back to article Now IBM Watson Health, sorry, Merative decimates staff

Merative, known until last year as IBM Watson Health, is laying off an estimated 10 percent of its staff, according to a source familiar with the matter. Our source tells us about 200 people among a staff of roughly 2,000 stand to lose their jobs. A spokesperson for Merative declined to comment, stating in an email, "Merative …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    IBM / Watson / Merative cut 10% of their staff EVERY year, nothing unusual here, just the bottom of the bellcurve.

  2. trevorde Silver badge

    Merative Health slogan

    Resource Actions - it's in our DNA!

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Merative Health slogan

      "... all of whom were over the age of 40."

      That age point is part of the valuable IP that IBM gave for use with Resource Actions

  3. Steve Button Silver badge

    Decimates?

    Nice to see someone actually using the word the correct way for a change!

    1. MrBanana

      Re: Decimates?

      Few people care anymore about the literal meaning of decimate, that ship sailed a while ago.

      1. CatWithChainsaw
        Joke

        Re: Decimates?

        >Few people care

        Would you say that number has been decimated?

  4. I miss PL/1

    Remember when

    They said Watson would cure cancer?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Remember when

      Whereas Holmes only claimed she could detect it. Also untrue. Elementary.

    2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: Remember when

      Management would have pulled the plug the moment Watson realizes that "cancer" can be a metaphorical word.

    3. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Remember when

      Remember when

      They said Watson would cure cancer?

      That was never going to be correct since 'cancer' is a very generic term and not a specific disease. Expert systems do hold lots of promise in assisting doctors in making better diagnosis in the limited time they can spend with a patient. Computers can be much faster in collating test and exam results and returning things that are likely and things that don't fit the profile. It won't be perfect, but better than the doctor going completely off in the wrong direction. An accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible is needed to cure many issues since the worst things don't often fix themselves.

  5. ecofeco Silver badge

    Offshoring?

    Gee, what a surprise.

    Train others to take over your job? Why do people still do this?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Offshoring?

      >Train others to take over your job?

      If you work for IBM Watson your job is to rename things until the next "strategic re-visioning"

      Not sure it took much knowledge transfer

    2. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Offshoring?

      "Train others to take over your job? Why do people still do this?"

      I'd participate in some 'malicious training' if that were the case. Make the new guy taking over your job from Asia trigger the wipe command without deleting the logs that show they did it.

    3. stiine Silver badge

      Re: Offshoring?

      How else is Kyndryl India going to get trained on Watson. They are outsourcing to Kyndryl, right?

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