Bob Samson Wins GovernmentVAR's Lifetime Achievement Award

Just because Bob Samson received a lifetime achievement award from GovernmentVAR this month doesn't mean he's without his flaws. Take, for example, the fact that the man refuses to talk about himself. Ask about his greatest achievement and he'll tell you how Stockholm, Sweden, reduced congestion on its roadways with an IBM traffic solution; ask him about his market influence and hear how honored IBM was to be one of four companies chosen by the federal government to lead the development of a national health IT network. It's like pulling teeth. But try as he may, there's no downplaying Samson's astute understanding of the government market. That's why news of his departure from the government post--as general manager of IBM's global public-sector business--came as quite a blow. Samson's very first sale with IBM, when he was just out of college, was to the State of New York. As time rolled on, he worked his way up, heading the state and local government business and, soon after, the federal biz as well. And now Samson, 33 years later, has left IBM's government, education, health-care and pharmaceuticals business, having led a team that consistently wins multimillion-dollar contracts. In swapping posts with Emilie McCabe, former vice president of worldwide system sales in IBM's System Technology Group (STG), Samson returns to a familiar spot. He held that role for six years before returning to the public-sector side of the house in January 2005. But Samson has always found it hard to stay away from government. Even during his previous tenure at STG, he had what he calls "a side job" working in the public sector. "To me, [that] sector is the most exciting area you can work in the IT industry," Samson says. "The challenges they face and the innovative way they solve problems are different than anything else out there. All of us look for that little sparkle that gets us up in the morning and gets us motivated; for me, it's the thrill of helping these customers change the world." NEXT: Samson the Idealist

The IBM veteran often says that working with government is all about changing the world. He acknowledges that such a perspective may seem like pie-in-the-sky, and, as he told attendees at last year's Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technology Symposium, idealists are often perceived as tilting at windmills. But no matter to Samson. The perspective served him and, subsequently, IBM, whose Public Sector Edge program includes 1,000 members and was cited as a five-star initiative in this year's GovernmentVAR Partner Programs Guide, well. Samson would never consider taking credit for that success, but anyone would be remiss not to hand him some of it anyway. "Bob is a leader of remarkable ability, a man with enterprising ideas, which he articulates with a rare blend of eloquence and humor, and the staying power to carry them out," says Alex Gogh, vice president of marketing for IBM's global public-sector business. "He's a solid commander-in-chief with a competitive urge to win. He's universally well-liked, and he realizes that if his channels are properly inspired and animated by a just confidence in their leader, they will exceed expectations." Although Samson won't talk much about his own crowning achievements, he is happy to promote IBM as a philanthropic enterprise and thought leader in the public sector. It's hard to argue with that. Over the years, Big Blue has flooded all levels of government, education and health care with programs that drive innovation and opportunity and go well beyond contract wins. As Samson would avow, that's the most important example of influence. "IBM's policy is not to push legislation as much as provide the information to help political leaders make educated decisions," he says. NEXT: Samson the Opportunist

Two areas that Samson and IBM took on as priorities were education and health care. The company has much to show for it. The Reinventing Education initiative, for example, involves partnerships with U.S. school districts and states, and with countries around the globe, to develop technology solutions that support reform efforts and elevate student achievements. Similarly, the KidSmart Early Learning program provides learning tools that enrich teaching and learning in more than 450 pre-K institutions across the country. That initiative serves more than 2 million children and extends to more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. To Samson, it's all about providing K-100 education--learning that takes place over the course of a lifetime. He says that can happen only if education moves beyond the classroom and is implemented across distances, leveraging high-tech solutions such as networks and portals. In health care, IBM has been more active still. The company heads a consortium of health-care and health-information technology organizations aimed at developing a 21st-century health-care network. That group, which was awarded one of four contracts totaling $18.6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services, is showcasing the potential of such an endeavor with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). There, IBM is transforming an IT infrastructure into a utility-based, on-demand environment with consolidated, virtualized operations. As part of a $352 million solution, IBM and UPMC will co-develop and potentially commercialize solutions around key health-care issues, such as patient-records management, bio-security, information-based medicine and computational biology. IBM and UPMC will jointly invest a minimum of $50 million and up to $200 million over eight years in the initiative. And if there's any doubt that IBM practices what it preaches, just ask the 180,000 U.S.-based employees that have access to their medical records via the Web-based Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. While these admirable public-sector initiatives are credited to IBM, many were the brainchildren of Samson. "Bob's consistently ahead of the curve," says David Evans, director of public-sector sales at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Jeskell, and a former sales manager for education, and state and local government at IBM. "He was one of the thought leaders that said government will eventually be using [technology] to provide self-service to constituents. He said, 'We need to think through how we can help government entities make this happen.' Then he moved forward with ideas that no one was talking about yet. That's what he does well." What helped Samson think big and keep one step ahead of the market is simplicity. You judge a local government, he says, less by whether it has complex wireless networks for all residents and more by whether the Department of Motor Vehicles offers registration and license renewal online. Does an agency use Web-based customer-management applications? If so, it's on track; if not, IBM and its partners will step in and offer customized solutions to improve the agency's services. NEXT: Samson the Optimist

It's no secret what government-contract bidders are after: a level playing field. Samson concedes that the competitive landscape bears some hilly spots and crags, but he insists that the greater source of frustration is an outdated procurement process that hinders government's ability to solve problems. "The biggest change that's occurred in the market is the move toward acquiring integrated solutions rather than piece parts," Samson says. "Interestingly, though, most government-procurement systems tend to be biased toward the piecemeal purchasing model. They'll have a contract for servers, storage devices, desktops. That's just the nature of how procurement has grown up." While he does think government is trying, processes don't always keep up with implementation. Case in point: A government body wants a Web portal, but that solution incorporates hardware and software. Samson says the government is forced to play quilt-maker, stitching together the pieces. What he recommends to VARs is that they use those contracting inefficiencies to drive an agenda. "The good news is that just about every government I've spent time with understands that contracting is a problem," he says. "[Industry] can force government down the most efficient path of reengineering procurement. Even the less progressive governments, when they focus on the end gain, can navigate through their own system to procure technology in a way that's legal, valuable and beneficial." So, the role of industry in that process is guidance. But providing that guidance can be demanding. Alignment with the market is crucial to IBM's success, Samson says, acknowledging that no company can take on these challenges alone, not even IBM. "Government is the largest industry for IT spending in the world, and it's ambiguous by its very nature," Samson says. "The ability to reach that market requires geographic coverage that honors that ambiguity. We need partners all over the U.S. and world that are close to the customers and an extension of our coverage model. That's where IBM's success in this market comes from. We take that theory of an ecosystem seriously." All that said, was Samson's longevity in the public sector a product of IBM's success and the success of its partners? Samson would be the first to say that the value of any success story is measured by the sum of its parts. Standout leaders, though, can skillfully draw out the best in people around. That's what Samson brought to the table; in a word, it's all about admiration. "[Bob] truly believes that IBM and its partners should be involved in every aspect of bringing technology to government," Evans says. "And that means something to people. Ask agencies, state governments and big cities. They know Bob Samson." And no doubt, they'll miss him.