https://www.crn.com/news/security/2025/ibm-s-suja-viswesan-on-the-future-of-qradar-siem-and-the-post-quantum-security-journey
Very high buzzword density, "AI" 9 times.
9 replies (most recent on top)
Just one addition to your storyline (which is great BTW).
Buy a company for which you pay a whole load of cash, have no idea how to monetize it, cash the cow until it's dry, then claim victory because you said the investment paid for itself, layoff their employees, the remaining ones are left just for support and become an obscure team that slowly nobody remembers it exists, ignore the fact that you said you had an entire hybrid cloud strategy (for example) that will conquer the world, and move on to the next thing.... You show the world how you can multitask and talk about AI BS (oh, management is sooo gooooood). hire some consultants (McKinsey is the preference) and pay them a lot of money to figure out what to talk about next .. oh, the power of QUANTUM things...!!!
OK, so I read the article. What I got out of it is that IBM's role in "the marketplace" will be that of a plumbing supply company. They'll sell specialized software components and consulting to the market, but not so much hardware (assuming that they exit manufacturing entirely). From reading the forum commentary, their customers will be mostly Fortune 1000 companies, with everyone else being relegated to industry "partners".
While I see a significant role for IBM in this scenario, I do NOT see the "all-important, absolutely necessary" role that IBM once played in this world. IBM is just another vendor...no more, no less. Fortune 1000 customers can play with IBM if they like, or they can buy plumbing supplies from someone else. Industry "partners" will sell whatever vendor gives them the best deals, which may or may not be IBM.
AI? Doesn't matter. Quantum? If it ever comes to fruition, that won't matter either. IBM is just a "me too" plumbing supplier in a world whose leadership consists of OpenAI, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Apple and some other vendors.
Cisco used to have that all-important lead position, but now they too are just another plumbing vendor. Whether it's routers, switches, voice-over-IP or whatever, customers can pick and choose from a variety of vendors at every price point. There's something for everyone.
The only people who will make money on AI are the few that build the best and get there first. That leaves IBM in the trashcan. Unlike oil companies that buy up nimble new start-up with a new well head or ground analyzing software, IBM has no one to buy. They don't have much of a future in this. Coming in 3rd or 7th will bankrupt you. Their fate is sealed.
@dm You are mostly correct in that IBM conceded their relationships with customers except the fortune 1000 to partners. Just look at the purchase of Redhat. IBM mapped Redhat 1100 biggest customers on day 1 and ignored everyone else. Using partners kept the direct sales costs down, BUT at an expense. The expense was Partners only acted in their own self interest, and as time moved on IBM had less and less influence over them. Currently the partner channel has zero allegiance to IBM, and instead goes to where the margins are best. (why fight the tape) YEP that is usually a Linux on Intel solution that the ISV’s are pushing. The fortune 1000 and IBM still have a very good working relationship and that shows up in the revenue profile. 85% of IBM’s revenue comes from the fortune 1000. Again IBM is not going to fight the tape, but rather will cover those fortune 1000 customers worldwide up with consultants and modernization recommendations. There is a reason IBM during their quarterly calls says 80% of the revenue is baked into their results on the first day of the quarter (eg fortune 1000 relationships and legacy spend). You can conclude two things from this
- If you are a fortune 1000 worldwide customer, you can get IBM to focus on your needs and bend IBM to your will as you pay the bills
- If you are a non-fortune 1000 worldwide customer IBM has divorced you to the channel, and could care less about your success because you don’t pay the bills
@df yes those 3 pillars have been IBM's GTM go to market for a very long time. Only (well far from only) problem is IBM intentionally through arrogance and incompetence THOUGHT they could outsource sales to "partners". Ah no such thing as 'Partners". There are thieves and buzzards and people that are coin operated BUT the partner channel THINKS IBM will bring them leads and business and IBM THINKS the channel partners will bring them leads and business. This happens when you hire by wokeness and based on young age (keep SG&A costs down), race, skin color, s-x etc etc. You hire people who know very little and would never admit they are deer in the headlights. For 50 years from the 20s to the 70s IBM was the most respected and innovative and essential company on the planet and had the best trusted advisor customer relationships but in the 80s the cracks began to show and then Gerstner came in the 90s and put the final nails in the coffin making IBM a "financial engineering petrie dish of experimentation". IBM no longer has customer relationships and changes sales reps every 30-60-90 days and partners and customers know it. A very large portion of the IBM CRM system has contacts marked DO NOT CONTACT ME because they have 8 IBM reps bother and fatigue the same contact in 1 day with calls, texts, emails. IBM has no self awareness about the fact it has no clothes (no customer relationships).
@d1 I believe you are watching IBM morph into 3 different companies
- SW = buy innovation and make money distributing the purchased SW
- Infrastructure = innovate around chip and enterprise design, and then make money via selling those enterprise solutions. NOTE distributed infrastructure and infrastructure support for the most part are running in place and not innovating
- Consulting = Innovate around AI and then make money via recommending that AI to enterprise customers. NOTE a large part of consulting is perform which lacks innovation
Thanks. Just a word salad of buzz words. And IBM has bought 200 companies since 2000 and produced NOTHING on it's own. What does IBM even mean or do anymore? IBM is like going into a supermarket with the lights off.
@c2 your comment is spot on. This scenario is pervasive across many IBM organizations. Threre are sh---y DE/STSM following the same script.
Just what you'd expect from International Bullsh-t Machines. First you find the next big thing, then you do some "research", then you create a Frankensteinian product/service that doesn't even approach what management says it does, then you design some PowerPoints to demonstrate how the monstrosity exceeds all expectations, then you saturate the media with a marketing blitz, and when the bullsh-t doesn't go anywhere, you RA a shitload of employees and tackle the next big thing. How does this shithole company still exist?!