R Ray Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO at Constellation Research Group is among the senior analysts who have been closely following IBM for years. In a quick tête-à-tête with Biztech2.com he shares his thoughts on IBM’s centennial journey and what gets the giant going, while throwing some insights on the IBM of the future.


What would best describe IBM and its 100 years journey?

IBM's ability to navigate almost every major technology shift in 100 years is a testament to its ability to remain agile, make the right bets on innovation, and continue its pioneering spirit despite its size.

What has been IBM’s biggest contribution?

IBM has been there from the copier to the typewriter to the mainframe to the first PC boom. But the biggest contribution has been the IBM Labs and their innovations.

What should be IBM’s biggest learning from these 100 years?

How to remain a behemoth and agile. I think the latest transformation in its software group is an example of how they are learning to acquire, integrate, and move on.  It's not perfect, but it's better than most.

What is that one ‘big’ thing that stands out in IBM’s 100 years history?

IBM is still relevant and top of mind when you think of technology.


IBM has been among the very few companies that have completed 100 years and yet remained as relevant even today. What do you think is the key to this?

IBM does a good job of identifying commoditised processes and moving them to scale. That's part of the Big Blue Machine. While parts of the company work towards that goal, the other parts focus on innovation and growing the business by acquisition.

What is it that IBM got right and going for it?

It got right the shift to services with its PWC acquisition and its getting right the shift to apps components and the cloud.

What has been the biggest driver of growth for IBM in its 100 years history?

Good leaders among its ranks.  They do develop their people to be leaders.

According to you what will be the big drivers for IBM’s next phase of growth, and why?

Acquisitions will be key as these acquired companies bring not only key technologies, but the next generation of IBM's leadership team.  The other piece is they have the best marketing in the software business today. The smarter theme will carry them a long way.

Out of hardware, software and services – what do you think will be the big thing for IBM going forward?

Software is the future.

As someone who has been closely following both IBM and its competitors, how would you analyse IBM’s standing in the following – hardware, software, services?

Hardware is doing well. Big Iron is still back. Software is improving with the acquisitions. Analytics and Information Management is formidable. Services is one of the top in the world.

Considering the competition for IBM has intensified in the last couple of years in almost all these areas, what can be the game changer for IBM in the coming years?

Getting Social, Mobile, Cloud, Advanced Analytics, and Unified Communications right.

According to you what should be IBM’s strategy for the next phase of growth?

Build out their Cloud PaaS Platforms and Mobile development.