>> Narrator: Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE!
Covering IBM Think 2018.
Brought to you by IBM.
>> Hello everyone and welcome back to theCUBE's exclusive,
three days of coverage here at IBM Think 2018.
I'm John Furrier co-host with Dave Vellante,
hosting three days and next is Joel Horowitz,
Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Offering,
of The Digital Business Group.
>> Thanks. >> Welcome back to theCUBE.
Good to see you. >> Good to see you guys.
Thanks for having me here. >> Thanks for coming on.
>> You've been on theCUBE, probably so many times,
talking big data, talking analytics, now,
in your new role in The Digital Group,
the digital transformation.
I really want to just ask you right off the bat
about your new role,
and how it relates to the changing ecosystem.
>> Joel: Yeah.
>> All of these markets are changing big time,
the role of the ecosystem, the leverage that they have
with technology and the value propositions,
whether it's decentralized applications in Blockchain
to storage and infrastructure, and big data.
What is your role, take a minute to explain
what you're doing, because you have a unique position,
because this demand for partnerships,
this demand for collaboration at many levels.
What's the latest?
>> So I would describe my role as being a champion
of our partners, for sure.
I look at, you know, I take, a very outside in
perspective on IBM.
Joining just over three years ago now,
I came in, really through analytics, as you know,
focused on machine learning, data science,
and the growth of A.I. at that time.
Last year I was part of
the corporate development team over there.
So looking, really, at a lot of the industry trends
and what's going on, as well, in analytics, data, and A.I.
This year, you know, we recognize
that we're only going to do so many strategic partnerships
a year, right, where there's probably a handful
that we're going to work with.
For example, last year we did a great partnership
with Lightbend to bring their reactive platform to IBM,
and we launched the iPhone 10,
with Verizon on Lightbend's platform.
But, these days, my team, can't be everywhere, obviously,
and part of the value of digital,
and that route to market is really the idea
that partner should be able to self service.
So, you know, my job this year,
is frankly to put myself out of a job, right.
Meaning, if I can get, you know, 70% of the work
my team does, right, contracting, legal, setting up,
provisioning, all of that on our cloud,
and partners can just do that themselves.
Then we'll capture a much larger swath
of the emerging A.I., data, and cloud market.
>> I want to talk about the killer app creating value
and then the role the market place is playing.
You mentioned self service.
I want to kind of go down that.
Before we get there, I want to get your thoughts on this
because I noticed, in your role you're covering,
it's cutting across a lot of different things,
and you know we've been talking about cloud,
as a horizontally disrupting technology,
>> Joel: Yeah.
>> Certainly in the data space you saw that.
And stacks will be horizontally scalable with the cloud.
>> Yeah.
>> But you could be vertical specialization
in the applications.
So I noticed you're covering analytics, Watson, Cloud,
hybrid cloud, emerging technologies.
>> Yeah. >> Blockchain, and many others.
>> Yeah.
>> So talk about, it's obvious you guys
are now cutting across, horizontally,
across the different IBM divisions.
Is that by design? >> Yeah.
>> What's the impact of the ecosystem and partners
for that horizontally cut over?
>> Yeah, I know, I mean it's a great question, I think.
Look, there are some specific design patterns
that we see across every technology,
across every, you know, business at IBM.
One design pattern is pretty obvious,
you saw it with the launch of the IBM cloud private data.
Following up on last years IBM Cloud Private.
And that design pattern is really
about people containerizing applications.
And so, at the end of the week,
we have the business partner,
or PartnerWorld Leadership conference.
Excuse me.
Where a number of our partners really are looking at
how do I bring that work load to the cloud.
And it's not so much the cloud is the end point.
That's really the starting off point
to A; Get much wider distribution
and B; Be able to take advantage of a lot
of these emerging technologies, like Blockchain, like A.I.
Like IOT, and numerous others, Quantum, et cetera,
they'll just keep coming.
So really cloud to me is just a way for us
to open the door to a lot of the technology
that's flooding the market.
>> Dave: Joel, can you talk about partnership,
you mentioned before that you guys are kind of selective,
John calls them Barney deals, ya know.
I love you, you love me.
You guys sound like you don't look for those,
not volume, it's quality. >> Yeah.
>> What are the criteria that you're looking for?
How do you get value out of those?
How do you measure that value out of the partnerships?
If someone is a prospective partner out there,
how should I be interacting with you?
>> Yeah, I think, there's probably two steps.
I think one is really recognizing that,
in my own personal view,
is that we really want to partner with folks
who embrace open standards.
Now I'm not going to like go as far to say open source,
'cause I think there is a lot that goes into that.
But I will say open standards, meaning,
not these like large monolithic applications,
but can you actually integrate with us
in some meaningful way?
And to do that,
that's why we actually started on this new platform
that we are launching today.
Called IBM Partner Self-service.
Is the ability to first integrate with IBM.
So, if you can demonstrate
that you can build with IBM first,
whether that's a startup, an ISV, a business partner.
Like that's criteria number one.
Criteria number two is are you a trusted partner?
So, do you actually have the same level of competency
that we would expect from, frankly, our own sellers,
and our own people.
And so, to do that, we've also launched
new competency paths for business partners
and partners as well.
So, those are the two major criterias.
And then the third one,
which I think is kind of the holy grail,
is selling with IBM.
So we also launched a sell with path today
where you can actually list in our marketplace.
And then we will actually help you reach new markets.
And then demonstrate there's clients,
there's a client need that really wants
our joint solution, right?
And so, to me, those are the three things, to re-state.
Like, you know, building with us,
having a level of competency with us,
and then demonstrating client success with us.
>> Okay, so, integrate,
you really don't need you guys to do that.
I can just dive in and do that.
Bake it out a little bit, and then approach you.
What kind of help do you give?
Do you have programs once you get by those gates?
>> So, you know, I would categorize into two groups,
I think we have a ton of online support.
So, you know, we even embrace Slack at IBM.
If you're not aware of that, we have Slack everywhere.
And, so, for a self service, I want to say,
look, what does zero touch mean, right,
in this day and age, for a partner.
And so, they can go to our site today,
and actually get, you know, sign up for Slack,
and talk directly to our technical specialist
as well as to our developer advocates.
And so, on the enablement and integration side,
my colleague, Angel Diaz and team,
have done a great job of launching hundreds
of IBM code patterns.
So that you can just pick these artifacts up,
these assets up, and leverage them to integrate
all sorts of capabilities into your product.
>> You know, Dave, I want to get your thoughts on this,
because you and I have been talking
about the API integration,
and I want to get back to Joel's point in a second
because I think this is critical
for startups and ecosystem partners.
API's are the (speaking quickly) for developers right now,
so if I don't want to take a big chance
on being all in on IBM,
say I want to kick the tires, API's are critical.
So the question is, are you seeing that traction
on your side of the house, in terms of the end now,
since the level of API integration, is that the touchpoint?
Is it like the beginning phases?
And what level of commitment that you're seeing with people.
>> Well, John, to me it comes down to innovation,
and it's interesting because Joel
came out of the data world.
To me, the innovation in the next 10 years starts with data.
The second component of that innovation,
I think, over the next decade or so
is going to be, really, A.I.,
whether you call it cognitive or machine intelligence
or artificial intelligence.
And then third, I think is cloud economics
and that's really where the API economy fits in.
You got to have API'S to integrate, as Joel was saying.
You've got to have marginal...
You've got to have scale,
marginal costs go to zero eventually.
You've got to have network effects
and you've got to be able to track startups,
which is another question I have.
>> Now Joel, back to you, on the start on the integration,
whether it's a startup or a big company.
It used to be, the old days, you got to go all in.
You've got to get the developer kit,
>> Joel: Yeah.
>> Download it, line it to a swim lane,
get deeper, prove your value. >> Yeah.
>> Find the value's faster;
what's the first hurdle if someone wants,
hey I want to give IBM a shot here?
Love the sell, holy grail option, is it API'S,
can people integration on their own?
Talk about that specific first step
because some people might open up the door and go whoa!
There's more here than I thought.
Or, wow, there's some real tech.
Or, I don't want to use IBM tech,
I want to use some of mine.
There's that first indifference point.
>> Yeah, I think there are areas
where we've seen dramatic customer experience improvements.
So to give one example,
as we've partnered with Ubisoft, Redstorm last year
around a new title game that they released
called Star Trek Bridge Crew,
and so, you know, to me, we went on our own merit,
and I think that publisher chose IBM
because Watson Conversation is absolutely
the best on the market.
And so what that did is it enabled game players,
their end customer, their end user,
to speak into a VR headset and just give commands,
as you would naturally.
And so, I think a lot of, as you think about IBM,
it's, yeah, we've made it completely easy
to access our API'S.
I think, there's a great quote from the founder of Flickr
that I read years ago,
I'll go dig it up for you guys later,
but it was along the lines of business development means,
today is exposing your API'S, like, that's it!
And, on the other side of it,
we give a lot away in terms of cloud credits, right,
and so, today, if you go and sign up
on our self service platform,
we'll give you $10,000 a month in free cloud credits
to build and build quickly.
Because, at the end of the day,
if it's not self service,
if it requires more heavy lifting,
then, frankly, we're not doing our jobs.
And so that's my commitment,
is to make sure that is available, is accessible,
and there's experts there that can help you on your journey.
>> So that attracts startups, obviously,
10K a month is a honey pot for those guys.
What about existing IBM clients
that want to get to the cloud.
Migrate to the cloud.
How do you help those guys?
>> Yeah, so, in the migration front,
we have a great team in place with IBM services,
who basically have set up a migration factor, if you will,
and there are numerous ways to chart your course
to the cloud.
Whether it's, you know, full cloud or hybrid cloud,
or some offloading, some aspects to the cloud.
There's a lot of different paths you can take
and so to do that,
we're offering $50,000 in migration credits
for the first couple months.
We're also offering 35% off for professional services.
So, we have a great offer going on over the next few months
to help people make that first step.
>> Incentives are key.
>> And, look, we're here with you so it's not like,
here, throwing it over the fence, and good luck!
You know, tweet at me, instant message me, I'm around.
And I will be absolutely committed to partner success.
>> Yeah, you know, incentives are critical,
that's going to get the market going.
But, the end of the day, it's the type of value,
and I want to get your thoughts,
it's something that's come up
that I've heard people talk about in the hallways
and other conferences.
They kind of chirp about "Hey, you know,
"I'd like to get this, from suppliers.
"I want to see more tools, more programs
"to help me get more customers, to get more value.
"I'm building apps, but also got a business to run."
What are some of the conversations
you've had over the past year with customers and partners?
Stack rank the top three or four things
that they talk about, either their pain points
or things that are on their mind, that's worth noting?
>> I mean, I would say first and foremost,
I mean, me, myself, being in a startup at H2O.
Three, four years ago.
We used to walk in there and sell into the data scientists,
right, so if you don't know H2O,
they're a great company, a machine learning company,
but we would get the data scientists really excited
about working with our product, and then lo and behold,
we'd get to the CIO office saying,
"Hey, what is this stuff?
"Get it out of here."
You know, Hadoop was the same way, by the way,
2010 working at AVG, like, we'd bring in Hadoop.
Like what is this data like thing?
There's no governance, it's a mess.
Where they could really, you know, work with IBM,
where they see value from IBM
is when we go into the CIO office together
and say, look, we've demonstrated that there's value here.
We've demonstrated that there's actual customer need.
We can create a lot of help
in terms of getting the rest of the organization bought in.
Put in the right governance around it.
Because, look, I mean GDPR is real, it's a big deal.
Like, data privacy, is huge.
So, you know, Rob Thomas likes to say,
"You can't have good A.I. without I.A."
I think that's a great information architecture.
So, I agree, and so I think
that's what the number one benefit is.
Really get in there, move quickly, demonstrate value,
and then when you're ready to make that next step
of how you roll that out to the rest of the enterprise,
that's when IBM becomes a huge help.
>> You know, you mentioned GDPR.
With regulatory issues now are becoming criteria
for a lot of application developers that are small
that may not have the resources to handle
the right to get your name out of a database or other tools,
and other regulations, certainly.
Decentralize applications with Blockchain,
another regulatory challenge-- >> Yep.
>> Opportunity as well.
Are you guys having those kinds of conversations,
like putting specific things in place beyond GDPR,
and if so what regulatory and legal things
do you see out there that could be blockers
for customers, that you guys hope to go after?
>> I mean, I don't think there's a one word answer here.
I do think that you take it on a case by case basis.
I think you're seeing different countries
adopt GDPR differently.
Germany, obviously, being a very strict kind of country
in doing that.
So, you know, IBM services, as well as our analytics team,
are really focused on that.
I think, like I said,
what you saw with ICP data coming out this week,
I think that's a really important way to look at it.
My own personal view, I think,
for sure there's a lot of compliance,
They have to look at, and understand the workflow,
workflows of how people are using that data,
as well as application architecture is big.
And those are all the considerations, I think,
that you are going to see as people move.
I read a statistic that 40% of all CSP'S, MSP'S,
are moving, are growing, like it's 40% growth
from IBC, 50% of all developers are now embedding A.I.
So, this market is growing and growing fast.
But, you're right.
If folks out there aren't really taking GDPR seriously,
you can get yourself into some hot water.
>> Well, we've observed that scale matters, certainly,
whether it's a partner or cloud,
that gets, that helps people. >> Yeah.
>> Joel, well, thanks for coming onto theCUBE,
we really appreciate it. >> Yeah, my pleasure.
>> Before we end, I want to get your thoughts,
just share with the folks that are watching.
What kind of deals do you want to do?
What's on your radar?
What's the priorities for you?
From a strategic business development standpoint.
To develop across that horizontally scalable,
IBM division space, as well as technology space?
>> You know, it's not what deals I want to do,
it's really what deals our partners want to do.
>> Come on, your in charge, come on.
>> It's really what deals our partners want to do, ya know.
I mean, look, I get excited about transforming industries,
I really do, so I look at,
not what's the transactional partnership,
like go, we'll do something, and there's some revenue,
or something.
I look at how do we transform an industry?
>> Let me rephrase the question.
What's on the priority list for you guys,
from a transformational area,
that's important for your partners.
>> Yeah, I would say for sure, obviously, A.I. is huge.
Obviously data is huge, obviously cloud is huge.
But, looking really specific,
I think you just add tech after each industry.
So Addtech, Fintech, Healthtech obviously.
Game tech and, I think, probably the last one,
to me personally, is the most exciting.
We signed an amazing deal with Unity
at the end of last year, the start of this year.
In fact GDC game developer conference is going on
as we speak in San Francisco.
So half my team right now is over there,
demonstrating Watson as like VR, AR,
and it's not just for games, right.
It's like with BMW and VW
doing some cool stuff there as well.
So, I'm really excited about the, AR, VR, industry growing,
especially with our partner Unity.
>> There's a new creative out there--
>> Can I jump in before you exit?
I want to ask you a follow up on that,
because if transformation
is sort of the target for your partnerships.
Healthcare is an area that should be transformed.
But, needs to be transformed,
but it's hard to transform healthcare.
>> Joel: It is, yeah.
>> Do you feel like you could start moving the needle
from a partnership perspective?
Or is that going to take some more time?
>> You know, I think there's a lot
of great work being done there.
I do believe...
Look, in general, I think we can move a lot faster
with partners, in fact, I like to call it
like the Nordstrom model.
Right?
Like IBM in the past has been Barney's of New York,
forever, right?
From a branding and from how we partner with folks,
like I think we need to move more to a Nordstrom,
like, yeah, we'll sell our own offerings off the rack,
but then we need to help partners come in
and create the right styles for the right need
and the right industry.
>> Yeah and then there's a Nordstrom Rack
you're going to need to put that on.
(laughing)
Over technology goes the Nordstrom Rack.
Joel Horowitz, thanks for coming out.
Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Offerings,
here on theCUBE.
I'm John Furrier with Dave Vellante,
with three days of IBM Think live streaming,
all of the videos will be up on thecube.net sports live now.
Youtube.com/siliconangle for all the ondemands
when the show's over.
We'll be right back with more after this short break.
(light techno music)