IBM is, by far, the world's largest consulting firm. In the IT consulting and integration market, it is approximately 50 percent larger than the next biggest firm. But that hasn't always been the case. IBM Global Business Services now generates more consulting revenue per month than it did the first year Consulting magazine was published.
"It was seven years ago, in 2002, that IBM acquired PwC Consulting. That was a defining external moment in time. But there have been a whole series of events that have gotten us to where we are," says Fred Balboni, IBM's global business leader for the Business Analytics and Optimization services group.
In 2003, IBM launched e-business on demand, which led the firm to begin considering alternative business models and collaboration services. In that year, Big Blue also began offering On Demand Innovation Services. In 2004, it started the Center for Business Optimization, which reorganized the firm around new service delivery models.
Two years later, IBM launched the Global Business Solution Center, based in Bangalore, India. The team is charged with speeding client's time to value. Also in 2006, the firm formalized its solutions business, bringing together consulting knowhow and industry-specific professionals to solve client problems.
n 2007, IBM launched Information on Demand (IOD), a formal program that combines IBM's software and IBM services businesses. The next year, IBM began to recognize the globalization of the consulting marketplace. The program was formalized a year later.
In 2009, IBM formed the Growth Market Unit, a completely separate division within IBM to address the needs of fast-growing geographies—such as China, Latin America, East Asia, Korea, and Australia. Also in 2009, the firm launched its 4,000-consultant Business Analytics and Optimization practice. "We've succeeded at building what we thought we could be seven years ago [when acquiring PwC]," Balboni says.
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