IBM reviews

IBM, in late 2010, is a company at precisely the same point in its history as the Roman Empire was in early 410. While the stock appreciates and the patrician elite makes its millions, there is mutiny and desertion in the legions, and barbarian incompetents are fast filling up the ranks. It is a company that hopes that it can cash in on past glory. There is no vision, the leadership coterie is totally uninspiring, and all that poppycock about smart planets, on demand, and globally integrated enterprise is just another gimmick to dupe customers, shareholders and employees alike with inane buzzwords. If you are at all competent, you'll soon find out that work / life balance means nothing. Like in every other company these days, you'll end up having to do the work of 10 other incompetent colleagues. If you're clever, you'll adjust the level of your competence to match your salary and the general competence of everyone around you, thus effectively lowering the average competence of the group. Eventually, the bad will drive out the good and the barbarians will have all but sacked the city.

Middle Management - middle management basically has no comprehension of what IBM's own technology does and how it is used to address customer business problems. IBM is weighed down by a too many layers of of bureaucratic management who sanitize and distort information that is presented to upper management. Customers and business partners are incredibly frustrated with IBM's bureaucracy and lack of product knowledge and the lack of responsiveness of IBM management to customer issues. Lack of Innovation - IBM has not been an innovator since the days of the IBM 360 mainframe. What IBM does have is lots of cash. They tend to wait until it becomes apparent that there is market demand for a new technology and then they go in and buy the biggest or next biggest company in the marketplace and then throw lots of cash at marketing. IBM has been on a buying binge as a "me too" response to Oracle and HP over the last few years and they have been buying companies and technology and developing offerings that IBM sellers and customers don't understand and can't use. Senior Management Competence - In my time at IBM, I got to know many of the people now in senior management roles. They ranged from being truly skilled to breathtakingly incompetent. Unfortunately, there are far too many individuals who have now been promoted to senior management roles because of who they know rather than their competence. If you have been paying attention, you will know that IBM has had steadily declining revenues. IBM has been able to maintains its profits only through constant layoffs and expense reduction initiatives.