Thread regarding IBM layoffs

It's not consulting per-se at all.
It's that "consulting" is an owned source to drive IBM's visions.

Problem 1:
If the visions and products backing them aren't real, solid, desirable, then "consulting is screwed"

Problem 2:
The real problem is a systemic one - the upline on consulting can't keep their jobs if they aren't pushing the IBM agenda - and that can mean fabricating products and experiences they can't back up.

Summary: It's execs grasping at straws for some, any, hook, into any current or emerging tech, that they'll then hope, through consulting, to get some money to actually fund and realize that.

We are better then you..................................................

We also need to talk about the culture of bullying, discrimation, and racial favoritism that is systemic in Consulting (especially EMEA). It’s a toxic poisonous environment and it’s promoted and encouraged by the leadership.

It’s not “racist” to say most of our jobs replaced by India. It’s “racist” to make a comment about Indians as a race but even this isn’t possibly racist because the entire concept of an Indian was invented by the British.

So I was the OP who wrote the post about being naive and simple. Prior to joining IBM, I experienced being laid off. It was one of the most painful, yet critical experiences of my life. Can certainly empathize what I feels like to be at the bottom of the barrel. And also what it feels like to climb out of it slowly but surely - and what to do next if this happens again.

Re: IBM, I do believe the company is going through a re-invention / redefinition of itself like it has always been doing over the past 112 years. It will never, ever stop. Who is to say the the AI use cases in HR won’t scale to other Shared Services within 3-5 years? Who is to say Power and Z will be our bread and bu-ter if we experience more chip shortages? I remember speaking to IBM Consulting leaders who talked about no bench/ high utilization just last year - what happened now?

So anything can happen anytime at Big Blue, and for whatever reason you are here reading or writing posts, all I can say is that there is an opportunity to have higher-level discourse about the pain than name, shame, and bully others. We can do better.

Just spin out Consulting. Replace senior leadership and it will be fine on its own. Problem is not IBM Consulting or IBM Tech, problem is IBM corporate.

Double digit growth two years in a row will be difficult when the global economy is shrinking. The western world and China have severe debt problems, the US and Russia are about to start World War 3, and the basis of the last few decades of economic growth (globalization) is in the process of being reversed. In such conditions, IBM will be lucky to experience breakeven or slightly negative P/L in its various LOB. Consulting will be no different.

If you want to fix Consulting, then need to decide what you want to be. It’s either a Wipro wannabe charging McKinsey prices like today or it’s something else that justifies the premium on resources.

I would suggest there’s big white space in AI and IBM still has some enterprise acceptance of having AI creds as people remember Deep Blue and Jeopardy. Enterprise would pay IBM consulting rates for this expertise and we can differentiate. Get rid of all the legacy AMS and HCS business and double down on DTT only. Fire people who don’t have AI skills or capacity to learn quickly. This will mean almost all the partners should be RAd as they tend to have no skills let alone tech skills. It’s unfortunate but this is type of action that needs to be taken to survive and prosper.

If we continue like this we will just continue to fail and lose more and more. The good people will leave, the bad remain. The rot will continue until IBM Consulting is written about in HBR as the blockbuster or Kodak of consulting industry.

@1bwe (I gotta figure out how to insert links, sorry)...but I don't think sharing the pain in the manner you suggest will lead to any improvements. In an image-centric business like consulting, it could very well do the opposite. Cutting salaries and bonuses would not only eliminate any incentive on the part of the executives, but it would be seen by current and potential clients as a warning flag about the business. Who wants to hire a consulting firm that treats its executives so poorly? Something must be wrong, right?

If I were king (or AK, or whoever runs the joint), I would do the following (which admittedly is easier said than done). If IBM Consulting is to be a bunch of professional consultants, then it needs to act like professional consultants:

1. S*** or get off the pot. Decide what businesses IBM consulting will choose to be in. Stop shooting into the air with all the acquisitions. Focus on the areas where IBM can add value and be successful, and stop screwing around with everything else.

2. Pay EVERYONE at market rates or better. Treat them like professionals, and pay them as professionals. Clients notice this. They know when someone is overpriced, but they also know when someone is underpriced. They'll pay extra if they think the money is worth it, and clients do know what they are paying on every engagement.

3. The hard part...cut heads and fire people who aren't bringing in sufficient revenue. IBM's problem is not necessarily that they are firing people, but rather that they are screwing around and wasting everybody's time in the process. IBM has spent decades in a futile effort to keep people employed who probably should not be there. The business cannot afford all the extra staff...this much we know. If an executive deserves no bonus and a 50% salary cut, then Steve Jobs or Lou Gerstner would fire the executive instead. If the entire leadership team deserves bonus and salary cuts, then it's time for the president and BOD to reevaluate the viability of the division. Stop fooling around and wasting everybody's time.

I will say this once. If executive leadership is watching this thread, then show leadership by example and share in the pain. Offer up no bonuses for yourselves and a 50% cut in your salary until IBM is truly in double digit growth on a consistent basis - 2 years in a row.

It's super easy to hack the like/dislike votes of this web site. It does not require any army of people. Your lack of imagination on this topic tells me everything I need to know about your technical skills. Maybe you need to spend less time on this site, and more time improving your work skills.

@pot+ did you get you entire family to on this site to downgrade this post? Ouch! Truth hurts! OP is not writing anything that is not already widely known about IBM. Fact is, IBM sealed it's fate a long time ago when it started gutting it's workforce for cheap labor in India. From that time through today it has been a race to the bottom. IBM has lost all the respect and grandeur it once had. Come on, green screen is really the only lasting thing IBM is known for that has any kind of quality left.

It’s “naive and simple” to think IBM is a good place for technical talent. The DNA was once about innovation but it’s not now. We can’t even keep the patent leadership anymore.

It's easy to be a "naive and simple" cheerleader when you're one of the survivors. But know this: There are many of your predecessors that worked extremely hard, pushed their comfort zones, learned IBM's entire technology portfolio, built technical skills, tried to get on other IBM projects, and still got screwed in the end. They "put themselves out there", and nobody helped them.

I can't speak to the "racist" comments and the "naming and shaming", except that they provide the "difficult perspectives" that you speak of. Disparaging others is part of the package...sometimes the truth hurts.

In the end, IBM is a shrinking company and that includes its consulting business. It might eventually grow, either organically or via acquisitions, but for now it is clearly retreating to its comfort zone of mainframes for the enterprise market. As it shrinks, people will leave...simple as that. Fortunately, the world is full of opportunities. If you're willing to work hard, expand your comfort zones, build your technical skills and all that, there are many companies in the world who will hire you, and treat you well. You do not have to stay in one place.

Face it! IBM is continuing down the fortune 1500 path. (announced in July 2019 when they mapped the Redhat go forward strategy) Ask yourself what does that mean? It means IBM is becoming a “Niche” consulting provider. What’s the niche? Of course it’s mainframe and all of its iterations to support Hybrid cloud/SW modernization. Everything else doesn’t matter. What are the ramifications of a fortune 1500 strategy? IBM must continue to shrink (cost take out) as their cost structure can’t continue to support outside the “niche” thinking.

What I will say now may sound incredibly naive and simple. The DNA in IBM is not about losing; it’s about continual, tiring, and relentless transformation. For the day I joined the organization several years ago to today, I’ve realized that survival is working extremely hard, pushing your comfort zone, and knowing our entire technology portfolio to the best of your ability. If I were in IBM Consulting now, I would do anything and everything to build technical skills, and volunteer on other IBM projects. There’s a lot of work to do to grow this company and our careers, so we all need to put ourselves out there and help each other.

What’s disgusting on this site is the naming and shaming of people by their name as well as the deeply racist overtones of a number of comments. I hear that there is pain and frustration in this community. Hopefully this becomes a place where we learn about difficult perspectives without disparaging others.

This is what happens when you promote CIC people to leadership roles. You will see they control everything now and all they will do is get rid of domestic to staff everything from India. They don’t understand clients or markets but know how to cut cost. I think we are moving to either consulting splits to become an Indian pure play like Tech Mahendra or they close large parts of the business to improve profit.