Inside the Client Centers pt. 2: The personal touch
In part 1 of our “Inside the Client Centers” series, we explored the expertise available inside IBM Client Centers across the world, and introduced you to our engineers, architects and inventors busy introducing the latest products and offerings to clients.
As a program manager at the Client Center in Poughkeepsie, I see many clients from various industries coming through our doors with little to no idea as to what to expect from our teams. The fact is, the IBM Systems Client Centers are a tremendous and often untapped resource. We offer a personal touch, along with the ability to keep pace with the latest breakthroughs in technology.
Clients tend to be referred to us from an account team within IBM when they’d like to test their application on an IBM solution. Whether we’re talking IBM Power Systems, IBM z Systems or IBM Storage, we help them come up with a solution customized to their specific needs. We assist clients in exploring new IBM Systems solutions, such as blockchain, cognitive and cloud.
Recently we hosted an effort for a major bank in South America. They wanted to test an important banking application on POWER8 to ensure their application worked as expected while achieving their target performance goals. This client was referred to us by a Banking Analytics Chief Architect within IBM. He told them that the Client Center could provide a dedicated environment that would allow them to test their application while using their data gathering results based on a real solution. This solution could be implemented by the client’s company.
We provided two different cloud environments, AIX and Linux Big Endian, on a POWER8 system for them to install and test their application. The environment also included a robust SW stack of DB2, SPSS, Datastage and Cognos. In this case, they needed additional environments to examine their results which is quick and easy to provide in the cloud environment.
The banking executives were thrilled with the results, and we won their business. Lately, because of bank mergers, we have had several engagements with bank clients who have outgrown their infrastructure. Suddenly they find themselves in a position where their normal overnight batch processes take eight hours to complete instead of two and they need help getting that eight back to two. Client Center services aim to define solutions that support customer growth, proving their application performs best using an IBM Systems solution.
We invite you to come and see the results for yourself. Get the personal touch with IBM by clicking here or you can email us here.
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