Thread regarding IBM layoffs

IBM’s reputation is under water

I am a former IBMer with 29 years experience. I now work for a competitor with several other X-IBMers. It is fair to say we never have - and probably never will have - someone defect to IBM. IBM's reputation is under water in these parts - and it is sinking fast.

I wish I could say we routinely move business away from IBM. The truth is: IBM is rarely considered by new customers. We just don't see them in competitive situations.

There is one place where I can make a difference: talking to college students. They say things like "IBM looks like a company that is going nowhere". I am happy to add "Looks can be deceiving. It is a company that is going backwards". If pressed, I can share true stories of how cuts, re-orgs and RAs have made the place toxic.

For me it is doubly sad. I started at IBM in 1970s. My opinion of first and second line managers from that era: smart, very well trained and eager to help everyone advance professionally and personally. Colleagues were inquisitive, inspiring and interesting.

Couldn’t agree more with @Wd9x3KS-1usi

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @OP+WfuqEGg
Comment! It's anonymous!

8 replies (most recent on top)

IBM is a bloated company - still lots of dead wood that is slow to execute - both at the strategic and tactical level. Sales is often farming and not hunting - a strategy that doesn't bode well for long term growth. As mentioned in another thread, I too now work for an IBM competitor, and I can honestly say I've never competed against them - they either don't try and/or clients don't even consider them!

It's all about execution at every level and IBM has been notoriously bad about this for years.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @enizk+WfuqEGg

IBM is so not what it used to be. Absolutely no concern for employees. Used to be "the place to work". Now employees are leaving in droves.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @eneif+WfuqEGg

Thirty-two year retiree. IBM looks and reacts quarter to quarter so top executives can earn top rewards. They play musical chairs with one another. The new "professional" hires are quite c---y and unfortunately, laid off after only a couple of years. Met a guy on a cross country plane ride two years ago, first class, who had just helped renegotiate the HERTZ contract with IBM. Pretty much a new hire and this guy thought he'd be running the company in 5 years. I'm sorry but I kept thinking to myself, "where do they find these id--ts?" The old saying, "Use them, abuse them, lose them" also came to mind. Hope he's still around but I doubt it.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @degj+WfuqEGg

@pdp last organic product was db2.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1qeh+WfuqEGg

The number one question customers raise today: what is your longterm plan IBM? Do you want to be in this business or does your attention shift away after 2 years? IBM have a huge reputation problem in the market and that shies away prospects and customers. Self inflicted, due to all the head count reductions, underinvestment, confusing strategy and not making the real strategic choices. Exec Team and Board topics.....

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @miq+WfuqEGg

@-ivk What you call a Fortune 250-500 strategy is the one thing that sent IBM from first to worst. They never considered the consumer market to be worth their time. IBM refused to get into the PC market for a long time, and when they finally did it was with an overpriced, bloated machine and operating system that appealed only to businesses and techies. IBM was asleep for 15-20 years while the consumer computing boom launched countless other companies that changed our lives. Now IBM wants to be relevant again? What was the last product IBM invented and released (as opposed to buying and blue-washing)? IBM can keep selling exclusively to large companies if it wants, but that's not where the future is. Or the present, or even the recent past.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @pdp+WfuqEGg

Ahhhh the six phases of a project.

  1. Enthusiaism. (life under Gerstner after the re-org)

  2. Disssillusionment ( life under Pamansanto)

  3. Panic (life under Ginni the early years)

  4. Search for the Guilty (life under Ginni the mid-years)

  5. Punishment of the innocent (life under Ginni the later/current years)

  6. Praises and Honors for the non-participants (current years. This includes you the board).

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @imn+WfuqEGg

So ask yourself. WHY does IBM allow this to happen. They have smart folks who continue to work for them. How can any company succeed when they seed the marketplace with folks who hate them, or at least have a bias against them??? The only answer I can come up with is THEY DON”T CARE. Why???? Because they are shifting to a fortune 250-500 strategy which means you cast aside everyone else (think95%) of your customers. Again you ask. How can this work??? Easy if you are the only game in town when it comes to Mainframe, and you decide to make money from an IP strategy with everything else that you own, develop, or have invested in. This includes patents, labs, SW, and as a service. You bundle that with Wall Street words like “cloud”, “blockchain”, “strategic initiatives”, and “cognitive/AI/Watson and you have a go to market strategy that has down sized IBM by approx 35-40% while enriching the folks who put this into place. Will there have to be a re-.org of executive management, the board, and IBM in general. Of course, but that is someone else’s problem, after all of the praises and honors have been given out for all of the non-participants. Welcome to the new IBM. Our new motto is “we don’t care”.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @ivk+WfuqEGg

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