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Watson: The PR Blitz Continues

I know that IBM is trying to reverse 13 quarters of revenue decline. I know that most of the firm’s business units are struggling to hit their numbers. I know that IBM’s loyal employees are doing their best to belt out the IBM song “Ever Onward” in perfect harmony.

If you are not familiar with the lyrics, you can read the words at on the IBM Web site, which unlike the dev ops pages are still online:

EVER ONWARD — EVER ONWARD!
That’s the spirit that has brought us fame!
We’re big, but bigger we will be
We can’t fail for all can see
That to serve humanity has been our aim!
Our products now are known, in every zone,
Our reputation sparkles like a gem!
We’ve fought our way through — and new
Fields we’re sure to conquer too
For the EVER ONWARD I.B.M.

Goodness, I am tapping my foot just reading the phrase “Our reputation sparkles like a gem!”

And I don’t count the grinches who complain at like this:

Comment 07/27/15:
Job Title: IT Specialist
Location: Rochester MN
CustAcct: Various
BusUnit: Cloud
Message: I was forced out/bullied out through bad PBC rating/threats of PIP. I left voluntarily a few months back, rather than waiting for the inevitable layoff (since my 2014 rating was a 3, I would have probably been let go with no package). Once I got my appraisal in January, I started looking around and found another job that pays about the same as my band 10 IBM salary – and I am evaluating several other offers as we speak. I truly feel for the victims of yet another round of layoffs. But I don’t quite understand why some find it “shocking” and “unexpected” that IBM gets rid of them. Your CEO has publicly declared that many of you – especially those in the services organizations – are nothing more than “empty calories.” She went on record with those words. What do you expect? Either you organize or you better start looking for something else.

I pay attention to the “.” The write up explains:

Cognitive computing is transforming the way we work.

The brain it turns out is not particularly objective. My goodness, how could and his colleagues have hit upon this idea before Watson was the toast of the PR hyperbole ball?

Watson and its learnings have made it clear that the brain has an “ambiguity effect.” I know that IBM revenue data are not ambiguous to some stakeholders. The brain is like a heat seeking missile which homes toward “confirmation bias.” And the brain suffers from “not invented here syndrome.”

My goodness. Imagine how effective IBM would be if its executives relied on Watson to figure out how to integrate the disparate content processing systems the company owns. Imagine the profitability if IBM’s executive decisions were based on Watson outputs? Conceptualize how IBM would become congruent with this stirring sentiment from the “Ever Onward” anthem:

EVER ONWARD — EVER ONWARD!
We’re bound for the top to never fall!

My personal view is that IBM is better at public relations than it is at generating revenue. I am tired of reading about Watson and its future. How about some case studies about revenue successes directly attributable to Watson? How about some top line performance for IBM? If a company owns a Watson, isn’t it logical that the Watson owner would outperform companies without Watson?

Oh, what if Watson does not work very well?

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