In Reply to: Re: IBM Stooge? posted by Research on 03 January 2004 at 12:23:42:
Mike, when a bloke's got a problem you don't serve him by not telling him about it. I think IBM's now got a big problem which no sales and incentive strategies can change.
In my opinion THEY AREN'T TRUSTED. .... not by employees for sure, retirees for sure, and I would hardly be surprised if Governments, given the spate of bribery allegations and tax investigations world-wide, didn't trust them either. Customers aren't stupid nor do they operate in a vacuum. You know the old adage "bad news travels fast" and the piece of wisdom which says that a bad opinion is propagated many times more than a good opinion. Customers, or clients as I believe you call them now, all know retirees and all read the press. If retirees think IBM isn't straight then guess what the customer will think. It just takes some time for the effect to be felt. Here we have three of the largest "customers" in Britain saying no thanks IBM. Do you honestly think that your new Gerstner image and consequent reputation didn't play a big part in you being bounced?
Frankly it doesn't matter to me whether you take heed or not. If you do and clean up your act then things will get better for you, and if you don't then ultimately you will cease to exist as your revenues continue to decline. By the way decline is exponential. Growth has to be managed but decline can rarely be managed and is alternatively inflicted. It is a natural process.
In short I fear that IBM have become the lepers of the IT industry. Quite some achievement given the fine legacy, reputation at least, inherited by Gerstner. Guess he lost control or perhaps never knew where the line of decency was.
Good luck with 2004. I think you'll need lots of it.