IBM Consulting brand launches with 140,000 consultants globally

Formerly known as IBM Global Business Services, the advisory brand of the global technology giant will look to assist clients with the delivery of their digital transformation agenda.

In 2002, following the Enron scandal, the surviving Big Four firms were under pressure to sell off their consulting businesses. While the firms have since moved back into the industry, at the time this saw PwC offload its advisory arm to IBM, for $3.5 billion in cash and stock.

This resulted in the formation of IBM Global Business Services (GBS), a team of business, strategy and technology consultants, within Big Blue. IBM GBS today has more than 140,000 skilled professionals globally, across more than 150 countries, who deliver a full breadth of services including strategy, experience, business process design and operations, data and analytics, systems integration, application modernisation, hybrid cloud management and application operations.

As IBM looks to push forward with a global transformation of its operations, the company has announced the repackaging of IBM GBS as IBM Consulting. Reflecting IBM’s increased strategic emphasis on hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, and the ecosystem’s power, IBM Consulting is poised to deliver rapid business value while acting as a truly collaborative partner.

Speaking on the rebranding operation, Sandip Patel, a Managing Director at IBM Consulting, said, “The change to IBM Consulting represents the significant market opportunity that has opened up in front of us, with many organisations globally, seeking people and business partners to help them co-create and co-execute and co-operate their future operations.”

“IBM Consulting is a growth vector for IBM as we work with clients as their strategic business partner to apply hybrid cloud and AI technology to achieve their digital transformation goals.”

Global changes

IBM has been working consistently to revamp its operations in recent years, with growth having stagnated toward the end of the last decade. With the pandemic having seen digital transformation campaigns of many firms supercharged, though, the firm now finds itself ideally placed to make the most of the heightened demand for technology consulting.

In the second quarter of 2021, for example, revenue grew 3% year-on-year, according to a statement from the firm – the fastest growth in three years. The also company reiterated its expectation that revenue will grow, rather than decline, in the full year, despite the earlier impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Arvind Krishna said of the results, “The overall spend environment continues to improve… With the economy reopening in many parts of the world, many markets and industries are getting back on track. We see this in North America and in select industries.”

Illustrating one way IBM can push home its position, with a shortage in digitally capable workers following the pandemic, IBM announced plans to reskill 30 million people globally by 2030. The firm will back this drive with 170 new academic and industry partnerships, and using existing educational and technical career programmes.