Company: IBM
Date: 2014-10-17
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Great Technology but Lacks Leadership
Pros: The technology is still cutting edge.  With the most PHD's of any Fortune company, IBM continues to innovate and lead in key areas like analytics and cognitive computing (e.g., Watson).  Customer satisfaction is also much higher at IBM compared to the competition which makes working with customers an enjoyable experience.  Job stability is also good if you're an individual contributor in sales and happy with a mediocre salary.  Missing your number is an accepted norm at IBM.
Cons: There are a number of things broken at IBM today.  Leadership after Sam Palmisano stepped down has been myopic, haphazard and, dare I say, incompetent.  Although IBM continues to invest wisely in its technology, it continues to make horrific decisions when bringing that great technology to the marketplace.   Marketing is vague and esoteric.  I have yet to meet a client that understands how “Smarter [insert anything]” relates to solving their business problems…and I deal primarily with C levels and Directors at Fortune companies.  More disturbing are the cavalier decisions IBM makes with its sales force.  Decisions since Palmisano’s exit seem to be more focused on cost containment than revenue growth.   Here are a few examples. 

IBM forces its sales staff to work from home.  That’s understandable as many companies are wisely downsizing their physical infrastructures.  However, IBM stopped paying for the expenses of those employees like business internet and telephone.  

IBM recently cut the base pay of most pre-sales staff by 5%-13% by shifting the on target earnings mix to incentive.  The result is that pre-sales staff are now paid below market and many of the best, including myself, have already left.
IBM has a history of delaying raises to top performers.  In the six years I’ve been with IBM, I’ve been a top performer (top 10%) for five of them and have received two raises…one for 0.7% and another for 1.1%.  On par performers received nothing.

IBM has gone through numerous territory reorgs.  Most reps have had their territories changed 100% at least once and sometimes twice per year.  There is little motivation to build a pipeline and any pipeline that is built is a result of client initiated add-ons or RFP’s.  The result is top performers leave and bottom performers are tolerated.  It’s an atmosphere of mediocrity and a great place to hide if you’re a slacker.

Bureaucracy at IBM is rampant.  The layers of management go on forever and each layer wants their unique report, call, meeting, etc.  Also, the PHD influence has created a growing plethora of mandatory education and everything is referred to by a complex three letter acronym.  Each year the red tape grows and IBM sellers become more and more focused on the needs of management vs. selling.  There is truth to the rumor that IBM is run by Accountants and Lawyers.

In January of 2014, IBM sellers were required to attend a four day kickoff that ended mid-day on Superbowl Sunday.  The event required them to share rooms and eat snack foods for dinner.  All IBMers were informed they would be tracked via an RFID tag hidden in their badges and lack of attendance would have consequences.  Even more disappointing was the poor and repetitive content that appeared to be slapped together in a very short time frame.  What was supposed to be a motivational event had the opposite effect.  This event alone is evidence of how broken sales is at IBM.