IBM: To Fund Watson, Cost Cutting Seems Necessary
February 12, 2014
I find Watson, the $10 billion future revenue engine, fascinating. It seems that cost cuts are needed to create space for the next generation search system.
I read “IBM Layoffs Strike First in India; Workers Describe Cuts as ‘Slaughter’ and ‘Massive‘”. Hyperbole is not unfamiliar when it comes to things IBM. I am not sure that the write up is objective, balanced, and sensitive to the needs of the US firm.
This quote struck me as a melodramatic:
“People broke down after seeing the inhuman [sic] treatment.”
I did note this passage:
One analyst has estimated that IBM will cut 13,000 of its more than 434,000 workers, based on the amount of money set aside for the rebalancing IBM disclosed after another quarter of disappointing earnings. A similar action in 2013 led to some 3,500 job cuts in North America alone, with several hundred hitting IBM’s North Carolina work force.
The article blurs layoffs in India with those in North Carolina. Perhaps some IBM employees will be able to ask Watson, “Why me?” If that whizzy good system is not available, perhaps those affected will dive into the lore in the magazine Harvard Business Review to learn why large companies take obvious and quite logical steps. The “inhumane” and “slaughter house” wording is not part of the MBA ethos in my experience. “Bonus,” “hitting targets,” and “promotion” are more common words for many senior managers.
I was not able to locate any outputs about Watson for my query, “How will Watson generate $10 billion in revenue more quickly than Autonomy generated $800 million?”
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2014
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
