IBM has turned to its distributor, Arrow Electronics, to provide global tech training for IBM’s Software Group and Systems and Technology Group.
Arrow has been an IBM distributor since 1989. Its IT training group, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions Education, has been working closely with IBM to successfully test elements of the new model in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordics. In the next 12 months, Arrow ECS Education will implement its IBM Global Training program in up to 130 countries. It is anticipated that the program will be available in 10 countries to start, and that it will be offered in more than 50 additional countries by the end of 2013 and to the remaining countries by summer 2014.
“As a value-added distributor and one of the leading IT training providers, we are excited and honoured that IBM will leverage our IT training expertise and excellence as part of IBM’s Global Training program,” said Laurent Sadoun, president of Arrow ECS in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and head of Arrow’s worldwide services for the ECS segment. “This initiative that we have tested with IBM in Europe provided a great opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities to deliver high-quality IT skills trainings. We will now support IBM’s new partner-led model through innovative training solutions and a global team of training experts to help increase IBM education and adoption of the IBM software and systems portfolio in the global marketplace. It will also deliver to our partners an outstanding degree of visibility on their customer projects, bringing many cross-selling and upselling opportunities.”
“Arrow demonstrated its capabilities to roll out IBM Training consistently across the globe as one of our IBM Global Training Providers,” added Bob McDonald, vice president of IBM Training. “With our long history of successful collaboration, we look forward to teaming with Arrow to help business and technology leaders reduce the IT skills gap through greater access to skill building resources for advanced solutions such as mobile, cloud, analytics and social business.”