IBM 2014 Annual Report Download - page 9

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This letter includes selected references to certain non-GAAP fi nancial measures that are
made to facilitate a comparative view of the company’s ongoing operational performance.
This letter also includes certain historical information on strategic imperatives revenue which has
been measured on a consistent basis. For information about the company’s fi nancial results
related to operating pre-tax income and operating earnings per share, on a continuing operations
basis, which are non-GAAP measures, see the company’s 2014 Annual Report, which is Exhibit 13
to the Form 10-K submitted to the SEC on February 24, 2015. For reconciliation and other
information concerning these items refer to page 45 of the company’s 2014 Annual Report.
An essential company
So I come back to this moment, full of rapid change, but
even more opportunity — and to IBM’s unique purpose as
an enterprise.
IBM lives at the intersection of technology and business.
This enables us to change the way the world works, and in
so doing, to be essential to our clients and to society.
We work with 90 percent of the world’s top banks, 9 of the
top 10 oil and gas companies, 40 of the top 50 retailers and
92 of the top 100 healthcare organizations. IBM systems
manage banking, reservations, transportation, retail, trading
and healthcare systems. Our mainframes alone process
75 percent of the world’s business data.
Today we are building upon this foundation to create an
entirely new generation of critical systems. IBM’s clients are
unclogging city traffi c, exploring a cure for cancer, improving
the safety of food supplies, reducing risk, and serving their
own customers, employees, citizens and patients with
greater levels of understanding, personalization and intimacy.
A new world is taking shape before our eyes, remade by
data, rewritten in code and growing smarter every day.
This is the work that energizes me and all of my fellow IBMers.
I am deeply grateful to the IBM team for bringing us here,
and to you, our shareholders, for your support. I hope you
share our excitement about your company’s path and the
shared opportunity we have, together, to do something that
is truly essential.
Virginia M. Rometty
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Offi cer
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