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I have always had a fascination with IBM’s culture.  Is it truly magical or is it a myth? 

My interest began over 15 years ago when I moved into sales full time from being a recruiter.  IBM at that time had a reputation of being an elite sales organization.  Many books had been written about “Big Blue” and their pristine, intense, and highly competent sales engine.  I was introduced to two “IBM Lifers” who started a sales training company called “Quota” (how fitting).  They were remarkably different (such as loud, reserved, animated, calm, etc.) in their personalities and demeanor, but they were wildly successful as salespeople and sales managers for years at IBM.  I learned a lot from them about sales and benefitted nicely from their diverse training styles.

When I started my 18 month graduate program in Executive Management in 1998, on day one, IBM was brought up as an elite company.  As many graduate schools do, they saturate their curriculum with company comparisons such as IBM, GE, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Microsoft and Southwest Airlines.  So, 18 months and 60+ textbooks later, I had my fill of IBM. 

My personal opinion is IBM is a spectacular company that continues to evolve as a premier leader in technology.  I continue to follow them as they build onto their “Big Blue” Empire that delivers great profits and new services and products.  Over the years, I have met IBM’ers in many functional areas of the company so I thought I would conduct a quick interview with a consultant that I have known for 20+ years.

IBM - Experience

1. What is your position?  IT Specialist; Systems Administration; UNIX, Linux
2. How long have you been at IBM? 6 years
3. How would you define the culture at IBM?  Working on the services side really took off with Lou Gerstner.  The staff is not used as much.  The value is not as premier as “they” (corporate) think it is.  Sell anything is the mantra. 
4. Do you like working there?  Yes, but I would like more structure on the engagements.
5. What are the benefits for working at IBM?  Traveling and remote flexibility.
6. Are you proud to be part of IBM? The mystic of IBM is not there any more. There are a lot of people in IBM, so they can stay on the bleeding edge of technology.  The research department appears to be doing well, but their initiatives are very secretive.  The consultant bench population is zero right now, as we are just throwing warm bodies at engagements.  The consultants are not necessarily fully qualified for each engagement.  As long as an IBM’er shows up, “corporate” appears satisfied. 
7. Is there another company from your perspective that pushes IBM in service and quality?  No company is close to them. I do not feel the potential merger of a company like HP and EDS makes a big difference for IBM.  EDS has a terrible morale problem especially with all the layoffs they have had in the past few years.

My reaction to the comments from this highly skilled IT consultant was:  underwhelming!  It appears to me that IBM has their sales engine in overdrive delivering revenue.  However, they are potentially compromising their reputation by spreading themselves thin with deploying questionable talent on their engagements.  Now, the talent they are putting on the engagements will never ruin the engagement. 

Remember, “most people do not get fired for hiring IBM.”  IBM is a safe bet for all your technology services.  Safe but expensive - but as a decision maker essentially “risk free.”  I liked his quick confident response about the pending HP/EDS merger.  It is a non-event to IBM (at least this IBM’er). When you have a history of being an elite company, that mentality will spread throughout your company’s culture.  I appreciate the strong confidence because they will deliver what they say, but it will probably cost the client more than what was originally quoted. 

 Bottom line: The revenue machine continues to get bigger and their culture in 2008 is still magical.

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