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Robert Cringley has just posted an extended essay on how IBM can be turned around.
If there's one company that Cringley understands, it's IBM. He's done his research on this company and apparently has dozens of contacts inside the company, plus many more former employees who departed either voluntarily or as part of an "RA" (Resource Action = layoff).
I expected Cringely to go ballistic when CEO Ginny Rometty dropped a three-part bombshell on the financial markets last week: 1) IBM missed its expected revenue and earnings estimates for the quarter by a huge margin; 2) IBM was selling its semiconductor manufacturing business to Global Foundaries; and 3) Rometty was giving up on the infamous "Roadmap 2015" to $20 earnings/share established by her predecessor, Sam Palmisano, which Rometty had been following diligently since she took over the reins in 2012.
Instead, Cringely reacted in a measured way, writing a pair of short analysis pieces for Forbes; the first on how the IBM server business (the high end business the company retained, not the commodity business sold to Lenovo) will be at a huge cost disadvantage over the next 10 years, even after the sale of the microelectronics division to Global Foundaries; second, how IBM's software and services businesses have been badly damaged by frequent waves of layoffs, so that opportunities for revenue growth too often come from tightening enforcement of software licenses and similar gadgetry.
Now, a week after the announcement, comes the longer reaction piece. Bear in mind that Cringley is a journalist and blogger, not a management consultant or financial analyst, so his advice won't be confused with a bound report prepared for management's eyes only by McKinsey & Co. Cringley's prescription follows...
1. Stop cutting staff, particularly in Global Services. The layoffs are damaging quality and alienating customers.
2. Look for Cloud Computing opportunities higher in the stack, in SaaS (Software as a Service) rather than in the commodity PaaS (Platform as a Service). Look for sales opportunities from smaller customers outside the Fortune 1000 (IBM's traditional customer base).
3. Acquire more business software companies (e.g. Intuit, Computer Associates) to obtain products that can be converted into SaaS offerings for the cloud.
4. Create a mobile app store, not to compete against Apple, Google and Microsoft, but rather to entice ISVs to develop mobile applications for IBM's enterprise and cloud software.
5. Fire Ginny Rometty as CEO
Ginni’s plan to save the company will involve further cuts. You can’t cut your way to prosperity.
6. Ask several members of the board to follow Ms. Rometty out the door.
This reminds me of a curmudgeonly quote made several decades ago by W. Edwards Deming, the statistician and quality guru who is credited for helping to revive Japan's industry after World War II:
Populating management with financially oriented people has ruined this country (USA).
Apparently some folks in Armonk, NY didn't get the memo.
(Score: 2) by Sir Garlon on Tuesday October 28 2014, @02:37PM
The beauty of being a pundit is that you don't have to provide solutions. You only need to point out problems.
Though I would add that if anyone did have a good answer to that question, he or she would be a fool to tell IBM for free.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 28 2014, @04:04PM
Sadly, the answer is "not a woman".
Huge companies make an effort to push a woman to the top, exactly once, whether she's competent or because it looks good on paper. Then pundits and peers instantly start to nitpick and argue every little decision she makes, even if they align with her predecessors, until they've achieved critical mass of "I told you she wasn't strong enough". At the first real speed bump, even if cyclical or required hard choices, the rest of the street rallies around the pundits, ousts her, and it's back to 20 years of good ol' boys.
I'm exaggerating only a bit. You can easily see this pattern, and it applies to women and non-Asian minorities, at the top of companies or governments. Very few escape it, because it takes exceptional timing, insane charisma or crummy opposition to overcome the "see? we tried it" bias.