IBM Teams With First Data to Provide SMB EC Services
IBM announced plans to enhance its e-commerce services offerings through an agreement with First Data Merchant Services Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data Corp. Together, IBM and First Data Merchant Services plan to deliver a suite of e-commerce services to enable small and medium businesses to quickly build online storefronts and begin transacting Internet commerce, complete with online payment solutions.
Under the terms of the agreement between IBM and First Data, IBM HomePage Creator for e-business, will be incorporated with components of the First Data (www.firstdata.com) and iMall Inc. joint e-commerce offering to provide key elements required for merchants to begin selling products and services over the Internet.
"This innovative offering will provide small and medium businesses access to the services they need to establish a merchant account, to take online credit card orders over the Internet in a security-rich environment, and help drive traffic to their Web sites," says Sanjaya Addanki, VP of hosted business application services for IBM Global Services.
"We are very pleased to work with IBM as a global e-commerce leader, and this solution represents the first of many we expect to bring to market," says John Duncan, executive VP of First Data Merchant Services.
--L. Greenemeier