IBM Client Representative reviews

Too much partisan politics, not enough time spent on winning in the market and helping customers. IBM by nature is a very political culture. So much, that I believe it get's in the way of being effective. The fifedon's that are often set up (ibm.com) are built around a smokescreen. Too many people spend far too much time in job justification or trying to build their empire rather than focusing energy on helping customers. If a large portion of your time is spent bulidng a beach head to avoid the axe, how much time can you really spend on gaining marketshare.

IBM does have some challenges, and is not an optimal choice for all. Since the "mobile employee" concept is enforced for many groups, it becomes challenging to develop a sense of teamwork or camaraderie. There notion of the office "water cooler" is non-existent. One might argue that such "off the record" interaction does not necessarily contribute to productivity -- the issue is that inter-personal, informal interaction is limited. The other challenge is one that many large companies will face -- different groups are often incentivized in different manners. It is not uncommon to have internal groups encouraged (and rewarded) to operate along divergent paths. Lastly, you will come across an arrogance at IBM -- that "Big Blue" is infallible.