IBM Playing to a Symphony

Recently, IBM announced Project Symphony, its on demand initiative for automation. There are multiple parts to Symphony, including automation technology and a spectrum of sourcing (from software purchase through full outsourcing). We believe automation technology is critical to adaptive efforts and view IBM as a credible player. In addition, we believe IBM needed to do a better job of communicating how its various parts work together - and, though it is part of the message, we believe additional clarity will be required broadly across IBM (not just for automation as it was communicated here) for the market to fully understand. We still believe a critical success factor for IBM in executing its on demand strategy will be bringing the breadth of IBM into a single, cohesive flow.

Bottom Line: IBM is a credible automation player. Users interested in the continuum from product to outsourcing will have to expend investigation effort.

META Group originally published this article on 28 October 2003.