AT&T, IBM team on SMB data applications

AT&T has raised the bar in the suddenly hot competition for small-to mid-sized businesses by teaming with IBM to offer managed Internet services with a package of easy-to-use collaboration apps.

The two companies will combine IBM Workplace Services Express with AT&T Managed Internet Service, initially offering the packaged IBM software with integrated portal as a premises-based option but moving to a network hosted service by mid-2005. IBM Workplace Services Express features team rooms, instant messaging, document management and other collaboration services that enable customers to share information and communicate more effectively internally and with customers and suppliers. AT&T also will bundle its CallVantage Voice over IP into the package by mid-year, says Eric Shepcaro, chief strategist for AT&T Business Services, and will immediately enable small businesses to establish Class of Service priorities for their different forms of communication, as permitted with AT&T's Managed Internet Service.

"This was customer-driven," he said in a telephone interview. "We did numerous conversations with customers in the SMB marketplace. What we found in terms of what customers were looking for in that set was a bundle that include the network capability and the IT capability including the applications that Workplace Services Express gives to us."

The initial targets of the service include three industry segments--retail, financial services and healthcare--that typically include many smaller locations that need to be networked, said Shepcaro. But any business with between 100 to 1000 employees or larger companies with many remote sites will be targeted by the new bundle, which is still in the pilot stage. Both local IBM Business Partners and AT&T Authorized Agents will sell the bundled offering and provide customer service/support, Shepcaro said.

"Those agents and IBM business partners have relationships in this market," he said. "They will do the integration, the implementation. What we have seen working with Workplace Services Express from a turnkey standpoint is that the customer can bring this up within an hour, once Internet service is up."

By offering an end-to-end, IP networking and IT solution, AT&T and IBM hope to help their selling partners and agents expand the market reach of both offerings.

"We are first to market with an integrated solution of this nature, and we hope to leverage the business partners of our respective companies," commented Shepcaro. "We are going out there essentially saying--this is built by AT&T and IBM--two well-respected brands. It also provides more value to the customer so the customer, which gives us more stickiness. It's all about giving more business value to the customer, and the network is the way to do that."