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CIO Angle: IBM creates cloud group in market-focused shakeup
IBM is creating a new, vertically aligned, market-focused cloud business unit as part of what appears to be a bigger reorganization, according to company insiders and IBM watchers. The company itself has made no announcement, but Bloomberg initially reported creation of the new business unit, to be headed by Robert LeBlanc. LeBlanc was formerly senior vice president of the software and cloud solutions group. The report is confirmed in LeBlanc’s official IBM biography, which identifies him as “Senior Vice President, IBM Cloud.” Bloomberg says he will report directly to IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
The brief biography goes on to describe the new organization as including strategy, product design, development, marketing, sales and services. This, said Bill McNee, CEO and Founder of Saugatuck Technology, sounds similar to the Watson division IBM announced early in 2014, which combines software development, platforms, and services to provide complete packages to meet customer needs.
“Such an organization is a very positive move toward a market-aligned business model and away from the product-aligned model,” McNee said. “It creates a one-stop shop for solutions, rather than individual products. That makes IBM easier to do business with. They won’t be selling cloud, they will be selling solutions.”
One open question is whether this is the end or the beginning of a larger reorganization of IBM. In the last year it has sold its entire x86 product line, including servers and network switches, to Lenovo. Clearly, Rometty has the courage to make bold moves in response to fast-changing market conditions.
In creating first the Watson business unit and then this cloud business unit, it has taken large pieces out of its software, development, and professional services organizations to become part of the new market-focused groups. With as yet no official announcement from IBM it is impossible to know, but an organization that is half product-focused and half vertically integrated around specific markets seems an awkward beast at best. IBM may have more major announcements in the future.
Graphic courtesy IBM Corp.
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