IBM Global Services is the world's largest business and technology services provider. It is the fastest growing part of IBM, with over 190,000 workers serving customers in more than 160 countries. IBM Global Services started in the spring of 1991, with the aim towards helping companies manage their IT operations and resources.
Global Services has two major divisions: Global Business Services (GBS) and Global Technology Services (GTS).
IBM Global Business Services
IBM Global Business Services (GBS) is the professional services arm of Global Services, including management consulting, systems integration, and application management services.It is the worlds largest IT consultancy Services. GBS is also the highest revenue earning division of IBM.
History
The beginning of IBM’s involvement in IT services can be traced back at least to 1989 when Eastman Kodak Company and IBM completed an agreement by which IBM designed, built and managed a new state-of-the-art data center for Kodak in Rochester, New York.
Also in 1986, IBM introduced Business Recovery Services, an offering that enables a business to continue operations in the event of an unplanned outage or disaster.
In 2002, IBM Global Services acquired the management consulting and technology services arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, around the same time the other Big Four accounting firms were selling off their consulting arms (this was from intense pressure to avoid conflicts of interest in light of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). PwC's consultancy business was sold to IBM for approximately US$3.9 billion in cash and stock. This nearly doubled the number of consultants within IBM Global Services, adding 30,000 consultants in 52 countries.
Organizational Structure
IBM Global Business Services is organized into 5 functional areas:
- Strategy and Change
- Human Capital Management (HCM)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Supply Chain Management
- Financial Management
Main Competitors
IBM Global Technology Services
IBM Global Technology Services (GTS) primarily reflects infrastructure services. It includes outsourcing services, Integrated Technology Services, and Maintenance.
GTS is the leading e-business on demand and hosting services provider, according to IDC, Forrester Research, Gartner/Dataquest and Meta Group; the leader in providing high-availability services, networking services and storage services, according to Gartner Group and IDC; the leader in the emerging wireless services market, according to IDC.[citation needed]
IBMs use of a new organizational technology is cited in SCIENCE (AAAS) 15 August 2008 pp. 915,916 in a POLICY FORUM that cites several uses of this technique, notably by IBM, CISCO Systems and a massive Asian operation "Li & Fung". Li & Fung has 5000 employees and generates $1,000,000 per employee annually. This article has 17 citations, including several to business school case studies. The "new technology" resembles the early description of a corporation as a "nexus of contracts". and creates what might be described as a virtual trans-national-corporation with global reach.
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