Apple is looking to hire individuals across the US for a team of IBM Business Development Executives that “will be accountable for all aspects of the Apple and IBM partnership for a defined geographic and account set territory.” That means Apple is hiring a team of individuals that will act as company liaisons to help roll out and oversee sales teams pushing the new Apple/IBM iOS solutions to enterprise customers. The positions, which are industry and region-specific, also show Apple’s plan for the upcoming expansion of its enterprise solutions for new industries including manufacturing and healthcare.
Apple says the team will “play a pivotal role in the U.S. success of the recently announced Apple partnership with IBM.”
Apple is hiring the IBM Business Developer Executives to act as liaisons for the various industries that Apple and IBM have been developing solutions for. Currently the company is hiring for the position in Seattle and LA for the Healthcare & Retail industries, in New York City for the Financial Services & Retail industries, and in Dallas and Chicago for Manufacturing and Retail.
Industry field liaison to IBM – will operate in specific industry capacities. For example, if an Apple AE has a ‘retail industry oriented territory’, the BDE will help facilitate connection to IBM’s retail leadership and team so Apple and IBM can be more meaningful in their strategic partnership, for retail industry customers. The BDE will also work to build like industry communities across the geography to ensure that we are collaborating well and sharing learnings and best practices to be greatly successful in all of those industry customers in the territory.
The positions for healthcare and manufacturing sectors are particularly intriguing, as Apple hasn’t yet announced solutions with IBM for those industries. At its Q1 earnings call late last month, however, CEO Tim Cook announced that another 12 apps through the IBM partnership would arrive in Q1 of this year. That would bring the total of solutions to 22 and add solutions for new industries including healthcare, energy & utilities, and industrial products.
Apple announced back in December that the first wave of software developed through the IBM partnership was ready with a number of new “MobileFirst for iOS” solutions for the enterprise. The companies announced 10 new apps designed specifically for businesses including banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and for governments and airlines. Apple will likely be hiring more of these liaisons for its sales team as it rolls out additional apps for other industries.
When Apple originally announced the partnership with IBM back in July of last year, the companies said they would collaborate to bring over 100 enterprise apps & cloud services to the iPhone and iPad while launching a new AppleCare service specifically for enterprise customers.
