LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
TECHNOLOGY that IBM ’ s training and selection processes are rigorous . For Brierley ’ s team , which is responsible for hundreds of millions of pounds in sales annually , the criteria – and the rewards – are higher still . “ We have a very structured set of courses ,” he says . “ Starting off when our foundation graduates or apprentices arrive - that literally lasts from cradle to grave for the employees as they come on board .”
IBM ’ s incentive package is designed to ensure that a great deal is reached for all involved , for mutual long-term success : “ We lead and motivate our salespeople to do good business – and good business is not just that they sold a very nice deal , it is something that is good for IBM and good for the client . We do retention on commission for a period of time to make sure what we sold for the client is deliverable and the client is happy with what we ’ re delivering .”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
“ I think we ’ ll continue on the journey of driving our solutions to be cognitive ,” Brierley muses . “ All our platforms will become cloud . All our focus will be on industries - I don ’ t see that changing . I think we ’ ll become more and more an organisation that drives all our products , our software , our hardware - as a service for clients .”
“ We have reached that point and we ’ re on the right trajectory . Certainly , if I look at the quality of our opportunities and some of the conversations we ’ re having now with clients , it feels like we ’ re ahead of the market . Indeed , our own analysts are telling me that in the UK and Ireland we have taken market share from our competition in the last few quarters .”
IBM has not faltered in cresting wave after wave of innovation and is aligning itself ever closer to the needs of UK and global businesses and industry segments
www . ibm . com 51