Thread regarding IBM layoffs

@OP: is he leaving DXC now?

LoL to "Howard was a breath of fresh air" are u f***ing serious? He didn't leave on his own, he was forced out. Howard was CTO of BofA from 2012 to 2020 (when he joined IBM).

BofA was hit was a $250millions USD fine on June 11 2023 for things like Misused Sensitive Customer Information to Open Unauthorized Accounts, wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent, and more.

All the above was done on Howard's watch! In fact, as CTO he was directly responsible for ensuring that the technology controls were in place to catch and prevent that, but it didn't happen.

After that hit the wire, two weeks later Howard "suddenly" decided to step away from his IBM position to "pursue other opportunities, effective immediately." Then without even a fond farewell, he quietly slid out of IBM. I mean of course, how good would it be for IBM to say we have a IBM Cloud for Financial Services controls created by a guy who cost his previous employer $250 million dollars in fines? And more due to lawsuits and other costs?

His buddy the Peacock is next on the chopping block. I mean seriously, after all the bank failures, bailouts, fines, collapses, mortgage debacle, the list goes on, why in the world would anyone or any company take advice from a banker?

People should be upset that Howard Boville is leaving or has left IBM. As someone who works in Hybrid Cloud Howard was a breath of fresh air. He was smart, had great connections outside of IBM. Howard saw and gets the future with "Cloud". He tried to make IBM a leader within Gartner in the hopes of attracting more business. People (his own leadership) fought him ever step of the way. They would always tell Howard, this isn't the way it is done at IBM, and then escalate Howard to CEO. Howard will go back to a bank or another financial service and make a huge difference, not to mention a huge paycheck.

Now the Q2 results are out, and given Howard Boville left on the last day of Q2 do the results give insight into why. Did he jump or was he pushed … was it the failure of his regulated cloud vision?

This is the problem with embracing enterprise accounts. The 80/20 rule comes into play. 80% of your profits are driven by 20% of your very slow growing but quite large customers. IBM consulting is now discovering what GTS had to muddle thru. Finding someone who would take their fulfill business. GTS settled for a 25/75 personnel split and spun off the fulfill side of the house to Kyndryl. Remember GTS was shrinking at 5-7% a year so a 25/75 split was appropriate. Consulting is growing at 2-3%, so a more favorable 33/66% split or better will be more appropriate. The question is who wants the 66% of the “smaller side of the house” business. I suspect HCL or Tata will be able to leverage those margins into their business model. Most outsources and hyperscalers have gone to a pay for sales arrangement to lower costs, with the outsourced/hyperscaler doing only the fulfillment part of the sale. IBM would love to dump the headcount for fulfillment while getting paid for the sale. This fits into the current outsourcing model thus could be a win/win. We’ll soon see if IBM can exploit this model and find a willing partner.

You have watched GTS get spun off and resized within IBM to approx 25% of its original size. GBS is now getting ready to go thru the same process. THAT doesn't mean IBM will abandon 75% of its consulting/servicing business, but it does mean they will find another way to deliver the commodity consulting/services side of the house. Expect a partnership announcement in the near future

A lot of Band C and higher are being let go - which is good thing - it is better to save 3 Band 6-10 jobs while letting go of the bloated executive ranks.
This is what the masses have been asking for and now AK is finally listening and taking action!

I've seen quite a few "Leadership Announcement" emails the last few weeks that so and so is leaving or retiring effective immediately. This is in Consulting. Mostly Band C's, but at least one Band B. Something is afoot.

I know of 4 managers and consultants who have participated in this process. All of them were associated with SAP practices and consulting. Apparently IBM changed their direct marketing strategy and eliminated a lot of manager / consulting positions, and embraced a partner go to market strategy instead. Every manager was given a chance to apply for “a new” position in the new partner ecosystem. All of them landed a new position, BUT everyone of them was at a lower band level. Here is the “hard to believe” part. They all got a signing bonus that must be returned if they leave IBM within the next year. So if you include the signing bonus most of them are breaking even pay wise for this year, but at the one year mark, they will go negative when it comes to pay. I characterize the offer as a slow motion ease out of the company

I've never heard of IBM managers being put through games like re-applying for jobs. In fact, no manager that I ever worked under (1st and 2nd line) would waste their time in such a manner. If IBM eliminated them, then they would apply for jobs at some other firm...not "re-applying to IBM for a lower grade position". The very idea of it sounds ludicrous on its face, although I have no doubt that AK would try such a thing out of desperation.

The redeploy actually had a twist. The original jobs were eliminated, and the impacted execs and managers were allowed to apply for “other” jobs at lower band ratings. It’s part of the restructuring

Other exec’s have been redeployed so the dust isn’t quite settled yet.

This is the first time I have ever seen extremely senior executives get shown the door. SVP Bowville, CIO KG, A senior procurement VP with over 40 years service (BM), A consulting senior leader (KC) - I guess AK and SVP JW are serious about change.

LOL that last one was positioned internally as he's choosing a well deserved retirement after a long and successful career at IBM. Guess not.

Another IBM Exec decides to exit. I would say the house cleaning was far more extensive than folks thought. All in all this might be good news for IBM if they can streamline

https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1142/amd-appoints-phil-guido-as-chief-commercial-officer

@9qjj, your comment is based on an assumption that the IBM management contribute to any sales not limited to hardware. That cannot be any far from the truth as we just don't see their contributions but more like we see their confusions.

Wonder if SVP Howard’s exit and the other senior leaders like CIO, Procurement, F&O, Consulting exits will be covered on the Office Hours on July 12. Let the sugar coating begin. We’re they voluntold?

Yes from a 40k foot perspective 1/3 of manager trimming is not enough, BUT given that Mainframe installations are very old and complicated beasts, it most likely better to be over managed than under managed. Remember these customers are used to IBM holding their hands and advising them. If we have to have some hand holder managers to make the end users comfortable so be it as these customers feed the bulldog. Remember 1/3 of all managers given a 250-260k workforce is approx 8-10k headcount. (thats a billion dollar take out) which helps quite a lot in closing the 2nd and 3rd q headwind of high interest rates and aging HW sales. My advice to management is go faster as wallstreet expects results, not “its going to be great” excuses

Looks like the HR downvote crew are back.

Rumors say as many as 1/3 of manager positions will be impacted

That's not enough

@7uav, it contained names. Personally identifiable info is not allowed here. Only C-suites and senior leadership can be named, as they are public figures.

Yes what happened to the latest thread about execs - has this site been compromised or was someone asked to take it down?

What happened to this thread about the exodus of executives?

https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1nu4WfDZ#replies

Don't let IBM fool anyone, they are "resourcing" mostly finance right now, to India. Arvind's America BS is just that BS. Alot of good people work hard and get zero recognition while the executives keep slashing numbers and piling on more work. Revenue numbers aren't great so to make it look better they RA.

When I was at IBM, there were a sizeable number of non-manager managers (option #4). They were in the manager class, but with no direct reports.

What does "impacted" mean for managers?

1. Fired
2. Demoted
3. Pay cut
4. Direct reports removed, position and pay ceiling imposed (no further promotions, allowed to stay "for now" at current position/pay level, option to resign or retire)

So does this mean IBM is flattening the organizations? If 1/3 managers getting impacted? How would Morgan Stanley analyst have the inside scoop?

where is this morgan stanley report? link?

It doesn’t say 1/3 getting fired It says 1/3 getting impacted Morgan Stanley analyst notes

I was unaware of this 1/3 managers getting fired story. What's your source?

It is a house cleaning Most folks leave quietly, so the end results will not be known till mid-July Expect the cleaning to roll downhill as July continues. Rumors say as many as 1/3 of manager positions will be impacted

Yes KG the CIO left and Inderpal B and a bunch of other high ranking VPs retired under SVP JW (all on the same day July 1). Coincidence- no - cleaning house - yes.

Apparently the next one is Kathryn Guarini (CIO). She left today as I saw her linkedin post.

Rob Thomas was part of the good old boy network. Arvind had him in his plans all along. Jim Whitehurst and Tom Rosamelia. were not with the good old boy network

The question is, what has this guy done for IBM in his short tenure?
Anything, nothing?

Anyway, Rob Thomas as Arvind are bullies who will replace everyone to pocket their money. If you still work at IBM, you should consider not working there anymore.

Boville leaving on his own doesn't seem very positive for IBM's cloud efforts.

Source is an email from CEO on Friday… that said HB has decided to step down from his role to pursue other opportunities, effective immediately.

Source?

Gary Cohn next, one hopes.

I remember IBM execs bragging about hiring this guy from BOA