By silicon.com, 15 September 2006 14:55
NEWS
As the countdown begins to silicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 10 positions in 2005. Today it's the turn of last year's number five, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano.
Even without its PC division these days, IBM remains a tech giant in numerous ways and the man who is at the helm stands a good chance of making this year's top 50 rankings. Or does he?
Sure, the company has spent the last 12 months splashing cash on big software acquisitions (as have rivals) while still bringing in the sales from some big deals, especially for IT and other services. But is Palmisano the driver?
A year ago our Agenda Setters panel of experts liked the way IBM Global Services had put itself ahead of the competing field, alongside Accenture. A market snapshot now arguably doesn't give those two the same lead.
There is even the view that IBM will have to decide whether to play in IT outsourcing as well as business process outsourcing (BPO). Doing both could be hard. It could be the latter that gets the nod.
So will Palmisano become the man who took IBM away from PCs... and then IT outsourcing too? Some would shudder at the thought.
And with HP's PC division apparently on the up, especially against rivals such as Dell and, ahem, Lenovo, which took over IBM's PC concerns, there is a question mark over whether the strategic decisions have been right.
Some would say it's all a bit unfair: praise Palmisano's generals for what goes right, blame him for what goes wrong. But then no one expects to be cut any slack when you're starting point is the man running computing's most venerable brand.
One final point: a long-standing Agenda Setters approach is to ask where the individual would be if he or she is taken out of their current position. This IBM veteran of 23 years, who one time played backing sax for The Temptations while in high school, could arguably do lots of things. But he's also arguably already reached his peak.
Find out where more of last year's winners are now:silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September with the results revealed at the end of the month. If you want to pass on your comments for our experts - about Sam Palmisano or any other contender - drop us an email at editorial@silicon.com.
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
People close to the IBM CEO say that he lacks his predecessor's cold analytic capability, and that he keeps his IBM buddies in place well past their sell-by date.
As a long-term IBMer and a former sales rep without an MBA, his time at the top lacks coherence. Externally, Palmisano claims there is nothing special about being the No. 1 vendor in terms of revenue (now that HP is exploiting IBM's sale of its PC division), but internally, there is immense pressure to stop HP overtaking.
The essays and letters published in Palmisano's name about globalisation and colonialism seem little more than rationalising attempts to assuage his guilt at moving so many US jobs offshore to low-wage locations such as India and the Phillipines. Palmisano would love to retire to the same acclaim as Gerstner (such as the knighthood he mysteriously wangled out of prime minister Blair), but this is not the way.
Most notably, three years ago, Palmisano said IBM's On Demand transformation was a bet-the-company move. (Yet he failed to bet his own job on its success.) It stalled dismally in terms of revenue, and has been quietly swept under the carpet by IBM.
The share price has got it just about right.