IBM formally announced in October 2006 that The Northern Illinois University College of Business is an SSME partner school. SSME stands for Services Science, Management, and Engineering, and is a new initiative for IBM. The college's Operations Management & Information Systems program - where operations and information systems pieces are combined - prompted IBM's interest. In response, OM&IS partnered with the college's Marketing Department to add a services marketing component to the SSME curriculum. By being named an IBM SSME partner school, NIU's business college joins schools such as Arizona State University, Carnegie Mellon, Ohio State, North Carolina State, University of Maryland, University of California-Berkeley, and the Wharton School of Business.
In addition, NIU's College of Business enjoys long-standing and active relationships with a wide range of firms, including: Motorola, CDW, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, HSBC, Allstate, Caterpillar, Treasury Management Association of Chicago, OTA Off-The-Record Research, OfficeMax, McDonald's as well as Accountancy's close relationships with several firms in the public and corporate accounting industries, to name a few.