‘Nobody got Fired for Buying IBM’ – But Many Should Have!

In the first in a series of viewpoints from Nigel Hirst, the IChemE past president says bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to project management

HOW MANY times have I heard the excuse “nobody got fired for buying IBM” when a client had given a project to a (much) larger competitor. It was a source of significant frustration to me, especially when my company had invested resources (both human and financial) in bidding for a job, only to be told “we liked your bid, and you were the right price, but we gave it to X because they are bigger”.

The reputation of IBM was built over many years. Initially a leader in mainframe computers they expanded into software and “solutions” over a long period. IBM insiders say that in the past they only took on projects they knew they could over-deliver on and that this wasn’t just a PR stance, it was a strongly held internal belief. For many years IBM have lived off this reputation, even though it no longer applied.

So why do clients still choose IBM over better competitors? Like many large companies it is regarded as a “safe bet”. It had a strong reputation for not letting projects fail, there was a perception that it could pay for any negative consequences, and it would stay with a failing project no matter what.

That was the buyer’s belief, but what does it say about them? Frequently in large companies there is a lack of ownership of projects – “I just work here”, and employees don’t feel mandated to take a personal risk. Usually this is underlined by a lack of exposure to the market and a lack of incentive to learn.