This makes me laugh

The rumors about Services being sold are as old as the PWC acquisition itself. At the time we all thought it was a “flip” but 20 years on we still have them. Since the downward spiral began, we hear the rumors of a sale every year. Because of the scope of Services, clients would perceive a conflict of interest if any large firm bought them. No firm would give up work in the days of a declining consulting market and smaller firms don’t have the cash to buy Services. The only possible way I could see it happening is to sell to a “holding company” who would gut Services and parcel it up in pieces to where it could be sold to the lowest bidder and avoid conflicts of interest.

I’ll really start laughing when the SWG sale rumors pick up again.

Well said by @WBkmcxT-4tjf.

Comment! It's anonymous!

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@1zoa that's a great post

true and accurate 1000%

I believe it is over as far as IBM and “legacy” services. IBM learned a very valuable lesson when they sold off System X. OVER SUBSCRIBE to the heads you are shifting. IBM will stuff that transaction as full as they can, and negotiate with Bain (or their equivalent) to be the bad guy. Everyone will use the repositioning as their excuse, For the head count reduction, BUT bean counters have already figured this out, and have priced it into the deal. Remember Bain has been hired to restructure “services” and has had a full year to look at this. Bain is the ultimate Bean counter. This deal is done in my opinion as IBM needs to raise cash to pay off their upcoming debt.

HW is a slightly different story. The head count for the HW division has been pruned to the bone. NA Power head count (marketing) is under 100. Dasd is in the same boat. System Z has always run lean and mean due to retirements and the continuing bleed of Z expertise. Whoever acquires HW division will need to stop the bleed of experience, and ensure a sustainable business plan. That means that IBM will have to make some guarantees to whoever acquires the HW business. THUS the fortune 250-500 “cloud” strategy from IBM (Eg guarantee the Fortune 500 customers will be moved to IBM’s as a service model (cloud/SW)). The remaining customer set will be sold to whoever can sustain a robust “channel” operation, while IBM guarantees the ongoing HW design via a GF type of 10 year arrangement. IBM will also strike a deal via an IP arrangement to milk the ongoing SW OS’s that are sold outside of the Fortune 500.

Well said

Services is so bloat, its such a miserable place to work. I know there is a chance of being let go, but I know any new player who takes over will certainly dump all the internal IBM fluff.

Folks. PAY ATTENTION. IBM has shown their hand. They disclosed it when they announce the take over of Redhat. The bridge loan means they are borrowing short to implement long. To get a bridge loan, you have to disclose to your bankers your entire hand. One and most likely both divisions are gone. EG. Services (most likely legacy) and HW division are in the cross hairs. Both do not fit into IBM’s announced strategy moving forward. I would expect a 10years joint venture MUCH like GF to be announced so IBM can extract the IP value out of HW and OS’s. The services spin off will be more akin to the CSC deal that HPE and CSC struck. Bain will absolutely take the knife to what they take over. Remember Bain buys “old” business models, runs them for 3-5 years while they clean them up, then resells them via a NEW go to market strategy. MAKES you wonder why IBM can’t fix itself, and WHY are we paying the executive management team in IBM services doesn’t it??? Oh well. IBM Board you need to hit the execute button on this, and get it behind you!!!

IBM hybrid cloud was their biggest bust and they cannot recoup here.

It is most definitely game over for hybrid cloud offerings.

IBM services is a money pit and Bain will find some way to rid of the bloated corpse.

Thread regarding IBM layoffs

This makes me laugh

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