A new partnership between IBM and The Business Council of Fairfield County, known as the Connecticut Supplier Connection, will help local business owners become suppliers to major corporations.

The initiative is part of the national Supplier Connection initiative – a multi-industry procurement platform built and managed by IBM.

The free, business-to-business platform connects dozens of large corporations with suppliers that have under $50 million in revenues and fewer than 500 employees.

Using an online standardized profile, thousands of small businesses across the state can be identified by the purchasing agents of large corporations whose combined spending power exceeds $150 billion a year. The comprehensive small business profiles make it easier and more efficient for large organizations to purchase from small businesses.

The Connecticut Supply Chain Roundtable will guide the Supplier Connection initiative statewide. This leadership group will bring together buying members, universities, professional service leaders, supply chain and manufacturing agency leaders – all of whom are key stakeholders and state economic development executives. The newly created roundtable, co-chaired by Pitney Bowes Inc., will work to elevate the awareness of Connecticut as a supply chain leader.

Since its inception in 2011, on a national level, Supplier Connection has helped channel over $6 billion from participating partner corporations to registered small businesses. In 2014, the platform helped channel over $2 billion in supply chain spending to small businesses.

IBM is one of the more than 31 corporate buying members registered on Supplier Connection, including AT&T, Citibank, Facebook, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Pfizer, and Pitney Bowes Inc., among many others.

“The state is a proud sponsor of the Connecticut Supplier Connection and pleased IBM chose Connecticut as its first regional growth partner,” Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith said in a statement. “I believe this initiative will provide new opportunities for smaller companies across the region and beyond. …  Through the tools, resources, and relationships Supplier Connection offers, companies will be able to access new markets, grow their skills and improve their performance faster and smarter.”