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DISH + IBM delivering 5G services on demand

Related media.

DISH partners with IBM for cloud-native 5G network

DISH networks has partnered with computer hardware company IBM to develop the first greenfield cloud-native 5G network in the United States. The company will use IBM’s AI-powered automation to help develop the network. 

DISH has engaged IBM Global Business Services to use IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation software with DISH’s 5G network architecture. Central to this is the intent-based orchestration functionality designed to stitch hardware and software resources together more seamlessly and efficiently, expected to help DISH make network slicing possible and accelerate the creation and delivery of new services, DISH said in a statement. 

IBM’s orchestration solutions designed to leverage AI, automation, and machine learning

Marc Rouanne, Chief Network Officer, DISH Wireless, said: “Our 5G build is unique in that we are truly creating a ‘network of networks,’ where each enterprise can custom-tailor a network slice or group of slices to achieve their specific business needs. IBM’s orchestration solutions are designed to leverage AI, automation, and machine learning to not only make these slices possible but to help them adapt over time as customer use evolves,” said Marc Rouanne, chief network officer, DISH Wireless. 

“With IBM, DISH is combining the speed and latency advances of 5G with the customization and intelligence of the cloud, and the result will be a paradigm shift for small businesses, large enterprises, and the broader wireless industry,” he added. 

According to DISH, the tools will make network slicing possible and accelerate the creation and delivery of new services. In addition, IBM will also help DISH manage its customer service and sales systems, offering "better pricing and billing offers for advanced, modern and highly dynamic network services."

IBM and DISH’s involvement with telecoms 

With the development of 5G services, IBM is currently also working with telcos such as Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Telefonica, AT&T, and Verizon, whilst DISH is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on developing its 5G network. 

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DISH partners with IBM for new cloud-native 5G network

DISH and IBM have announced a new partnership that will see the companies collaborate on the United States' first greenfield cloud-native 5G network .

DISH said in a statement that IBM would provide " AI-powered automation and network orchestration software and services to bring broad 5G network orchestration to DISH's business and operations platforms."

DISH Wireless chief network officer Marc Rouanne explained that the company's 5G build is unique because they are creating a "network of networks" where enterprises can customize a network slice or group of slices to achieve their business goals.

"IBM's orchestration solutions are designed to leverage AI, automation and machine learning to not only make these slices possible but to help them adapt over time as customer use evolves," Rouanne said.

"With IBM, DISH is combining the speed and latency advances of 5G with the customization and intelligence of the cloud, and the result could be a paradigm shift for small businesses, large enterprises and the broader wireless industry."

He added that intent-driven orchestration, a software-powered automation process, and artificial intelligence would be used to drive the operations of DISH's cloud-native 5G network architecture.

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Special report: 5g: what it means for edge computing (free pdf).

This ebook, based on the latest ZDNet / TechRepublic special feature, helps business leaders understand how cloud providers, telecoms, and carriers will make 5G part of their edge-computing plans.

DISH will be combining its 5G network architecture with IBM's Cloud Pak for Network Automation, allowing the company to add an intent-based orchestration functionality that helps "stitch hardware and software resources together more seamlessly and efficiently."

According to DISH, the tools will make network slicing possible and accelerate the creation and delivery of new services, which added that IBM's platform will "continuously learn, provide insights, and use financial impact analysis to prioritize and manage issue resolution and network function."

Managing director of IBM Global Communications Sector, Steve Canepa, called the deal a "seminal moment for DISH and the global telecommunications industry." 

"By utilizing IBM's AI-powered automation and intent-driven network orchestration software, DISH can develop and deploy world-class network offerings, applying advanced AI and orchestration capabilities to optimize network operations and performance with minimal human intervention," Canepa explained. "As a result, DISH can accelerate time to market for new innovative services powered by a highly secure, automated, intelligent and agile 5G network."

DISH said in a statement that they plan to offer customers leveraging the private hybrid 5G network new use cases through advanced network slicing, some of which will be managed directly by customers themselves. 

IBM will also help DISH manage its customer service and sales systems, offering "better pricing and billing offers for advanced, modern and highly dynamic network services."

IBM is working with a number of telcos, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Telefonica, AT&T and Verizon, as each company looks ahead to 5G services and more. DISH announced earlier this year that it is also working with AWS on its 5G network. 

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How IBM Became A Multinational Giant Through Multiple Business Transformations

Table of contents, here’s what you’ll learn from ibm’s strategy study:.

• How an accurate diagnosis of your organization’s most pressing challenge can help you form a coherent strategy to overcome it.
• How developing your strategic instinct to recognize change early and decisively transforming your business rely on unifying your organization towards a single direction.
• How focusing on short-term financial gains is putting your long-term survival and profitability in jeopardy.

IBM stands for International Business Machines Corporation and is a multinational technology corporation with over 100 years of history and multiple inventions that are prevalent today. Its headquarters are in Armonk, New York, but it operates in over 170 countries.

Institutional investors own over 55% of IBM, while around 30% belongs to mutual funds, and individual investors own less than 1%. Since 2020, IBM’s current Chairman and CEO is Arvind Krishna.

IBM’s market share and key statistics:

• Total assets of $28.999B as of September 30, 2022
• Revenue of $57.35B billion in 2021
• Total number of employees in 2022: 345,000
• Brand value of $ 96,992B in 2021
• Market Capitalization of over $130B as of December 2022

Humble beginnings: How did IBM start?

IBM was founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) in Endicott, New York, United States.

CTR was the product of three and a half amalgamated companies:

• The Tabulating Machine Company
• The International Time Recording Company
• The Computing Scale Company
• The Bundy Manufacturing Company

The company’s founding was very well-timed. It coincides with the profound shift of the United States’ agricultural economy to an industrial one. At that time, inventions and innovations were introduced at an unprecedented rate, evolving people’s way of life and defining our modern lifestyle.

The company’s success at these times was due to the wide range of products it offered that were in high demand in industrializing economies from time recording clocks and commercial scales to various mechanical data handling systems, tabulating machines.

But it was CTR’s corporate culture and managerial practices that enabled it to pioneer and serve that demand.

IBM’s scammy and problematic birth

The birth of IBM was the result of the vision and leadership of CTR's first president, Charles Ranlett Flint.

Flint was notorious for combining companies, creating monopolies, and having other people manage them while he simply owned stocks. That’s what he intended to do with the creation of CTR as well.

Here are the companies that formed what later became IBM:

• In 1900, Flint bought  The Bundy Manufacturing Company , the inventor of the “punch card” that allowed factories to convert working hours into salaries. The company was quite successful due to increased demand from emerging factories and the founder’s acute business skills. Flint merged the company with the International Time Recorder (ITR).
• ITR  was the core of CTR. By the time Flint created CTR, ITR was already a business group and an established player in selling and maintaining time recorders with an international presence. Flint had bought out almost all of his competitors, effectively creating a mini-monopoly.
• The next company that formed CTR was the  Computing Scale Company . A marginally profitable company that had created a commercial scale for small merchants like butchers and cheesemakers. It was part of Flint’s vision of mechanical data handling.
• The fourth and last company that formed CTR was  The Tabulating Machine Company . The main product of the company was the punch card tabulating equipment that automated parts of a manual and very labor-intensive process. It sped up “data entry,” increased accuracy, and reduced costs dramatically. It was Herman Hollerith’s invention, the second founder of CTR.

The merging of these three and a half companies didn’t make “business sense” at the time, nor was it the result of a careful business strategy.

At least not in the way we mean it today. It was a technical scheme that would allow Flint to protect his investment even if one of the companies wasn’t profitable and he had to sell it. Because, as it turns out, ITR was prosperous, and the tabulating business was slowly growing even though it required huge capital reinvestments. But the computing part of CTR was dying.

As a result, the child of this amalgamation was overvalued by twice its actual value.

This inflated value was supported by a loose argument of “economies of scale” since all these businesses were “measuring stuff.” From its very first days:

• The stock was overvalued
• The company was heavily in debt
• There were a lot of internal clashes
• The three businesses had no synergy
• There was little attention to innovation
• The board of directors only cared about profits
• The customer and employee treatment was poor

In short, IBM was born with some of the worst conditions for any company.

IBM’s coherent business strategy that got it out of the pit

Just three years after its creation, in 1914, the company changed its culture, executive team, and product line.

In ten years, it went through an astounding business transformation.

The move that initiated this transformation was the hiring of Thomas J. Watson Sr. as general manager for the company. The previous leader of the company was simply a credibility mark that Flint had implanted to draw investors. Watson’s influence on the company, however, is so monumental that he is considered the third founder of CTR, who shaped it into IBM.

Watson carried out a series of initiatives that laid the foundation for what would later become America’s largest technology company of the previous century:

• He built a mighty salesforce and a training program called “Sales School” that every salesperson had to graduate from.
• He brought clarity of purpose with frequent communication of goals and performance measures.
• He aligned daily actions with measurable targets that were part of the company’s strategy. He effectively created a culture of execution.
• He created a new line of products in the data-processing industry.
• He implemented initiatives to bring people from the three different divisions close together.
• He improved efficiencies by bringing product developers and manufacturing staff into the same building enabling cross-functional support and information exchange.
• He cultivated a system of shared beliefs and practices that empowered employees to make decisions that were consistent with the company’s priorities.
• He trained customers on how to use their products, gaining valuable feedback and ideas.

Watson spent half of his career as a valued employee of the National Cash Register Company (NCR), where he learned everything he knew about running a business. When he came to CTR, he brought all of his knowledge with him. It included: the development of the salesforce, budget and personnel practices, and even some executives that worked for his previous employer.

Watson was a highly motivated, optimistic, and conservative man of principle. During his tenure, CTR grew and consistently developed its product lines to cover a wide range of business machinery.

He took CTR from a scammy amalgamation to a respectable and healthy organization giving it a new name: International Business Machines (IBM).

Key Takeaway #1: Diagnose the challenge and tackle it with a coordinated strategy 

When Watson became general manager, the company was rotten. However, he was ambitious and driven. His approach transformed the firm and affected the company’s journey for many generations. It can be summarized into two distinct steps.

When faced with a crumbling organization:

• Diagnose the most important challenge. Make an honest  swot analysis . Watson found that CTR had a dying division (weakness), a profitable one (strength), and a promising one (opportunity). He based his approach on these findings.
• Devise a coherent and executable strategy. Create a strategic plan that addresses this challenge and coordinates resources. Watson applied all his expertise to developing a salesforce to seize the opportunity he found while internally reforming the company.

Watson practically transformed IBM’s culture into an improved copy of NCR’s culture. His experience fitted like a glove in IBM’s challenges. Some could argue that he happened to be a hammer who found its nail. Others that he found a nail and shaped himself into a hammer.

Whatever is true, his results were undeniable.

IBM’s Golden Period: the strategy and tactics IBM used to penetrate the computer industry

IBM went through the Great Depression and came out of it stronger, wealthier, and healthier.

It also went through World War II, which gave the company an explosive push that was hard to maintain once the war ended. IBM’s activities during WWII were plentiful and… complicated. One thing is certain, among the most important initiatives of Watson was the financial support of every IBMer’s family who went to join the fight and the promise that once the war was over, they would regain their job in the company.

As a result, once WWII ended, the company had more than 25% increased workforce at its disposal while a huge part of its revenue-generating business vanished nearly overnight: the military contracts.

Here’s how IBM faced these new challenges.

IBM’s corporate strategy against an increased workforce and a vanished revenue stream

Watson recognized the problem from the beginning. His strategy may have been simple, but the flawless execution made all the difference since it wasn’t without obstacles.

The strategy had two key pillars, both focusing on technological advancement:

• Improve, marginally, current products whose demand was still high. The strategic objective was to expand sales on those product lines to generate immediate cash and keep the business floating.
• Invest in R&D of advanced electronics, a new technology that wasn’t fully understood nor ready to be commercialized. This was a necessary bet for the future of IBM.

It was obvious to Watson that the company should, one way or another, lead or at least ride a new wave of innovation and technological advancement. And that wasn’t possible with the company’s current product lines, internal structure, and culture.

The technological and business transformation that IBM went through was an undertaking that few high-tech companies have managed to pull off. Especially when so many stakeholders’ survival is dependent on the company’s well-being. Shareholders, banks that had provided loans, and employees were all highly incentivized to keep the status quo as is and fight against the transformation. “Since we’re selling, why change?” they thought.

This kind of resistance is typical when industry-reshaping technology emerges. Kodak went through the same but, unlike IBM, succumbed to stakeholder resistance, retained its status quo, and eventually died.

IBM’s strategic pivot faced a list of major challenges:

• The best minds in advanced electronics were not working at IBM.
• Advanced electronics was a relatively new industry that nobody could really understand or predict what problems it would solve and what use businesses would find in it.
• New and strong players emerged while old rivals were still actively competing. Remington Rand was an old and active foe while researchers were leaving universities to start new companies and develop systems for the U.S. Army like ENIAC. The reason was that the US government was issuing funding programs investing millions in this new technology. Whoever demonstrated enough expertise and promise was winning the funding, conducting research, innovating, and reaping the benefits.
• Sales resisted the new technology, clinging to its old and tested practices and propositions. In other words, sales and engineering weren't aligned. 

The tactics IBM implemented to overcome these challenges and not only survive but also transform as a business in a record time are numerous. Since we can’t really know every single one of them, we’ll go through some of the most important events and principles that enabled the company to devise the solutions it needed.

How IBM overcame the challenges of its strategic pivot

The event that marked IBM’s transformation and sealed its strategic pivot was Watson’s son, Tom, entering the business.

Tom was a bright and ambitious young man who, with the help of his father’s influence and a series of chance events, became IBM’s Executive Vice President at the age of 33.

Tom understood the emerging new technology, and so he led that part of the business. On the other hand, Watson didn’t understand how it worked, so he focused on the more familiar, traditional and still revenue-producing product lines. The two clashed regularly and intensely on many issues. But it’s important to mention that their arguments were never focused on whether IBM needed to transform and adopt advanced electronics. They agreed on that part. They clashed only on the cadence of the transformation and the policies they put in place.

This distinction is crucial because it reveals that the company wasn't divided at its core, the direction everybody moved was the same. The clash between the old and the new was extremely productive because:

• The company started building critical mass in electronics by reinvesting earnings and rental cash flow. It didn’t rely on government funding, but rather it developed its capacity slowly and safely.
• In order to catch up with the industry’s velocity with its bootstrapped approach, IBM’s advanced electronics department had to do things differently. So it cultivated a  culture of transparency  and  accountability  where information flowed freely.
• The  604 Electronic Calculating Punch , the world's first mass-produced electronic calculator, was IBM’s first highly profitable product that came out of this approach.
• The firm used its active customer network to understand customer needs and prioritize improvements on the data processing machines. Thus it created machines with validated demand.
• The whole process enabled IBM to create “an infrastructure of knowledgeable customers, salesmen, and servicemen for electronic computers.”

As soon as the 1950s came, IBM entered the electronic computing market and became a highly competitive player. After that, it changed its strategy, took on larger computer projects, and became more dependent on federal funding to offset the associated risk.

It continued to accumulate knowledge and expertise, improving its processes and products.

Key Takeaway #2: Develop your strategic instinct and adapt fast

Develop your ability to recognize change and quickly transform your business to respond to it. To perform a successful business transformation, unite the organization towards a single direction.

If the need for change is clear at the top, it’s a matter of implementation and policies. It’s not easy, but it’s far more successful to lead a united organization than a two-headed one. So when you perform a business transformation:

• Define the direction or destination as clearly as possible.
• Align senior leadership with the desired direction.
• Build guiding policies that take you from the old to the new. Don’t simply kill the old, transform it.
• Treat the transformation as an idea worth spreading. Take advantage of your strengths and apply the  Law of Diffusion of Innovations .

The decline during the last decade and IBM’s enterprise strategy to return to the top

IBM slowly but surely started shifting its business model again in the late half of the past century and the following decades.

This time, the strategic pivot was more fundamental. The company shifted from “components to infrastructure to business value.” In other words, it shifted from manufacturing computers and new technologies to offering IT consulting and integration services.

This is reflected in its revenue percentages by segment. In 1980, 90% of IBM’s revenue was generated from hardware sales. By 2015, the company was generating over 60% of its revenue from services and less than 10% from hardware sales.

However, the journey wasn’t as smooth as in past transformations.

The challenges of the consulting industry that has left IBM behind in the last decade

The shift, this time, was taking place less effectively.

The company was selling fewer and fewer pieces of hardware each year while its revenues from consulting services weren’t increasing as fast. The company wasn’t investing as much in R&D, and it entered the new era of computing with an extreme focus on financials.

In 2006 and in 2010, the company's leadership announced “Roadmap 2010” and “Roadmap 2015,” respectively. These were financial goals that were mistakenly used as strategic guiding policies. And to the company’s detriment, they dictated decision-making on every level.

Here are key facts that indicate this extreme financial focus was a terrible strategy at the worst timing:

• IBM’s new CEO, Virginia Marie “Ginni” Rometty, didn’t enjoy employee support. Due to her merciless tactics and her relentless focus to please the stakeholders, employee morale, and thus productivity, was at an all-time low.
• Revenue was decreasing year over year.
• “Rebalancing the workforce,” AKA layoffs, became a regular quarterly tactic to make the numbers.
• Current and ex-IBMers were losing faith and becoming less and less content with leadership.
• Despite the lack of growth, stocks continued rising, paying dividends and high Earnings Per Share (EPS). That was the result of “financial gimmicks” like massive stock buybacks or stashing assets and profits outside of the US to avoid taxes.
• Extreme focus on cutting back costs. Using overseas “global delivery skills,” AKA cheaper workers and even docking 10% of salaries to offer training to employees while charging high-end prices for IBM’s services.

But you can only cut costs for so much and save that much. There is a limit to how much cost-cutting you can do until you hurt operations and production. And IBM reached that limit well before 2015, the year “Roadmap 2015” was promising $20 EPS.

By the end of 2014, the company had amassed a huge debt, its hardware profitability had taken a nosedive, its margins had declined, the executive leadership forwent their personal annual incentive payments for 2013, and it abandoned the Roadmap.

To save the company, leadership had to come up with a radically different strategy. And it did. The 5 “imperatives” strategy was much more attractive to all the stakeholders and would prove to be much more effective.

IBM’s 5 imperatives and its strategy to recovering its past glory

IBM’s biggest weaknesses in the first one-and-a-half decade of the current century have been financial performance and strategic blunders.

But if it had no strengths to leverage, then it wouldn’t be alive today. And its size is one of them. IBM is huge. For example, as of 2018, the company employed around 378.000 people and commanded one of the largest collections of PhDs in computer science and technology. IBM generates over $50 billion in revenue annually with consistently large profits. In 2017, the company had over $8 billion in cash.

The “five imperatives'' were a strategy that focuses on actual performance and not financial engineering to be successful.

The five imperatives were:

• Cybersecurity
• Cloud computing
• Social networking
• Mobile technologies

The company made several acquisitions to close the competitive gap in all of those focuses while it shifted resources to support those initiatives. As a result, it surpassed its competition with  analytics software  and its capabilities to manage and analyze massive bodies of data. With a $2 billion acquisition of SoftLayer, it caught up with  cloud computing  and extended its services to include  cybersecurity.  A partnership with Apple Computer offered the promise of  portable computing and app development  platforms lodged in cloud servers. Finally, IBM offered management consulting as much as software services through its  social networking  focus.

IBM's Strategy has focused even more in recent years, integrating the imperatives into two major pillars: hybrid computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

It puts everything under the umbrella term: Digital Transformation.

IBM’s focus on digital transformation propels it into the future

IBM’s future looks promising, and its strategy is putting it back at the center of computers and technology. In January 2018, the company announced its first quarter of YoY revenue increase since 2012.

It focuses once again on delivering value to its customers by addressing the crucial challenges that accompany every digital transformation:

• Managing the increased complexity of heterogeneous enterprise IT environments.
• Extracting valuable insights from available data.
• Sustaining operational competitiveness against disruptive market changes.
• Increased cyber threats and increasing cost of cybersecurity.
• A cohesive end-to-end execution of solutions that address all of these matters.

The way IBM addresses these challenges and chooses to differentiate itself is by adopting a platform-centric hybrid cloud approach paired with advanced AI capabilities. The infrastructure relies on Linux, containers, and Kubernetes as the architectural foundation.

In layman’s terms, the value proposition of the company is the sustainable and accelerating transformation of their client’s businesses and processes through:

• Hybrid cloud that develops ability and speed.
• Tailored and trustworthy data governance respecting privacy and generating data-driven business insights.
• AI-driven decision-making that automates enterprise processes.
• Consistency, security, and compliance.

The company is rapidly growing its ecosystem, enhancing client experience while driving value and innovation with its open-source technologies.

Key Takeaway #3: To succeed long term, focus on developing business capabilities instead of financial returns

Ambitious goals and financial promises are not strategies. They might provide some returns in the short term but ultimately set the company up for future failure. Cutting costs is not an infinite-returns-yielding tactic.

When the industry changes, new trends and technologies emerge, and your competitive advantage won’t be serving you for much longer:

• Make a thorough analysis of the environment . Spot the most promising emerging trends in technology, customer expectations, and markets.
• Perform an  internal analysis  to define your strengths, weaknesses, and current capabilities that power your competitive advantage.
• Develop a strategy  that takes advantage of your current capabilities, develops adjacent ones, and mitigates weaknesses to seize the opportunities you spot.
• Until your new strategy is performing and your competitiveness relies on it,  ensure cash flow and sustainability  through your current healthy lines of products.

Why is IBM so successful?

IBM’s success over its long history can’t be attributed to a single cause.

In each distinctive phase, IBM demonstrated the qualities that enabled it to thrive and pioneer in technological advancements. One consistent quality that allowed IBM to stand the test of time has been its decisive adaptability, the ability to spot new trends and transform its business in time to lead change.

Its corporate culture of respect and hard work has been the cornerstone of every single one of its achievements.

Growth by numbers

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Responsible Use of Technology: The IBM Case Study

The World Economic Forum Responsible Use of Technology project aims to provide practical resources for organizations to operationalize ethics in their use of technology. This White Paper is the second in a series that highlights processes, tools and organizational constructs that facilitate the responsible design, development and implementation of technology. It presents IBM’s ethics journey, which can encourage organizations to adopt and operationalize technology ethics, and seeks to promote discussion and evaluation of IBM’s methods, tools and experiences. The Forum and its partners in this project hope that more organizations not only operationalize such ethics, but also share their experience with the global community.

World Economic Forum reports may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License , and in accordance with our Terms of Use .

Further reading All related content

3 lessons from IBM on designing responsible, ethical AI

A new case study, co-authored by the World Economic Forum, delves into the lessons learned at IBM in the company's quest to develop ethical AI technology.

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Waking Up IBM: How a Gang of Unlikely Rebels Transformed Big Blue

Six years ago, IBM was a has-been. Today, it’s an e-business powerhouse. It didn’t turn around by imposing change from the top. It let ideas, initiatives, and enthusiasm bubble up from below. Maybe your company should do the same.

Do you remember when IBM was a case study in complacency? Insulated from the real world by layer upon layer of dutiful managers and obsequious staff, IBM’s executives were too busy fighting their endless turf battles to notice that the company’s once unassailable leadership position was crumbling around them. The company that held the top spot on Fortune ’s list of most admired corporations for four years running in the mid-1980s was in dire need of saving by the early 1990s. Fujitsu, Digital Equipment, and Compaq were hammering down hardware margins. EDS and Andersen Consulting were stealing the hearts of CIOs. Intel and Microsoft were running away with PC profits. Customers were bemoaning the company’s arrogance. By the end of 1994, Lou Gerstner’s first full year as CEO, the company had racked up $ 15 billion in cumulative losses over the previous three years, and its market cap had plummeted from a high of $ 105 billion to $ 32 billion. Armchair consultants were nearly unanimous in their view: Big Blue should be broken up.

• Gary Hamel is a visiting professor at London Business School and the founder of the Management Lab. He is a coauthor of Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).

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IBM Case Study – Changing HR Operating Models & Technology to Improve Productivity

Feb 24, 2021

HR operating models are at the centre of all good, functioning HR organisations and indeed all good businesses in general. Yet, traditional HR operating models are constantly trying to balance two ‘value agendas’ and often struggle to meet both effectively as a result.

The two main ‘value agendas’ of HR organisations are running an effective back office (bottom of the model) and enabling people productivity and engagement (top of the model). However, despite the top of the model fostering productivity and creating the most long-term value, most HR professionals will tell you that they spend most of their time at the bottom of the model, trying to save money.

IBM’s HR Journey

IBM were one of the first companies to realise this inherent challenge. Back in 2005 they embarked on a journey to change their HR operating model to help relieve some of the pressure from this internal need to get the right people, in the right place at the right time.

I was lucky enough to be brought on board to IBM in 2006 as an executive to lead their global human capital consulting practice and helped the company throughout their HR transformation journey.

Following IBM’s acquisition of PWC Consulting, a new unit was created – IBM Global Business Services. This new unit comprised of more than 60,000 IBM and 30,000 transferring PWC consulting professionals. At this critical new stage in the business, IBM decided to make getting the right people in the right place a critical strategic imperative.

Indeed, in order to acquire value from this acquisition and make this new organisation thrive, IBM had to change their HR operating model alongside developing new HR technology. The two had to be combined to create a single source of truth for HR data across the company.

During our initial strategy stages, a new HR operating model began to emerge with some key considerations in mind:

• Decentralising HR operations across different lines and regions of the business
• Expanding shared service centres into local regions and automating HR administration where possible
• Managers taking on more responsibility for talent management – getting the right people, in the right place at the right time

Whilst these questions may seem like the norm now, it was revolutionary in 2005 for such a large company to be considering such a fundamental shift. At that stage, most companies had a semi-centralised HR department, responsible for most of the talent management. Still, fast forward to today, and most organisations have yet to make this shift.

Indeed, undertaking any sort of HR operating model can be a huge task even in 2021. It requires valuable time from leadership, as well as line managers who will need to develop skills or tools to handle new responsibilities such as performance management, learning, succession, recruitment, compensation, staffing and more.

Push back from the line managers was one of the key challenges that we faced at IBM. Their previous HR tools were clunky, inflexible and unintuitive. At that point only SAP HR, Peoplesoft and other similar highly customised, on-premise software systems were available. Additionally, people weren’t as akin to software as they are now thanks to the rise in people’s personal relationships with social media.

So, not only did IBM need to create new HR technology, but they also had to make the software easy enough to use across the board, particularly for line managers taking on new responsibilities.

The way that we combatted this task was first organising the new HR operating model and then developing the HR technology and tools to meet the requirements of that model. This way, the IT was moulded to fit the needs of HR and not HR moulding to fit the needs of technology.

Indeed, there was some resistance in senior management to the new technology we were developing at IBM. Their concern was the need to focus on executing day-to-day business if we were asking line managers to take on more responsibilities whilst using clunky tools and technology. Fair enough!

We needed to get them on board by creating new technology that would show them the future of getting the right people in the right place and making the managers better managers through these new talent management duties.

The HR team worked with top designers from the internal IT team mocking up a prototype with our operating model motto (right people, right place) at the core. Our aim was to create one internal site that would bring together performance and goals management, staffing and employee collaboration. Managers could use it to manage talent and employees could use it to access a personal development platform.

We then showed this prototype to senior management, to demonstrate the new HR technology and how it would work to make their lives and meeting business needs easier, rather than harder. The session was ultimately a success because they could see that we had built this technology in line with the new HR operating model to meet the business needs, and make the job of people development easier for them

Whilst there are now lots of examples of HR operating models and technology working together seamlessly, this was simply not the done thing at the time. Technology has made great advancements since then thanks to the scalability of cloud enterprises, but what IBM were working on in 2005 was really an early version of what SuccessFactors and Workday platforms would become just a few years later.

Whilst we now have these options, it is still important not to be swept away by HR technology. As this case study with IBM proves, you need to remember that any new HR operating models should be developed first and then consider how tools and technology can be incorporated to meet those needs.

To learn more about developing HR operating models that get the right people in the right place at the right time, take a look at my book Solving the Productivity Puzzle .

Photo Credit: Carson Masterson , Mikita Yo and Cytonn Photography

JULY 19TH 2022: TOP HR MOST INFLUENTIAL THINKERS 2022:

Tim named to the list of HR Most Influential Thinkers. HR Most Influential is an annual list that celebrates the most influential players in the field of people strategy.

Tim has over 30 years' experience as an executive in the HR Consulting and HR Software industry. He has architected and led some of the largest and most successful HR IT and change programs in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

He began his career in Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in 1990 where he was Managing Director, in Accenture’s Talent and Organization, Service Line. In 2006, he was recruited to IBM Global Business Services where he led IBM’s global Human Capital Management (HCM) consulting practice.

He was most recently Vice President of SAP SuccessFactors for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He led SuccessFactors’ HR Advisory teams across the region.

Additionally, he is on the Board and Non-Executive Director of Optunli an HR solution providing a unique approach for strategic workforce planning. Tim is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD (FCIPD).

MAY 25TH 2021: SOLVING THE PRODUCTIVITY PUZZLE IS CATEGORY WINNER:

Business Book Awards 2021 – HR & Management at the Business Book Awards. See Business Book Awards 2021 winners announcement, click here.

IBM Change Management Case Study

Change is a constant in the business world, and organizations that can effectively manage change are more likely to succeed. 

Change management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling change within an organization to minimize negative impacts and maximize benefits. 

One company that has successfully implemented change management is IBM.

With a history spanning over a century, IBM has undergone significant changes over the years, including the implementation of change management to ensure a smooth transition. 

In this blog post, we will take a closer look at IBM’s change management case study, examining its background, change management strategy, and results. 

Brief History and Growth of IBM 

IBM, also known as International Business Machines Corporation, is an American multinational technology company that was founded in 1911. 

The company was initially formed as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) through the merger of four separate companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the Computing Scale Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Bundy Manufacturing Company. 

In 1924, the company was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). IBM’s early products included tabulating machines, time clocks, and punched card equipment, which were used for data processing and information management. 

Over the years, IBM has evolved into a leading provider of enterprise technology solutions, including hardware, software, and services, serving clients in over 170 countries around the world.

IBM experienced significant growth in the mid-20th century, as it became a leading provider of computers and data processing equipment. 

In the 1950s, IBM introduced its first electronic computer, the IBM 701, which was followed by a series of other computer models that became increasingly advanced and sophisticated. 

IBM also played a key role in the development of the personal computer, releasing its first PC in 1981, which quickly became a standard in the industry. 

In the 1990s and early 2000s, IBM shifted its focus to software and services, becoming a leader in areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. 

Today, IBM is a major player in the technology industry, with a global workforce of over 350,000 employees and revenue exceeding $70 billion in 2020.

Key drivers of change for IBM  

There were three dominant factors that created a need for IBM to implement effective change management processes to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities it faced.

1. Technological advancement 

Technological advancements have been a key driver of change in the technology industry, and IBM was no exception. In the 1980s and 1990s, IBM faced significant disruption as the market shifted from mainframe computers to personal computers, which were smaller, cheaper, and more accessible to individuals and small businesses. 

This shift threatened IBM’s dominance in the computer industry, as it had built its reputation on large-scale mainframe computers. To adapt to this changing market, IBM had to shift its focus to services and software, invest in research and development to create new technologies and innovations, and develop new partnerships and alliances to expand its offerings. 

Additionally, the emergence of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the 2000s and 2010s further pushed IBM to adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the competition. These technological advancements required IBM to adopt a more agile and flexible approach to business, with a greater focus on innovation, speed, and collaboration.

2. Globalization 

As IBM expanded its operations globally, it faced a range of challenges related to cultural and regulatory differences across different countries and regions. In order to effectively navigate these differences, IBM had to develop a more flexible and adaptable approach to business, one that was able to respond to local market conditions and customer needs while also maintaining a consistent global brand and corporate identity. 

This required IBM to invest in building a diverse and multicultural workforce, to establish strong local partnerships and alliances, and to develop a deep understanding of local cultures, languages, and customs. 

Additionally, IBM had to comply with local regulations and laws in each country it operated in, which often required significant resources and expertise to navigate. By embracing globalization and developing a more flexible and adaptable approach to business, IBM was able to successfully expand its operations globally and establish a strong global presence.

3. Market competition 

IBM faced intense competition from emerging tech companies in the 1990s, particularly in the areas of personal computing and software development. 

Companies like Microsoft and Intel were challenging IBM’s dominance in the industry, and IBM had to adapt quickly to remain competitive. 

To address this challenge, IBM shifted its focus to services and software, investing heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations that could compete with emerging technologies. 

IBM also streamlined its operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs, while exploring new markets and opportunities for growth. 

This required IBM to be more agile and responsive to market conditions, and to take calculated risks in pursuing new ventures and partnerships. Ultimately, these efforts enabled IBM to remain a major player in the technology industry and to continue innovating and expanding its offerings.

Change management strategy of IBM 

IBM responded to these three drivers of change in several ways, as explained below:

1. Technological advancements

To adapt to rapid technological advancements, IBM invested heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations. It also embraced emerging technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence and developed new partnerships and alliances to expand its offerings.

IBM also shifted its focus to services and software, which helped it to stay competitive as the market shifted away from mainframe computers. Additionally, IBM adopted a more agile and flexible approach to business to enable it to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.

2. Globalization

To effectively navigate different cultural and regulatory environments, IBM invested in building a diverse and multicultural workforce, established strong local partnerships and alliances, and developed a deep understanding of local cultures, languages, and customs.

IBM also complied with local regulations and laws in each country it operated in, which required significant resources and expertise to navigate. Additionally, IBM developed a consistent global brand and corporate identity while also maintaining the flexibility to respond to local market conditions and customer needs.

3. Market competition

To remain competitive in the face of intense market competition, IBM explored new markets and product offerings while streamlining its operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs. IBM also invested heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations that could compete with emerging technologies.

IBM adopted a more agile and responsive approach to business, which enabled it to take calculated risks in pursuing new ventures and partnerships. Additionally, IBM developed a culture of innovation and collaboration to foster creativity and agility, which helped it to stay ahead of the competition.

Positive outcomes and results of IBM successful change management implementation

IBM’s successful implementation of change management led to several positive outcomes and results, including:

Increased profitability: IBM’s shift to services and software helped to increase its profitability by creating new revenue streams and reducing costs. By focusing on high-margin businesses such as consulting and software development, IBM was able to improve its financial performance and profitability.

Improved competitiveness: IBM’s investments in research and development, partnerships, and new markets helped it to remain competitive in the face of rapid technological advancements and intense market competition. By adopting an agile and responsive approach to business, IBM was able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs, which helped it to stay ahead of the competition.

Enhanced customer satisfaction: IBM’s focus on innovation, collaboration, and customer service helped to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. By developing new products and services that met customer needs and expectations, and by providing excellent customer service and support, IBM was able to build strong relationships with its customers and earn their trust and loyalty.

Increased employee engagement and retention: IBM’s culture of innovation, collaboration, and diversity helped to increase employee engagement and retention. By fostering a culture of creativity and agility, and by valuing and supporting its employees, IBM was able to attract and retain top talent, which helped it to drive innovation and growth.

Strong brand reputation: IBM’s successful implementation of change management helped to strengthen its brand reputation and identity. By maintaining a consistent global brand while also remaining flexible and responsive to local market conditions and customer needs, IBM was able to build a strong and respected brand reputation that is recognized around the world.

Final Words 

IBM’s successful implementation of change management serves as a powerful case study for businesses facing rapid technological advancements, intense market competition, and globalization. By adopting an agile and responsive approach to business, investing in research and development, exploring new markets and partnerships, and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, IBM was able to remain competitive and relevant in the technology industry. 

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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The Learning System at IBM: A Case Study

There is widespread recognition that changing technologies and ways of working are increasing the importance of workforce skills and the need for skill upgrading. Yet despite a long history of research on training in the fields of organizational psychology, human resources, and labor economics, little is known about the state-of-the-art in training practices offered by employers, use of training opportunities by employees, or the effects of training and upskilling on critical outcomes for workers or employers. This report seeks to start filling this void by describing what we believe to be a state-of-the-art learning system at IBM Corporation and tracing the effects of learning on job performance and career advancement.

In this report we first describe the overall learning system and its multiple components and then trace the use of the system by incumbents in several key technical sales occupations between 2014 and 2019. Our analysis draws from combined personnel, learning, and performance data of the technical sales population along with interviews with multiple stakeholders in the company’s learning and training ecosystem.

The results show that time spent on learning and achievement of internal learning credentials the company calls “badges” is positively associated with (1) achievement of sales targets, a key measure of performance for sales staff, and (2) career advancement as measured by movement up levels in the salary bands governing these occupations.

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IBM Cloud Case Study Entry Blog

I choose a case study on BBC Studios adoption of IBM’s Turbonomic, the case study offers the challenges faced by an organization og managing a IT infrastructure, particularly with regard to performance optimization and cost management. One key takeaway is the transformative impact of leveraging AI-powered automation to address performance issues and optimize resource allocation. By implementing Turbonomic, BBC Studios gained full-stack visibility into their environment, allowing them to pinpoint root causes of performance problems and take proactive measures to address them. This not only led to a significant reduction in end-user complaints and downtime but also enabled the team to shift their focus from firefighting to strategic initiatives.

However, the case study also highlights some unintended consequences of the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the sudden transition, there was a tendency to overprovision resources to meet immediate needs, leading to inefficiencies and wastage. While Turbonomic provided a solution for resizing workloads and reclaiming resources, this situation underscores the importance of proactive management and optimization, even in rapidly changing environments.

Cloud computing offers numerous advantages, including scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Companies can easily scale their resources up or down according to demand, pay only for what they use, and benefit from the agility to deploy and manage applications more efficiently. Additionally, cloud computing allows for easier collaboration and remote work, as seen in the case study with BBC Studios’ transition to remote work during the pandemic.

However, there are also disadvantages to consider. These include concerns about security and data privacy, potential downtime or service interruptions, and the risk of vendor lock-in. Additionally, the cost of cloud services can escalate if not carefully managed, as highlighted in the case study with the tendency to overprovision resources during the pandemic. Companies must also consider the complexity of managing multiple cloud providers or hybrid cloud environments, which can introduce additional challenges in terms of integration and orchestration.

Regarding the IBM Cloud solution if I were working for BBC Studios, I would consider the merits of the solution in the context of our organization’s specific needs and goals. The case study portrays IBM Turbonomic as a valuable tool for optimizing performance and resource allocation, which aligns with BBC Studios’ objectives of delivering high-quality content while minimizing costs. However, it’s essential to conduct a thorough evaluation of the solution to ensure it meets our requirements in terms of scalability, and costs. Additionally, I would explore alternative options and consider factors such as vendor support and integration capabilities.

BBC Studios | IBM . (2024, February 23). Www.ibm.com. https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/bbc-studios

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