IBM

IBM STG offers an opportunity to work with some of the newest technologies in the semiconductor and computer hardware fronts. If you are looking for great exposure into these fields, the challenges they present, and an opportunity to work on solutions, then STG is the place to be.

In addition, IBM has a strong initiative and drive to maintain the work/life balance of its employees. The management is very supportive in this regard, and IBM offers some of the best options in the industry as well as the flexibility to make it work, hands down.

IBM makes the technology available to work remotely to all of its employees and leaves it up to you to demonstrate your ability to manage that. IBM offers a great deal of opportunity for enhancing education, both online and through traditional courses. Management is very supportive of these activities.

IBM STG seems to be the "black sheep" of the various IBM divisions. The success of several other IBM service divisions is very linked to the STG hardware and technology, and IBM's model of providing overall solutions. Unfortunately, this model would work well if all the business units were treated as one. Since this is not the case, and the corporate mandate is for STG to provide technology first and foremost to IBM, that business unit is always getting the short end of the stick when the quarterly numbers are reported. This translates into vastly lower bonuses and profit sharing due to the lower performance numbers. If that unit treated the rest of IBM as it does the rest of its customers and charged accordingly for their services, the numbers would look much better.

Morale is low in the STG division due to this and the fact that when lay-offs roll around, that is the first place that gets hit. Another problem within IBM is that it still carries with it a great deal of history of how things were and get done. This creates a LOT of inertia to overcome in order to drive changes or improvement. Not that it is impossible (I speak from experience), but it does require a greater commitment of time and energy. Time tends to be a very limited resource due to the cutbacks in personnel and the increase in workload.

The other item that seems to really need work is the innovation reward system IBM has established. IBM rewards people for ideas and patents, but the system is set up so that it can be "gamed" by people who have been at it for a while. It doesn't really produce new innovations that could lead to new business opportunities as much as incremental improvements in current technologies or ideas that will reward the submitter, but doesn't provide new ventures for IBM.

Morale needs to change. People walk around with the fear of the next layoff or the people that were lost, and it impacts the ability to get things done. The patent process should be reviewed and modified to really drive towards ideas that will provide new revenue streams. A process should be implemented that reviews ideas and their marketability in order to get them licensed.

IBM needs to develop a method of bringing STG into the greater fold of IBM and treating them more equitably, or spin them off and let them pursue their own business dealings. I would bet IBM's appreciation of STG would increase dramatically if they had to deal with them as they do with Intel or others.

Lastly, business decisions should not be based strictly on whether or not you can fill the fabs. This is a business, and money needs to be made.