Global CIO: IBM Sees Surge In Customers' Transformation ProjectsGlobal CIO: IBM Sees Surge In Customers' Transformation Projects

1) Are you confident that the IT infrastructure you locked down in late 2008 when the recession hit can handle the demands of today's more demanding, more mobile, and more engaged customers, partners, and suppliers?

2) Are you confident that your CEO will support your decision to keep your head down for a while longer, even as your competitors might be starting to reinvigorate their processes, product offerings, and business models?

3) Are you confident that your customers will be excited and delighted by the experience they have when engaging with your company, or is that so-so, vintage-2008 experience going to inspire them to take their business elsewhere?

And take one more look at IBM CFO Mark Loughridge's comment: "The second thing I will say across the spend environment, we are seeing a transition in the kinds of deals and the IT spend mix that our customers are looking for. Specifically in this quarter you can see that transformational offerings especially within consulting were much more highly driven with consulting signings now up 18% or 12% in constant currency. That is very strong performance. We haven’t had that growth rate in the consulting business for over three years."

Something big is going on. The question is, are you part of that big change, or are you just hoping that competitors aren't?

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