Reply to: IBM To Cut More Than 110,000 Jobs

[tractor]

...

It's all OK, Waitrose are creating 2000 new jobs.

[Grasser73]

Well, they've just renewed me, and 20 or so other contractors here, for another 12 months and they still need more bodies on the project. This news has the potential for things to get 'interesting' though.

[AtW]

Those dirty spekulants!!!

[darmstadt]

I always take 'industry analysts' with a pinch of salt:

IBM has released a statement:
"IBM does not comment on rumors or speculation. However, we’ll make an exception when the speculation is stupid. That’s the case here, where an industry gadfly is trying to make noise about how IBM is about to lay off 26 percent of its workforce. That’s over 100,000 people, which is totally ludicrous.
"The fact is that IBM already announced, after 3Q earnings report, that the company would take a $600m charge for restructuring. That’s several thousand people. Not 10,000, or 100,000. Moreover, IBM currently has job postings for more than 10,000 professionals worldwide, with more than half of them in growth areas such as cloud, analytics, security and mobile technologies.
"A little perspective on IBM’s earnings is in order. The company still makes huge profit… $21 billion in operating pre-tax profit last year. And IBM’s “strategic imperatives” represent 27 per cent ( and growing ) of the company’s total revenue… $25 billion in revenues, up 16 percent. We have high growth in a substantial portion of the portfolio, and those areas (CAMSS) have better-than-normal margins in areas that matter most to clients today — that’s the heart of the IBM transformation."

I know some quite high up people in IBM EMEA and mailing them has yielded no information either...

[AtW]

Really? The commodity PC market, the commodity server market, the money-losing chip making business?

They should have licensed IBM PC from start, that would have kept the prices controlled via license fees. Money losing chip making business? Well, they've got all those FOOKING MBAs to figure out how to make money on that!

Which of these were crown jewels. Many observers reckon that getting rid of commodity and loss-makers is smart strategy.

It's such a fooking brilliant strategy that IBM will be cutting 26% of jobs...

[Platypus]

Well, they sold off all their crown jewels instead of trying to compete and keep the edge.

Really? The commodity PC market, the commodity server market, the money-losing chip making business?

Which of these were crown jewels. Many observers reckon that getting rid of commodity and loss-makers is smart strategy.

[TestMangler]

Worked for them, in their advanced server prototype lab, back in the early nineties (my first contract) and it was great place to work, although it was product research/development. Worked for them again in 1999 when they were an IT service provider to General Accident and it was an awful experience

[AtW]

Well, they sold off all their crown jewels instead of trying to compete and keep the edge.

[Platypus]

Then again, if you can just sell 'em to someone else:

https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/conte...workforce.html

Indeed. One of the rumours is that GBS will be spun out into a new company, thereby reducing IBM's workforce by 100k in one go.

[original PM]

Well not sure what experiences other people have had with IBM but mine were not positive.

Overpriced overblown software which requires in depth customisation to get it to do pretty much anything.

Poor development practices making the above a horror story.

I could go on but I won't.

[MarillionFan]

Er, this?
Huh? As IBM Readies To Perform The Biggest Corporate Employee Cull In History, It Claims Cloud Leadership - Forbes

One article by one person. There's nowt on that tinternet ting.

[Scruff]

Check the status of WFH for contractors. The ones I worked with had pretty miserable stories with the IBM permies insisting on the contractors to be on site all week so that they can w@nk at home most of the time!

I have been here since March 2010, and WFH has never been denied me.

[Platypus]

why do you think the bobs will go?

It's happened before,
Job Cuts And Weeping Workers At IBM India - Forbes
As IBM reportedly cuts 50,000 India jobs, CEO replaces Global Services leader -TechWire Insider :: The Skinny at WRAL TechWire

But IMO there aren't that many able techs left in IBM. Many services are delivered from India, so deep cuts there would cause delivery issues I suspect. However, another POV, per a comment I read on another website, is that IBM customers are fed up with sub-standard off-shored services. See
I, Cringely IBM's reorg-from-Hell launches next week - I, Cringely

[FatLazyContractor]

why do you think the bobs will go?

Cheap Labour no more the Silver bullet

[vetran]

why do you think the bobs will go?