IBM has initiated a new middleware sales strategy targeted at key vertical markets beginning with wholesale financial services, banking and insurance.
The repositioning of the company's middleware products goes hand-in-hand with a new sales strategy pitched at invidual vertical market segments.
Thus software for financial markets has been repackaged into specific bundles for risk and compliance, front office insight, trade and order management, financial information interchange and post-execution integration.
In banking, IBM's software portfolio has been rebadged to reflect demand for wholesale payments processing, branch transformation, core systems transformation, channel empowerment and risk & compliance.
The insurance offerings now embrace integrated claims management, integrated underwriting, policy management, channel distribution integration and insurance customer insight.
"Our new software solutions reflect how customers want to purchase information technology," says Paraic Sweeney, vice president of IBM marketing, industry solutions and business integration. "Customers are telling IBM that they want to buy software solutions that are cost-effective, flexible, customised and industry specific."