Deployment Manager

Introduction
Deployment Managers are responsible for providing a successful implementation of digitization solutions and a seamless experience for Digital Sales’ internal and external clients and Business Partners by working with the IBM brand teams marketing provisioning teams and potentially external partners to define and coordinate all aspects of the implementation through design build and run phases of a project. This includes making sure that updates released to the program/digitization initiative are seamlessly integrated into the client experience. Deployment Managers will also be responsible for ensuring relevant stakeholders are enabled to utilize and drive the program to optimise adoption and drive substantial incremental velocity and volume

Your Role and Responsibilities
You will develop and build healthy relationships with internal stakeholders and partners to promote a specific digitization initiative. Among your activities and responsibilities you will:

• Act as a primary point of contact throughout the project implementation – all phases
• During the build phase the key focus will be on :
  • Enable stakeholders on the high level value and use case for the digitization initiative and maintain constant communication to identify potential issues in advance and drive appropriate solutions
  • Advise other Digitization roles involved in your initiative on potential impacts and changes required such that the solution can meet its business requirements and is successfully integrated and accepted by its users
  • Manage the country deployment / rollout plan end to end
  • Establish clarity on the seller and ecosystem roles specific to the solution to optimize the client journey
  • Create and curate content to facilitate IBM seller and ecosystem seller enablement leveraging persona and use case based techniques and with a clear value proposition on what outcomes can be achieved
• During the run phase of the project the key focus will be on :

• Driving IBM seller adoption and expansion of the digitization solution
• Sales execution vs targets at market level
• Marketing integration
• Management system and market interlocks to drive week to week improvements and leveraging data insights to highlight areas of opportunity – covering Digital Inbound and Ecosystem routes and leveraging Digital BU and FLM’s to drive actions
• Collate and take action on what’s not working (retrospectives)
• Highlight best practice and drive replication across different teams
• Build a strong communication plan to ensure a “drumbeat” of messaging to reinforce how the solution should be used and what works best (leveraging Brand/BU Execs)
• Levrage contests sales plan objectives and other techniques to optimize motivation and engagement
• Identify and mobilise advocates to amplify key messages and activities in the teams
• Escalate issues early
• Ongoing enablement to highlight improvements and leverage tools to help sellers SHOW the solution
• Drive ecosystem adoption and expansion of the digitization solution
• Focus on recruitment value proposition front
• Drive co-marketing activitie ne with brand
• Leverage PartnerWorld comms channels to amplify key messages
• Include ecosystem leaders in market integration activity
• Collect and highlight best practice / working
• Differentiate VAD and tier 2 activity and value propositions
• Escalate issues early
• Follow up with stakeholders ensuring that all products and services are delivered on time and are working as intended
• Serve as liaison between stakeholders partners and technical teams
• Ongoing competitive analysis to ensure strong differentiation and request corrective action as needed

Required Technical and Professional Expertise
You have a proven track record in product or project management and/or brand sales plus a solid understanding of solution-based delivery. Experience / knowledge of agile methods and experience in working in agile squads is a plus.
Additionally we are looking for the following skills:

• Ability to guide stakeholders in deploying emerging digitization capabilities that drive increased business value
• Data-driven decision making based on solution performance and understanding of value drivers
• Demonstrated ability to liaise/negotiate with internal and external stakeholders at different levels and determine their needs
• General working knowledge of eCommerce technologies
• Strong organizational and analytical skills that include the ability to respond to changing needs and shifting priorities while minimizing project impact
• Ability to clearly articulate benefits of a solution and enable its users to extract maximum value.
• Experience of sales in channel and related products
• Strong communications skills
• Creativity in modern / social selling techniques to help showcase capabilities
• Track record of achieving targets/KPI’s

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

• You’re substantial in driving a higher adoption of digitization activities across clients and multiple countries
• Accountable for the digitization strategy success of engagements directly managed
• Specific KPIs are dependent on the solution focus of the Deployment Manager but fundamentals would be OI conversion win rates sales cycle times seller engagement and new client engagements