International Business Machines Corporation (IBM or the company) was incorporated in the State of New York on June 16, 1911, as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. (C-T-R), a consolidation of the Computing Scale Co. of America, the Tabulating Machine Co. and The International Time Recording Co. of New York. Since that time, IBM has focused on the intersection of business insight and technological invention, and its operations and aims have been international in nature. This was signaled over 80 years ago, in 1924, when C-T-R changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation. And it continues today: The company creates business value for clients and solves business problems through integrated solutions that leverage information technology and deep knowledge of business processes. IBM solutions typically create value by reducing a client's operational costs or by enabling new capabilities that generate revenue. These solutions draw from an industry leading portfolio of consulting, delivery and implementation services, enterprise software, systems and financing.
STRATEGY
Despite the volatility of the information technology (IT) industry over the past decade, IBM has consistently delivered superior performance, with a steady track record of sustained earnings per share growth. The company has shifted its business mix, exiting commoditized segments while increasing its presence in higher-value areas such as services, software and integrated solutions. As part of this shift, the company has acquired over 100 companies this past decade, complementing and scaling its portfolio of products and offerings.
IBM's clear strategy has enabled steady results in core business areas, while expanding its offerings and addressable markets. The key tenets of this strategy are:
These priorities reflect a broad shift in client spending away from "point products" and toward integrated solutions, as companies seek higher levels of business value from their IT investments. IBM has been able to deliver this enhanced client value thanks to its industry expertise, understanding of clients' businesses and the breadth and depth of the company's capabilities.
IBM's growth initiatives, like its strengthened capabilities, align with these client priorities. These initiatives include Smarter Planet and Industry Frameworks, Growth Markets, Business Analytics and Cloud Computing. Each initiative represents a significant growth opportunity with attractive profit margins for IBM.
Smarter Planet and Industry Frameworks
Smarter planet is an overarching strategy that highlights IBM's differentiated capabilities and generates broad-based demand for the company's products and services. Smarter Planet encapsulates IBM's view of enterprise IT's next major revolution: the instrumentation and integration of the world's processes and infrastructures—from energy grids and pipelines to supply chains and traffic systems. The massive amount of data these systems are generating can now be captured and analyzed. This infusion of intelligence enables more efficiency, productivity and responsiveness.
Clients seeking these "smart" solutions value IBM's deep industry and process expertise, powerful back-end systems and data analytics, complex systems integration capability and unique research capacity.
IBM's Industry Frameworks create a flexible software foundation for developing, acquiring and deploying smart industry solutions. Each framework supports multiple solutions, enabling fast, efficient and tailored capabilities in support of clients' business needs. These frameworks represent a proven technique for the company to engage with its clients, driving sustained growth and high business value. They cover a wide variety of industries and domains, most of which are directly tied to Smarter Planet.
Growth Markets
The company has benefited from its investments over the past several years in growth markets. The focus now is on geographic expansion of IBM's presence; on specific industry verticals of the highest impact and opportunity; on countries' build-out of infrastructure aligned with their national agendas; and on creating markets and new business models to serve the different requirements that exist in these emerging countries.
In order to support this growth, IBM is continuing to invest significantly in these markets to expand capacity and develop talent. At the same time, IBM is expanding and benefiting from large teams of talent with global missions of delivery. The company continues to deepen its research and development (R&D) teams to design for the unique challenges and rapid growth facing these markets.
Business Analytics and Optimization
Business optimization through the application of advanced analytics is emerging as another major category of business value. It succeeds earlier generations of back-office automation, basic enterprise resource planning and traditional business intelligence. Advanced analytics allow clients to see patterns in data they could not see before, understand their exposure to risk and predict the outcomes of business decisions with greater certainty.
IBM's approach is end-to-end, providing cross-enterprise as well as industry-based analytics solutions. IBM has established the Business Analytics and Optimization practice, leveraging IBM consulting capabilities and software products, along with systems and research assets. IBM's breadth of expertise uniquely positions the company for revenue and profit growth.
Cloud Computing
"Cloud" is an emerging consumption and delivery model for many IT-related services. Clients are attracted to its improved economics, flexibility and user experience. Traditional enterprise IT will increasingly integrate with these new cloud deployments, delivered as services via the Internet (also known as public clouds) or behind a firewall (private clouds). In discussions with enterprise clients, most are initially focused on private cloud implementations, the middle ground between the traditional enterprise IT and public clouds.
IBM is helping clients determine how to leverage cloud computing to achieve business advantage. The company provides a full set of capabilities, from support in designing and implementing cloud solutions, to services for running and managing them if desired. IBM is applying its deep experience in critical areas such as security, reliability and innovation to deliver differentiated value. The company is also investing in new cloud initiatives tailored to particular industries, in conjunction with its partners and clients, to deliver cloud business services directly to the market. By providing deployment choice, optimizing solutions based on workload characteristics and delivering complete service management capabilities, IBM is positioned as the leading cloud service and infrastructure provider for enterprises.
BUSINESS MODEL
The company's business model is built to support two principal goals: helping clients succeed in delivering business value by becoming more innovative, efficient and competitive through the use of business insight and IT solutions; and providing long-term value to shareholders. The business model has been developed over time through strategic investments in capabilities and technologies that have the best long-term growth and profitability prospects based on the value they deliver to clients.
The company's global capabilities include services, software, systems, fundamental research and related financing. The broad mix of businesses and capabilities are combined to provide business insight and solutions for the company's clients.
The business model is flexible, adapting to the continuously changing market and economic environment. The company continues to divest commoditizing businesses and strengthen its position through strategic investments and acquisitions in higher value segments like business analytics, smarter planet and cloud computing. In addition, the company has transformed itself into a globally integrated enterprise which has improved overall productivity and is driving investment and participation in the world's fastest growing markets. As a result, the company is a higher performing enterprise today than it was several years ago.
The business model, supported by the company's long-term financial model, has enabled the company to deliver consistently strong earnings, cash flows and returns to shareholders in changing economic environments.
BUSINESS SEGMENTS AND CAPABILITIES
The company's major operations comprise: a Global Technology Services segment; a Global Business Services segment; a Software segment; a Systems and Technology segment; and a Global Financing segment.
Global Services is a critical component of the company's strategy of providing IT infrastructure and business insight and solutions to clients. While solutions often include industry-leading IBM software and systems, other suppliers' products are also used if a client solution requires it. Approximately 60 percent of external Global Services segment revenue is annuity-based, coming primarily from outsourcing, maintenance and custom application management services arrangements. The Global Services backlog provides a solid revenue base entering each year. Within Global Services, there are two reportable segments: Global Technology Services and Global Business Services.
Global Technology Services (GTS) primarily provides IT infrastructure services and business process services, delivering business value through the company's global scale, standardization and automation.
GTS CAPABILITIES
Strategic Outsourcing Services. Comprehensive IT outsourcing services dedicated to transforming clients' existing infrastructures to ensure better quality, cost control, adaptability, security and compliance. IBM integrates long-standing experience in service management, technology and industry applications with new technologies, such as cloud computing and virtualization, to enable new capabilities for clients.
Business Transformation Outsourcing. A range of offerings from standardized processing platforms and Business Process Outsourcing through transformational offerings that deliver improved business results to clients through the strategic change and/or operation of the client's business processes, applications and infrastructure.
Integrated Technology Services. Project-based portfolio of services that enable clients to optimize their IT environments by driving efficiency, flexibility and productivity, while reducing costs. The
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standardized portfolio is built around key assets and patented software, and incorporates best practices and proven methodologies that ensure predictive quality of delivery, security and compliance.
Maintenance. A complete line of support services from product maintenance through solution support to maintain and improve the availability of clients' IT infrastructure.
The GTS outsourcing businesses are supported by integrated worldwide delivery organizations:
Integrated Technology Delivery (ITD) is responsible for worldwide service delivery supporting the Strategic Outsourcing business. It manages the world's largest privately-owned IT infrastructure with employees in over 40 countries, supporting over 450 data centers. ITD operates a globally integrated delivery model which supports regional client-facing teams by utilizing a global network of competencies and centers. Each competency provides industry-leading, standardized, integrated tools and processes. By leveraging IBM's global scale, skills and technology which is combined with the innovation from IBM research, clients gain access to leading edge, high-quality services with improved productivity, flexibility and cost.
Business Process Delivery (BPD) provides highly efficient, world-class delivery capabilities in IBM's business process delivery operations, which include Business Transformation Outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing and Business Process Services. BPD has employees and delivery centers in over 40 countries worldwide.
Global Business Services (GBS) primarily provides professional services and application outsourcing services, delivering business value and innovation to clients through solutions which leverage industry- and business-process expertise.
GBS CAPABILITIES
Consulting and Systems Integration. Delivery of value to clients through consulting services for client-relationship management, financial management, human-capital management, business strategy and change, and supply-chain management. In 2009, the company announced the creation of a new consulting service line dedicated to the market for advanced business analytics and business optimization.
Application Management Services. Application development, management, maintenance and support services for packaged software, as well as custom and legacy applications. Value is delivered through the company's global resource capabilities, industry knowledge and the standardization and automation of application development.
Software consists primarily of middleware and operating systems software. Middleware software enables clients to integrate systems, processes and applications across a standard software platform. IBM middleware is designed on open standards, making it easier to integrate disparate business applications, developed by different methods and implemented at different times. Operating systems are the software engines that run computers. Approximately two-thirds of external software segment revenue is annuity-based, coming from recurring license charges and ongoing subscription and support from one-time charge (OTC) arrangements. The remaining one-third relates to OTC arrangements in which clients pay one, up-front payment for a perpetual license. Typically, arrangements for the sale of OTC software include one year of subscription and support. Clients can also purchase ongoing subscription and support after the first year, which includes product upgrades and technical support.