IBM 1998 Annual Report Download - page 44

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close the gap
The world is embracing
new models.
New models of retailing, distribution, banking, education. One consultancy
estimates that customers will dedicate fully half their e-business investments
to services that help them make their moves to the Net. Over the past year,
IBM has introduced more than 30 new e-business services – from Web
site hosting, to e-commerce, to offerings for employee training and
knowledge management.
Demand outstrips supply.
I t ’s a persistent dilemma that’s getting more acute. Many
of our customers lack the in-house information technology
s t a f f they need, and they can’t hire sufficient skills. In the
United States alone, want ads for hundreds of thousands of
i n f o rmation technology jobs are going unanswered. IBM’s
126,000 services professionals – who garn e red the industry ’s
top customer satisfaction ratings – are ready to help, and
w e ’ re hiring more every week.
CUSTOM ERS SPENT ABOUT $ 1 BILLION A DAY on information
technology services in 1998. Why? Because there's a
yawning void between a big idea - or even a well-
crafted strategy - and marketplace execution. To get
from one to the other, as quickly and cost-effectively
as possible, customers increasingly draw on service
providers like IBM Global Services for assistance in
areas spanning consulting and systems integration,
application development and Web site hosting. We
believe this trend will continue, for some of the
reasons described here.