ARMONK, N.Y.: IBM, recently announced that it has received IDC's first SMB Excellence Award for the effectiveness of its express advantage program in helping mid-market businesses thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.

IBM's express advantage program was recognized in the category of "New Application Approaches" -- and was awarded for excellence in product development and promotion.

Express Advantage includes IBM's broad portfolio of targeted hardware, software and services that have met stringent criteria, including affordability, ease of implementation and ownership to ensure their value to mid-market businesses. It also incorporates IBM's Business Partner ecosystem, industry insights and connections to help mid-size companies succeed, said a press release.

"Mid-market companies typically have extraordinary IT needs, but not extraordinary budgets to meet those needs. IBM, through its Express Advantage program, has established and nurtured a portfolio of technology resources that leverages a variety of development resources across technology areas to meet the sometimes conflicting needs of General Business customers," said Raymond Boggs, vice president of SMB Research,  IDC.

"IBM has been recognized by IDC for its breadth and depth of offerings and solutions for the midmarket that help them to do more with less, manage and mitigate risk, and take advantage of flexible delivery choices like cloud computing," said Marc Dupaquier, IBM general manager, Global Midmarket.

Other award categories included market segmentation/customer targeting, Software-as-a-Service and cloud computing for SMBs, streamlining/enhancing customer engagement and technology deployment.