IBM Corp. launched a new step in its global services initiative on Tuesday with the unveiling of IBM Workplace – on-demand services that the company said moves outsourcing from the back-end to the front end where it is most needed.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based company said it can reduce its customers’ personal technology management costs by up to 30 per cent by providing, maintaining and accounting for front-end technology including PCs, printers, copiers, fax machines and mobile devices.
Workplace is being presented to its customers as a service offering, which will allow organizations to pay only for the technology services being used – on one monthly bill.
Big Blue said that on top of maintaining its native technology within organizations, it will also give its customers the choice of allowing it to manage and maintain all non-IBM hardware, as part of one complete package.
IBM currently manages the maintenance and operation of over 4.2 million PCs and printers, but the vendor believes that there is a lot more business to be had in this space, and trusts that this new offering will help it attract many more clients.
“We want to go deeper in the marketplace,” said Jim Bolton, IBM Global Services’ program manager for output services.
IBM promises significant savings to the companies that contract these desktop services compared with what the companies currently spend doing this work themselves. The IBM emphasis would be on determining, through a systematic analysis, a company’s desktop needs, tailoring its desktop holdings accordingly and eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies, Bolton said.
“We can help people understand what they’re truly spending and rationalize that down to where they have the right device at the right price,” he said. Too often, companies ignore how many PCs, printers, copiers, fax machines and scanners they own, how much they spend on maintenance, supplies and operation, and how they could streamline and improve this desktop infrastructure, he said.
Included in IBM’s Workplace services are: IBM Client Advantage Services; IBM Output Management Services; IBM Consulting and Implementation Services; and IBM Wireless and Mobility Services.
Additional information on IBM’s Global Services can be found online at www.ibm.com/services. IBM Canada Ltd., in Markham, Ont., can be found online at www.ibm.ca.
– With files from IDG News Service