IBM Creating An Army Of Evangelists

webpronews.com ^ | 2005-05-14 | Neville Hobson

[Golden Eagle]

Silicon Valley Watcher: Early next week IBM will introduce the largest ever corporate blogging initiative in a bid to encourage any of its 130,000 staff to become online evangelists for the company.

Tom Foremski's report today in Silicon Valley Watcher makes for very interesting reading.

He says IBM's plan comes hot on the heels of their Q1/05 financial results, which missed financial analysts' expectations and led to IBM announcing layoffs of up to 13,000 employees, with the majority of those lost jobs in Europe. Also see this ZDNet report with additional commentary.

Tom's report says that IBM hopes blogging could help stem further losses if it can galvanize employees into becoming an army of online evangelists for IBM's products and technologies. Employees will be taught what blogging is, and they will be guided on what is appropriate blogging content.

[ShadowAce]

[Tribune7]

Pack up your troubles - T.J. Watson's here!
And smile, smile, smile.
He's the genius in our IBM
He's the man worth while
He's inspiring all the time,
And very versatile - oh!
He is our strong and able President!
His smile's worth while.

"Great organizer and a friend so true,"
Say all we boys,
Ever he thinks of things to say and do
To increase our joys.
He is building every day
In his outstanding style - so
Pack up your troubles Mr. Watson's here
And Smile - Smile - Smile

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the link...

[NCjim]

Hey, from an ex-OS/2 evangelist, walk softly there please. OS/2 did amazingly well, given IBM's efforts to make it a failure.

[AgThorn]

Much wisdom in those words ... OS/2 was a great OS and would probably be giving MS a continue run for its money, if it were not for IBM. It needed a longer leash, that is for certain.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Smile, son. You'll need it when you get a few more years under your belt. I used to work for IBM, and bought the blue-line, hook-line-and sinker. At that time, there may have been some truth in the hype. However, IBM is not the IBM of Watson fame. You are now just a resource, to be used and tossed as the company sees fit. You have no more rights than the desk you're sitting at (if you even have one).

Go read some of the YAHOO IBM groups ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ibmemployeeissues/ ) might be a good start. See what is happening to your older coworkers. I personally gave a good portion of my life and my health to IBM in pursuit of excellence, and was rewarded with a swift kick out the door with a pittance of what I should have had for retirement (thanks LVG!)

Also read some of the industry press. IBM is a sinking ship, and Sam can't bail anymore with LVG's bucket. IBM has become like any other company, and as such does not deserve the loyalty it thinks it's employees should give it. This is because the company no longer respects the individual (they still touting that one?). Wake up now, before you are half way through your life and IBM decides to recycle you to make its dwindling bottom line look better....

Been there, been shafted, won't let it happen again...

[Nick Danger]

IBM... will obviously send out their most cordial tech writers to spin their controversial message into the most positive light.

That's what I said. The guys they send out will be cordial. Not like the ones Microsoft sends out. You ever heard those guys? They are thugs, man. "You commie! Put down that crack pipe!"

Liars and thugs, the lot of them. I would release the Lions of Spring to chomp their nethers.

[Jack Black]

interesting development

[Golden Eagle]

The guys they send out will be cordial. Not like the ones Microsoft sends out. You ever heard those guys? They are thugs, man. Liars and thugs, the lot of them.

How about you give us some specific examples of Microsoft employees who are "liars and thugs", since according to you it affects "the lot of them." Or is someone else actually the one doing the lying?

[Flying Circus]

IGS (IBM Global Services) sucks and no amount of rahrah bloging will cover that up. IBM services cost a fortune (think Rolls Royce) and do not pay off in quality (think Chevy). Unfortunately for IBM, IGS is all they have left since they divested themselves of most of their hardware business.

The decisions get out of hardware made a sense a few years ago when IGS was a huge profit machine and hardware lost money. IMHO, IBM managers missed that there was a synergy between the hardware and the services that was lost by getting away from hardware.

[Bush2000]

Go easy on the accusations, Nicky. I'd really hate to out you.

[Nick Danger]

I'd really hate to out you.

Oh, you're going to 'out' me, eh? The anti-freepers have already posted my address, a picture of the place where I live, and how much money I made last year. Anybody can find out what business I'm in by looking at the Fox News site, where there's a news story about it. It's not like I have any privacy. Do your worst.

[Bush2000]

How about your SSN, credit report, and tax returns...?

[Nick Danger]

How about your SSN, credit report, and tax returns...?

Let me get this straight. You are threatening me with public disclosure of my Social Security number, my credit report, and my tax returns.

Unless I do what, exactly?

[Bush2000]

Let me get this straight. You are threatening me with public disclosure of my Social Security number, my credit report, and my tax returns. Unless I do what, exactly?

Oh, certainly not me, Nicky. I wouldn't want to incur that kind of liability. But the anonymous ghosts in the machine wouldn't hesitate...

[Nick Danger]

To review the bidding, I made the statement that there exist Microsoft shills who are liars and thugs.

You then came back with the assertion that you, or someone you are aware of, is in possession of my income tax returns. You then threaten me with blackmail.

So now we have proof that there exist liars who are thugs. The only remaining piece of the puzzle is the connection to Microsoft.

[Bush2000]

Oh, not me, Nicky. I was referring to the thugs. You need to learn to relax. You're going to have a coronary...

[Gabz]

Your concept of IBM employees is about twenty years out of date.

I'm inclined to agree. My husband is a field tech in the DelMarVa region and although he makes sure he has a jacket and tie in the car with him he rarely puts it on except when seeing certain types of clients (banks brokerages) and when it comes to late ro over night installs - khakis and polo shirts are the rule.

[Nick Danger]

I was referring to the thugs.

I think we are in agreement here. You were referring to the thugs when you said, "I'd really hate to out you."

A smarter thug would not have threatened me with exposure of FCRA data, let alone tax returns, in writing in front of thousands of people.

For now I think I will sock this away in a pdf, and grant myself permission to refer to you as a liar and a thug. Should anyone challenge that characterization, or should you complain about it, I shall point out that truth is a defense against libel. No one will believe that you have access to tax returns; hence 'liar'. And I think trying to blackmail somebody in public definitely qualifies as the act of a 'thug.'

Any person who knowingly and willfully obtains information on a consumer from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses shall be fined under title, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both

Any officer or employee of a consumer reporting agency who knowingly and willfully provides information concerning an individual from the agency's files to a person not authorized to receive that information shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both