Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. The next three minutes are packed with insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud! Today’s Topic: IBM Falls Short in Q3 Cloud Revenue Growth, but Global Business Services Up 37%
Highlights
00:29 – Bob gives himself an F for his earlier prediction for IBM’s cloud revenue growth and total for Q3 of this year. He had predicted growth of 22%, but in fact IBM Cloud revenue increased a very modest 12%.
01:00 – Reporting just 12% Q3 cloud revenue growth puts IBM at the very bottom of the Cloud Wars Top 10. While the company has occasionally seen 20%+ growth in recent earnings announcements, it has generally languished in the low double-digits, despite having a lot of good things going for it.
01:40 – Looking inside IBM Cloud at four unique business units, we can see that the Global Business Services department is actually doing great, up 37%. GBS is where IBM is offering consulting that combines their technology with their industry and business-process expertise.
02:45 – Bob laments that this has become the norm for IBM: low growth rates despite their great potential, knowledge, and leadership under Howard Boville and others. Hopefully they can turn things around soon.
