Company: IBM, Armonk, NY
Company Description: IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. IBM helps its clients capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to its clients.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in the Digital Transformation of Sales Operations
 Nomination Title: Royalty and Payment Management Transformation
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2022, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization or individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 173 words used.
IBM’s Royalty and Payment Management (R&PM) team supports IBM Business Units in managing offering portfolios through third-party partner licensing and support agreements. They specialize in mitigating risks and facilitating activities throughout the end-to-end engagement lifecycle, from negotiations and payment setup to product and agreement termination.
The Royalty and Payment Management (R&PM) organization recently launched a transformative new system that enhances operational efficiency and strengthens its ability to fulfill its core value statements. Central to IBM’s supply-side partnership onboarding and relationship management, R&PM ensures timely and accurate performance of agreements and payments.
With this transformation in place, complex administrative tasks are significantly reduced, freeing-up time for deeper analysis, operational improvements, and providing stakeholders with valuable insights, while offering a reliable and trustworthy automation that ensures the right parties and individuals are prompted to take timely actions and receive customized reports with precisely the data they need.
In today’s fast-paced environment, the new Digitalization program enables R&PM to deliver timely, accurate information that supports informed decision-making without disrupting stakeholder operations or negatively impacting their experience.
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 245 words used.
Over the past year, the RP&M Digitalization Program has transformed key workflows, reducing operational complexity, and improving process accuracy and efficiency, including:
- Calculation Automation: Transforming manual calculations into precision-driven, scalable workflows that reduce human error by up to 90%, increase operational efficiency, and enable teams to focus on higher-value tasks, driving overall productivity and accuracy across the organization. This transformation not only drives immediate improvements in productivity and accuracy but also lays the groundwork for in-progress AI-powered enhancements, further elevating organizational capabilities.
- Alert Systems: Implementing proactive alerts to notify teams of critical thresholds and compliance requirements, enabling timely interventions.
- Manual Workflow Digitalization: Automating manual tasks, freeing resources for higher-value activities and improving overall workflow efficiency.
By integrating digital workflows into the R&PM infrastructure, the team members successfully support over 500 entities and facilitate $2B in payments to the several hundred IBM partners annually. These workflows underpin $8B in IBM revenue and support 70% of distributed software offerings with third-party assets. This modernization reduces manual workload and enhances R&PM team's efficiency and accuracy in managing high-stakes operations, enabling faster decision-making and a scalable framework for future growth.
These efforts not only contribute to the successful digital transformation of R&PM services but also position the team to achieve strategic goals with 30% greater agility and 6% cost savings. The RP&M Digitalization Program has become a key enabler of innovation, driving operational excellence and fostering a data-driven environment that supports sustainable growth and efficiency improvements across the organization.
- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 213 words used.
Royalty and Payment Management (R&PM) Digitalization team has successfully transitioned over 26 manual processes into production-ready digital workflows using the RP&M Digitalization Program. This milestone represents a significant leap in our digital transformation, integrating automated scheduling with R&PM’s robust capabilities to modernize and optimize both manual payment services and IBM stakeholders day-to-day activities. The impact is measurable: over 650 hours of manual work per month is automated, showcasing the transformative power of automation and process optimization.
What sets this achievement apart is the speed and scale at which we have automated critical operations compared to industry standards. In many organizations, transitioning from manual to automated workflows is a gradual process that may span years, often encountering significant roadblocks. In contrast, this team’s ability to streamline processes and calculations, enhance notification systems, and centralize data management within a cohesive automated framework in just a year demonstrates exceptional execution.
These results not only highlight R&PM team’s operational efficiency but also reflect its proactive approach to problem-solving. By replacing cumbersome manual tasks with precision-driven automation, we've set new benchmarks within the organization, saving substantial time and reducing the likelihood of human error. In doing so, we've also created an adaptable and scalable system that positions us for future growth, making our approach unique within the industry.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
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