IBM has insisted that that it will be able to improve its
service to users following its announcement last week of up to
13,000 job cuts, many of which are in Europe.
IBM intends reduce staff numbers in the UK, Germany, Italy and
France, and centralise its service teams. The move is part of a
restructuring of the company following poor financial results. IBM
has said it is facing increasingly fierce competition from
India-based outsourcing providers
Roger Fulton, vice-president of research at analyst firm Gartner,
said, "IBM should now be lowering the cost of delivering its more
standard offerings. It is still very much a buyer's market -
customers are getting better deals than they have probably ever
had."
Mark Loughridge, IBM's senior vice-president and chief financial
officer, said IBM will put more services staff, processes and tools
in "shared centres of excellence" around the globe to "enable
skilled professionals to provide support across different
functions".
As a result, IBM will have a number of smaller, more flexible local
operating units in Europe "to increase direct client
contact".
Ray Titcombe, chairman of the IBM Computer Users Association, said
other suppliers in the IT industry were facing similar challenges
to IBM, and the company was likely to become more focused on its
customers.
"I think the potential 'fallout' from this range of
changes/cutbacks is that IBM will become a little more customer
focused and maybe some customers may get better deals or options,"
Titcombe added.