IBM/HCL – What Happens Now?

On Tuesday 28th of May, Origina’s CEO, Tomás O’Leary and Martin Thompson from the ITAM Review hosted a webinar in relation to IBM selling a large proportion of their legacy software portfolio to HCL. These include Appscan, BigFix, Unica,Commerce, Portal, Lotus Notes & Domino and Connections. This webinar was one of the highest subscribed webinars for the ITAM Review this year. The core reason being is that IBM has been overly secretive about the sale, leaving their legacy customers in the dark as to ‘What will happen now’ with this software after the sale and what level of support they will receive.

This deal is expected to close by the end of this month (June 2019). Yet, IBM has still not announced any information as to what will happen in July. Since the announcement, last December, it looks like there is a gold rush in IBM to close as many software renewals and support contracts as soon as possible. If you’ve gotten a call already and have been offered multi-year software support contracts at an amazingly discounted rate, beware!

The deal maybe too good to be true because as of the end of the month, your new support contract may be drafted by IBM but the support and development will then be thrown across to another vendor, HCL? So all that time and effort that went into choosing the right software products for your business, ensuring you have the right partner on board, in just a few months has been thrown on its head. Without your consent, you now have a 3rd party in charge of your core legacy systems. What should you do?

GET ONTO YOUR IBM ACCOUNT MANAGER AND START INUNDATING THEM WITH THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.

If your IBM Account Manager doesn’t have the answers, there’s your first warning flag.Here are some of the questions you need to be asking:

How will my contract now be affected as I have contracted with you, IBM, but now someone else will be fulfilling that contract, HCL?

What will my next renewal cost look like, I have no experience dealing with HCL. Will it work the same as before?

What are the development plans for these legacy systems?

Where will the support teams be based?

Will I still have access to the right IBM experts to support my legacy estate? Will I still get the same level of service, what are the service options?

Are the legacy IBM support team moving to HCL?

Currently ILMT is a free application, provided by IBM, that helps IBM BigFix users manage their software. Will this now be managed by HCL and will it still be free?

Who will be my new account manager in HCL, do I have one yet?

What happens now with renewals? Can you renew with IBM? Will legacy customers now be issued new HCL contracts?

What about bundled programs? For example,Portal includes WAS and DB2 but they are staying with IBM. Connections is actually a FileNet program which isn’t going to HCL but Connections is. How will these program still work together as a bundled offering yet are developed and supported by two separate companies?

With this acquisition going live at the end of the month there is just too many unanswered questions, especially for customers who rely on these products to support the core business functions. Ask the questions, gain the knowledge and make a next steps plan.

LOOK AT YOUR LEGACY SOFTWARE NEEDS?

AGAINST YOUR WILL, YOU WILL BE USING A 3rd PARTY, WHY NOT CHECK OUT YOUR OTHER OPTIONS!

At Origina, we can support 5/7 of the sold products; Unica, Commerce, Portal, Notes &Domino and Connections. Since you will be changing your support provider at the end of the month, why not explore all your options first. Origina is the world’s leading, independent, third-party IBM software support specialists,offering our support at 50% less, better quality and more responsive than IBM themselves. We are software support providers to some of the world’s largest organizations. Give us a call today to full understand where we can help. Use us to ask as many questions that you may have and understand how Origina can help you.

“When we first had calls with Origina, it became clear that the support level we would be able to get from them would be much higher than what we get from IBM.”

“This service is 100% better than what you get from IBM. With IBM you just get the standard answer. With Origina they understand the customization’s we have made to each product.”

“We really have made massive savings. We feel like we are getting real value by going to Origina, we’ve gained a much better service.”