IBM seeks $3.5B in cost savings for 2025, discretionary spend to be clipped

IBM is again forecasting cost savings in the coming calendar year, which likely means one thing for its legions of workers – pedal fast and keep your heads down because headcount reductions may be on the way once more. Despite a share price bump of nine percent following publication of Big Blue's Q4 and full-year financial …

[Anonymous Coward]

AI to C-Suite is like catnip to cats.

Notice how the hype around Net-Zero has begun to fade? Then remember that AI is a large consumer of power and cooling. Coincidence?

IBM will do what they usually do - buy up some company, bugger it up, RA anyone who knows what they are doing, then move on to the next fad.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

workforce rebalancing fairly consistent with prior years

Translation: If you are over 40 and not working for IBM India, keep your CV updated and check on what opportunities are available out of IBM

[Tim99]

According to a contact, people working for IBM India might not be doing so well. A senior engineer in India might cost $9/hr, similarly qualified people can be found in SE Asia and Africa at <$5. The C level beancounters have noticed.

[Melanie Winiger]

The race to the bottom continues.

I was checked-in for a flight from Dubai last year by an agent who hailed from Myanmar.

She was excellent and resolved my seating problem with genuine customer service skills.

Myanmar > India?

Customer service in my very limited experience - yes.

I don't know about IT in the former.

I do know about IT in the latter.

And it can be a struggle for reasons that 99% of readers will know but are not worth debating again.

[Anonymous Coward]

So IBM is Forecasting Revenue to Once Again Surf the Inflationary Wave?

"For the year ahead, IBM is estimating 5 percent revenue growth compared to 2024."

2021: IBM revenue growth in 2021 (restated for the Kyndryl Divestiture was 4% and inflation was 4.7%

2022: IBM revenue growth in 2022 was 6% and Inflation was 8.0%

2023: IBM revenue growth in 2023 was 2% and inflation was 4.1%

2024: IBM revenue growth in 2024 was ?% and inflation was ?% (only done after IBM publishes its "audited" 2024 annual report)

2025 forecast of 5%: One can almost bet that whatever IBM's revenue growth number is in 2025, inflation will be the same or higher!

Go IBM: Ride the Inflationary Wave as far as sales is concern and focus on "earnings per share" which have been manipulated since the time of Sam Palmisano.

After all, to accomplish that, just keep raising the prices for your installed customers and blame inflation!

[vmy2197]

where do you see $3.5b in cost savings for 2025?

Where do you see a statement from IBM about $3.5b in cost savings for 2025? I see the statement below which is talking about $3.5b in run rate savings exiting 2024. I don't doubt they'll try to do this again but I don't see that exact number referenced from IBM for 2025.

Thanks.

"This remains our playbook going forward, having executed on $3.5 billion of annual run rate savings exiting 2024,

[Bebu sa Ware]

"lack of skilled labor [and] supply chain"

I suspect the interpolated "and" was redundant as I imagine this CEO really was thinking of a "skilled labor supply chain" and is hoping for a lot more of the right sort of visas from the new administration. The creation of the skilled labour is probably stalling everywhere in the face of industry wide layoffs with an obvious lack of investment in skilling of any sort.

Not entirely sarcasticly I often imagine these fine chaps would be more than happy to dispense with the 13th Amendment (the other two reconstruction amendments could go too.)

[ReggieRegReg]

Hmmmm

Perhaps one day IBM will hire a CEO who understands that mainframe still pays for everything else and to stop firing mainframe expertise in order to hire flashy little buzzword regurgitators.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmmm

I am speculating that all big companies are investing (paying) for expensive AI services as nobody wants to be left behind, especially not being asked about it by the stock holders, which all fuels IBM's revenues from it. But I see it all as a bubble that will last a few years until everybody realizes what AI can and cannot do, and also find a cheaper alternative.

While they are all playing with it, some services like mainframe will need to continue serving their customers...