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Like Flowers and Bees

Each morning, you put in countless hours weeding and watering your flowers. Your reward comes in the afternoon, as you lounge, read a book or write letters in view of your garden paradise. But just as you settle in, you realize those pesky bees are back, buzzing from flower to flower and occasionally dive-bombing you.

You may contemplate using chemical sprays or other means to rid your lovely garden of those pests, but then, of course, your flowers wouldnt be nearly as beautiful as they are.

Bees and flowers-you can't have one without the other. In the process of gathering nectar for food, bees travel from one flower to the next, along the way obtaining and distributing pollen to to other flowers. The bees get to eat, the flowers get to reproduce. It's one of nature's many symbiotic relationships.

A similar relationship has been enjoyed by iSeries local user groups and IBM. The user groups help market the iSeries, and IBM helps the user groups meet a variety of needs.

Feeding a Need
Explains IBM's Kathy Berkshire, Americas User Group Relations. Since the user groups are supportive of IBM and the IBM platforms, we hope that the user groups help drive new prospects to the platform. We expect the user groups will be champions for IBM.

In exchange, IBM assists the user groups. A one-size-fits-all program doesn't work, Berkshire says. The needs of the user groups vary dramatically. Some have a logistics problem as far as where they meet. Others need help with speakers. Others want to hold events or do a technical conference. Some already do them.

 

"Since the user groups are supportive of IBM and the IBM platforms, we hope that the user groups help drive new prospects to the platform." -Kathy Berkshire, Americas User Group Relations, IBM

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