U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) consistently reports that well over 50 percent of small businesses fail within their first five years due to lack of capital. Since this segment is responsible for nearly 65 percent of global GDP, representing more than 90 percent of all businesses and employing more than 90 percent of the world's workforce, SMBs play a critical role in a global economic recovery. Courtesy of IBM

Armonk, N.Y., USA - September 08, 2011

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will provide $1 billion in financing to help credit-qualified small and medium businesses (SMBs) over the next 18 months take advantage of a new suite of advanced technologies such as analytics and cloud.

Financing is one of the biggest challenges limiting the success of SMBs today.  IBM's commitment of $1 billion in financing for SMBs is designed to eliminate many of the cost barriers they face to grow their business. Courtesy of IBM

This effort is designed to help SMBs spur innovation and drive economic growth by making credit more easily accessible, with approvals often in less than 60 seconds, through IBM Global Financing.

Venture capitalist from Southboro Capital, IBM Business Partner Localytics and general manager of IBM Midmarket Business address the challenges of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) today. Courtesy of IBM

Financing is one of the biggest challenges limiting the success of SMBs today.

IBM announces that it is providing $1 billion in financing through IGF to credit-qualified SMBs over the next 18 months. SMBs can use this financing to take advantage of advanced technologies such as cloud and analytics to drive innovation, become more efficient, and ultimately grow their business. Courtesy of IBM

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) consistently reports that well over 50 percent of small businesses fail within their first five years due to lack of capital.

Mike Grandinetti, Managing Director, Southboro Capital. Courtesy of IBM

Since this segment is responsible for nearly 65 percent of global GDP, representing more than 90 percent of all businesses and employing more than 90 percent of the world's workforce, SMBs play a critical role in a global economic recovery.

Dave Hostetter, CFO of Sun World, discusses how IBM Cognos TM1 provides real-time business analytics reporting to help the company optimize business performance and retain business growth to build a smarter planet. Courtesy of IBM

Today's news addresses the urgent need for capital by providing the right foundation and resources to support SMBs in this economy.

IBM's commitment of $1 billion in financing for SMBs is designed to eliminate many of the cost barriers they face to grow their business.

Andy Monshaw, General Manager, IBM Midmarket Business. Courtesy of IBM

IBM will offer simple, flexible lease and loan packages, some starting at as low as 0 percent for 12 months with no money down, allowing them to immediately acquire the IBM technology and services they need to begin to transform their businesses, while managing their cash flow more effectively.

IBM is providing $1 billion in financing through IBM Global Financing to credit-qualified SMBs over the next 18 months. SMBs can use this financing to take advantage of advanced technologies such as cloud and analytics to drive innovation, become more efficient, and ultimately grow their business. Courtesy of IBM

This financing will be made available to SMB clients through IBM Business Partners who can benefit from enhanced online financing tools to generate price proposals and get fast approvals for credit applications for SMB clients, all available by a simple click of the mouse.

Raj Aggarwal, CEO, Localytics, IBM Business Partner, Winner of IBM SmartCamp New York City. Courtesy of IBM

As part of today's announcement, IBM is also launching a comprehensive set of solutions, which include workload optimized systems combining hardware and software and services offerings focused on technologies, such as cloud, analytics, collaboration and security, specifically designed to address SMBs key needs.

Dan Mannisto, CEO – Applied Analytix, IBM Business Partner. Courtesy of IBM

IBM aims to help this segment by making these advanced technologies, once reserved for larger enterprises with large budgets, available to SMBs through IBM Business Partners at an affordable price.

IBM aims to help this segment by making these advanced technologies, once reserved for larger enterprises with large budgets, available to SMBs through IBM Business Partners at an affordable price. These new offerings also introduce technologies from IBM's recent cloud, analytics and security acquisitions such as Cast Iron, BigFix, SPSS, Netezza and Cognos. Courtesy of IBM

These new offerings also introduce technologies from IBM's recent cloud, analytics and security acquisitions such as Cast Iron, BigFix, SPSS, Netezza and Cognos.

http://skymall.com/skymall.com  making effective online analytics an essential element to continued success.

SkyMall COO, Jay Scannell. Courtesy of SkyMall

"Reaching people on the go is core to our business," said SkyMall COO, Jay Scannell.
"The opportunity lies behind the ability to tie online buying to offline activity. This will drive expansion and innovation in the way we conduct commerce and will require the continued investment and advance technologies to keep pace. As a long-time IBM customer, we have used analytics to make key decisions about our business. Today's news demonstrates IBM's commitment to support and strengthen SMBs and we are excited to see the advancements this will drive in the retail industry."

IBM Cloud Helps Russell's Convenience Identify New Markets

Russell's Convenience, with 24 stores in Colorado, Hawaii and California, understood first hand that it needed to operate as one organization to better respond to changing consumer demands.

Today, the retailer is using IBM's collaboration cloud to enable more transparent communications between stores to conduct day-to-day sales, marketing activities and meetings.

IBM aims to help this segment by making these advanced technologies, once reserved for larger enterprises with large budgets, available to SMBs through IBM Business Partners at an affordable price. These new offerings also introduce technologies from IBM's recent cloud, analytics and security acquisitions such as Cast Iron, BigFix, SPSS, Netezza and Cognos. Courtesy of IBM

The ability to collaborate both internally and externally in a security-rich environment is helping Russell's Convenience become more of a social business by leveraging the skills and knowledge of its entire employee base.

IBM aims to help this segment by making these advanced technologies, once reserved for larger enterprises with large budgets, available to SMBs through IBM Business Partners at an affordable price. These new offerings also introduce technologies from IBM's recent cloud, analytics and security acquisitions such as Cast Iron, BigFix, SPSS, Netezza and Cognos. Courtesy of IBM

As more and more SMBs, such as Russell's Convenience, turn to cloud-based services, today's news will help many more jump start their businesses to more effectively identify new customers, resulting in more sales of their products and services.

Courtesy of IBM

To find out how IBM and our Business Partners are working with thousands of SMBs around the world, visit:

http://www.ibm.com/innovation/us/smarterplanet/midmarket.html  

For more information on IBM Midmarket Business, please visit:

http://www.ibm.com/innovation/us/engines/index.html  

Facebook Page: IBM for Midsized Businesses:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/MidmarketIBM  

Follow us on Twitter at: #MidmarketIBM.

To hear how IBM is working with mid market clients, please go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MidmarketIBM  


Contact information

Lizette Kodama
IBM Media Relations
646-675-0750
lkodama@us.ibm.com  


Source: IBM

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35370.wss  


Video
IBM provides $1 billion in financing to credit-qualified SMBs.wmv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDW1V4dyY4&feature  



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