Thread regarding IBM layoffs

@3kvm+1avtTHHp IBM no longer has relationships senior enough to make a difference in the F500 companies. I worked for no less than 10 F500 accounts during my time at IBM, the most senior client contact we had was maybe an IT Director. CIO/CTO relationships were held by Accenture, Deloitte, Wipro, etc. We were competing with low tier outsourcers like HPE, DXC for table scraps, constantly in RFP response mode. So glad I left last year, I told my team IBM is hopeless and looks like I was right.

IBM has the relationships in the Fortune 500 companies That introduction is worth its weight in gold to smaller partnership companies.

Partnerships also make you the middleman. What value does IBM have when clients can go to the partners directly?

There are two ways to boost the bottom line

1. Make acquisitions and grow via the new offerings revenue
2. Make partnerships, which cuts your fixed costs in half and grow via the partnership

IBM has decided to focus on number 2. There still will be unique purchases due to unique offerings, BUT partnerships spread the risk, and lower internal costs vis thinning the herd

Loads of acquisitions in GBS and they still can’t make additive revenue because legacy GBS revenue is sliding so much. Yet they keep hiring and promoting Band D and above. Pathetic!

ALL ibm HW and SW rolls into "Technology" and then everything else is "Services" (soon to be sans GTS)

0. 0% more relaxed

"doesn’t that make the services side of the house look better due to large SW margins and Systems HW margins look worse?"

Depends how you look at it. When you look at the externally reported Systems numbers, you're seeing how the hardware is really doing, but not made to look worse. Internally the Systems division looks better because of the SW margins. And you're seeing Cloud inflated by unrelated software. But if you've seen the breakdown of the internal numbers, it's clear that the software and the hardware are on different trajectories

So if a “lot” of storage SW is reported up thru cloud, doesn’t that make the services side of the house look better due to large SW margins and Systems HW margins look worse?

"In the IBM reporting, I don’t see them distinguishing between storage hardware and software."

They don't. Surprisingly though, a lot of the storage software is reported externally as part of Cloud. (Yes, I know). Having said that: you are still right that the gains from software are dominated by the losses from hardware; and all storage is dominated by the rest of Systems, especially the decline of Power and the Z refresh cycle.

In the IBM reporting, I don’t see them distinguishing between storage hardware and software. Correct me if I’m wrong but HW and SW combined has still resulted in a consistent negative number. By declaring some software is doing well, doesn’t that imply that the hardware is doing even worse than the numbers portray?
I concede some software may be doing ok, but the way IBM sells/prices it, is still incredibly complex.

😂 everything is perfect now! What’s funny is all these new acquisitions and nothing ever comes out of any of them.

People really need to distinguish between storage hardware and storage software.

Storage hardware was down, and given the long–term direction of the industry (commodity storage in big public or private clouds) there is no reason to expect that to change.

Some of the storage software is doing pretty well, and somebody might want to actually buy it, and not just for the maintenance stream.

The only part of Systems generating any profit was Z – Power and Storage sucked wind (again & again). And keep in mind Z is cyclical – expect Z to be down in the dumps with its Power and Storage brethren again in Q2. Throughout the past 10 years, Storage has only turned a profit in 8 quarters. Surely that's not sustainable for ever?

What solid results? Revenues were down 2% at constant currency. What should have grown (the hybrid cloud stuff) did not grow... what saved the quarter was the Systems group (which most people seem to dismiss and think it will get sold) and the Z15!! The Red Hat acquisition is thus far obviously not working at all... and the all strategy around Openshi(f)t and the CloudPaks is falling flat on its face. I am in C&CS, and another re–org is just being announced... this is going nowhere at all...

That was what weirded me out most about that place. No acknowledgement of the fallen whatsoever. Its as if nothing happens. Totally different to when I've had to deal with it at other places.