesn't
just look at providing an electronic solution — it takes into account the
other ways governments deliver services, whether over-the-counter service,
via snail mail or via telephone. "We can't disassociate other avenues they're
delivering," he said.
The four new partnerships would offer services such as e-filing for
courts, social services applications, revenue management, and online tax
and violation payments.
The alliances have paid off and IBM has won some significant deals it
would have otherwise lost, White said.