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Dear Russ,
IBM has ejected its entire MarTech/CX technology portfolio, selling to a private equity firm. Now what? Keep these five lessons in mind:
1. Watson Was No Savior
IBM never really Watsonified much of this portfolio. This could portend other AI disappointments in this space.
2. It's Hard to Align Moving Pieces Across a Suite
Big Blue wanted to sell a complete stack, but without coherence in product direction. Other major vendors suffer from the same problem.
3. Hybrid Cloud Isn't Enough
IBM built or acquired on-prem solutions and some PaaS / SaaS offerings. They labored to support a path to the cloud, but it's hard to pull that off.
4. Native Cloud Micro-Services are Easier to Maintain and Upgrade
Legacy platforms are getting tougher to support.
5. Other MarTech Suite Players Suffer Similar Problems
Adobe, Oracle, and Salesforce all struggle to align their different products, leading to customer frustration.
What You Should Do...
Don't rely on any single vendor or platform to comprise your omnichannel stack. Focus on enterprise foundation services. This recorded briefing can show you how.
If you're a significant IBM customer you should probably ignore rosy projections from the new owners and reconsider your strategic options. If your firm is an RSG "Plus" subscriber, feel free to book an advisory call to consider your choices.
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