IBM internally dominates a transition to a new business model

Absrtact: If the IBM software group Greater China General Manager Hu Shizhong the list of his dreams before the new year arrives, then having breakfast with two sons must be among them. In the past two years, the 40-Year-old manager has traditionally

If the IBM software group's Greater China general manager Hu Shizhong a list of his dreams before the new year arrives, then having breakfast with two sons must be among them. In the past two years, the 40-Year-old manager is set to start a new day at the IBM Greater China Management meeting in 7 o'clock in the morning.

Over the past two years, Hu Shizhong has been confident in the performance of his team, and the department he leads has achieved more than expected growth for several consecutive quarters. However, this did not let him relax, on the contrary, let him busy things become more and more.

The reason is that in 2011 IBM's new five-year plan, the software business profit target in 2015 accounted for the overall profit of 50%. To achieve this strategic goal, IBM has led a transition to a new business model internally.

According to business objectives, the next five years, IBM will no longer just sell technology and provide technical services, but to use its rich expertise resources-distributed around the world tens of thousands of software experts, more than 10,000 industry experts and many other technical staff to help enterprise customers and government departments to conduct business decisions. If this is different from past business, it is that IBM will focus more on hardware than software and services. Hu Shizhong and his software business team will face new challenges-not only selling software, but also the machines that carry the software.

Hardware and software integration

Half a month ago, IBM software group had just released a data Analysis server--puredate in the Chinese market, a new "box" with surreal looks and patterns that would leverage IBM's expertise to help companies cope with massive amounts of data.

Although Hu Shizhong joined IBM in 1994, software and hardware integration is not new to IBM. As early as the 70 's, IBM had started to carry software on its own hardware devices. And once in the financial industry best-selling IBM mainframe Z400, is originally equipped with IBM database software integration products.

But unlike in the past, the new "Pure" series is configured with resources for a large amount of information analysis and then dealing with complex issues in different industry areas. Most importantly, it is geared toward open systems, and can optimize deployment of software and applications, not just IBM. If this can be done, these businesses will take IBM's business to a wider range of areas, enabling IBM to obtain a new revenue source of more than $50 billion a year. And China will be a real strategic location.

It is said that the IBM executive did not like people calling these servers "boxes", and he even named them after the "Big Four" in ancient Chinese mythology, the "holding Country", "growth", "Guang mu" and "smelling".

"The box has no vitality and spirit, but when it incorporates the knowledge and experience of IBM's more than 30-year industry expert, it is endowed with the soul." "Hu Shizhong said. In a sense, the American-grown Chinese male is convinced that the new product will have some kind of "supernatural power", like the shield, allowing customers to be added.

For Hu Shizhong, the real pressure is to get too many business opportunities. The "Blue giant" is under pressure to sell more of its own products to Chanda, the chairman and chief executive of IBM's Greater China region, the convenor of IBM's Gao daily.

Adjustment

Vriginia Rometty, the new IBM chief executive who took office this March, is said to have placed great anticipation on China's business, so much so that after her first visit to China, Rometty, chief executive of the company's Greater China region, told Chanda: "My work will be done and it depends on you." ”

The challenge of keeping growth at the same time as the business transitions is so daunting that Chanda has barely met the media in the past two years. His secretary, it is said, often worries about how to get his boss to take a few "time-saving and tasty" lunches during lunch time.

Pure series of integrated applications, the common feature is the expert model, integration of IBM years in various industries accumulated wisdom. Because of the existence of these software code, the system needs to be deployed for two weeks, it takes only 18 minutes to be in position. This is certainly attractive to customers, but the problem is that many business models still need to be adjusted even if the internal transformation has begun.

At least in 2015, the business process, operational model, business collaboration, channel management, and so on, will be sorted out due to the main direction of the product portfolio.

In March 2012, in the IBM Greater China strategy release, Chanda said that the integrated Chinese business unit, including IBM's software department and hardware customers, is presenting--an IBM--in the face of customers. All software and hardware products will be sold as usual, but on top of that, the capabilities of both software and hardware will be integrated in an unprecedented way to ensure that 1+1>2 results are achieved.

To achieve this, IBM needs to find prospective buyers from industry customers who have prided themselves in the past. Find new business direction by helping customers free from cumbersome technology. IBM's future business will also be achieved by helping customers in industries such as telecoms, finance, healthcare, retailing, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals to understand the business mysteries behind the complex data.

Challenges

The reality is that this business model, Oracle, has started years ago. As IBM's old adversary, Oracle integrates servers, storage, and network devices into integrated boxes through hardware and software integration, delivering higher speeds, capabilities and cost-effective products to corporate users.

Oracle's earnings for the second quarter as of November 30 showed a 18% increase in its two-quarter profit. And Ellison, Larry El-lison, the CEO of Silicon Valley's first annual income, said: Oracle has become the leader in the hardware business of the high profit integration system. "But IBM's third fiscal quarter profit of October 17 fell 0.4%, its main hardware business systems and technology subsidiaries fell 13%.

The battle for the leadership of IT systems has never stopped between IBM and Oracle over the past few decades. But this time, not database, middleware or application software, but system hardware--that is, the integration of database, middleware and application software, including the system-level server.

Zhou Yi often holds a cup of green tea, shuttling between the conference rooms, in the office of Pangu, an annex to the national stadium in IBM's Greater China area. She is one of the few local female executives in IBM's Greater China region and the entire Asia-Pacific region. As the chief marketing officer for IBM Greater China (CMO), her job is to command more than 300 employees of the IBM market system, through voluminous data and reports, to analyze new customer needs and business trends, "find new customers and keep up with old customers".

One months ago, she organized a small marketing gathering that brought together business marketers from 15 different industries, and there was no product manager to introduce IBM's machines, and no one would send a solution quote to the invitees after the meeting. Participants include IBM's top customers in the banking, manufacturing, electrical and financial sectors, many of which are world-class brands. In fact, Zhou Yi and her team are trying to explore a more subtle approach--allowing IBM to tap into the "inexpressible" business needs of its customers in a way that is not imprinted.

by Zhou Yi, creating the market is her CMO and IBM's biggest mission in the Chinese market. In China, Zhou Yi and her team are helping various business units, including the software sector, to discover new customer base. "The big Data Age gives us the opportunity to provide tailored personalized solutions to our customers, from discovering customers to capturing their potential needs and abilities, and eventually making him a customer." ”

Prior to that, IBM Global CEO Rometty required IBM employees to build a new "analytics" capability before their customers, whether it was a technical person, a sales team or a marketing department, and "the ability to analyze and penetrate" would become a "DNA" and a corporate culture for IBM.

This does not mean that IBM intends to radically change the "blue giant" gene, whereas the value of "hardware and software Integration" is redefined by the "Analysis and Insight" match.

IBM China Development Center Information management general manager Zhu, and his team of more than 400 engineers, in the past two years for the release of the pure series platform to pay a long time to work and wait. Although not like the word "box" as Hu Shizhong, Zhu the idea of integrating multiple functions into a single hardware. "It is a trend that customers will not have to endure the risk of business being machine, nor pay more for unlimited expansion." "Zhu said. He was convinced that IBM had already gone through the stage of building competition barriers with products, and could no longer attract users with the exquisite exterior packaging boards and out-of-the-box details of large mainframes, as they were more than 10 years ago. IBM, Zhu said, "is to rethink its role in the future industry". --Make up for the gap between IBM's commitment and reality. It depends on how well IBM understands its customers, or how it understands the uniqueness of each customer as distinct from other customers. Help companies anticipate the future, and before the "indescribable" demand arrives, explore opportunities to make every aspect of the ecosystem profitable-because on such a platform the real dancer will be the client, not the IBM.