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I’m sorry to hear about all the layoffs people are experiencing. My advice is that because your experience is valuable, especially you folks who have been working here for 10, 20, 30 years, you should either A) Start your own company (for behavioral health, etc) or B) Do consulting on your own terms.
It’s obvious people with incredible resumes are being let go. It’s time we take our careers back and invest into something we’re truly passionate about.
Wishing you all the best!
One thing is certain, Waters will continue laying off the people who are the heart and soul of this company AND replace with consulting chronies.
......mckinsey is here.....
.a consulting firm..
a global management consulting firm
they address problems that no one else can..""
what is the " real reason" this company is walking the halls ?
why are they here
How many of you think last year S4 & CFIN implementation by Acn was
Spotted getting off on the 16th floor. Eyeroll. Expect them to be paid millions to recommend “cost savings” in RIFs that will never materialize.
any one heard of this?
Anyone else been forced to attend this rushed mess?
Its like Dev Days but with external sales people mixed in, and its been a complete sh-t show. I dont think Ive learned a single thing that I couldnt have gathered from a basic google search. We are blocking off thousands of peoples time for multiple for this, hired a hype man, and are paying consultants to come pitch AI generated slide decks to IT people.
What on earth is going on? Hard to take any of the cost savings talk seriously when we pi-s away money like this
Is it true that the once exclusive CPQ quote tool is now being used by the dealers?
If so, when did that start?
Given the current situation at Pinterest, is there a possibility they could cancel their contract with Accenture?
MW and JG talking about AI like it's going to change their world.
Maybe it is. We see it in other parts of the world, part of people's day to day. It takes talent, and the talent is leaving.
If I had to guess, the average PSG of the AI team is probably not higher than 22.
All the people working on the data have also exited the company because of the BS and lack of confidence in our completely disconnected leaders.
JG and LC would rather spend tens of millions of dollars on BCG and McKinsey or EY rather than just pay a fraction of that to retain the talent that was here.
The world's best AI practitioners are not dinosaurs like the consultants with MBAs that JG and LC are bringing in. and the ENGINE strategy for AI is a fantasy at best. It's sad that these leaders have completely neutered what was a team with good talent.
No one wants to work for these puppets guided by management consultants who have practically zero experience in AI. If you're using the same consultants who have been here over a decade or two, what are the chances that they know what they're doing?
In 2024 they hired Deloitte to do an 'audit' after which they went through the organization with a chainsaw on nebulous promises of AI doing all the work. Unproven promises at that. Then hiring consultants and contractors to replace the fired staff, and not even at lower salaries.
They of course kept vertical stacks of deadwood who made life difficult for everyone. The kind of people who stop productive work and su-k up to upper management without doing productive work themselves.
I've received a few small settlements from class action lawsuits for their bad practices.
Asplund Leadership Consulting!
OMG! Another one of our former ELT is joining A&M. The same BT firm we wasted millions of $$$ on. There must a a conflict of interest or under the table deal. Pay the millions, when BT doesn’t work and you jump ship, just join them.
Ethics should investigate! Oh wait…that would be a waste of time.
Question: HR and manager did read my termination blurb. During the call announce they will pay severance which appears to cover about 3 months of salary. Great since I was about to leave anyway to join a startup.
I imagine there is no stock acceleration typically offered correct?
Question:
I recall something about Cobra. Not sure I would need to pay premiums. Not interested in that since I can join wife excellent medical plan instead.
Consulting companies are actively involved in presenting options for GoA that will soon pass the divestment threshold and will have to added to the decommissioning liability ledger.
How will this affect job security and continuity?
700K applicants brought into state by consulting firm
Here is a video that outlines her layoff plan during this skit. You can even see her picture on the wall at the beginning of the vid. If you listen really close you can even hear her voice. “Hey, that’s me….that’s me at the top.”
.
https://youtu.be/K7ISnXf6Geo
So demoralizing to work for a management consultant pretending to be a technologist. All this mo--n does is pay 20 contractors to do the work of 1 competent employee and outsource. Don’t get me started on saas contracts
Randomly heard recently that IT had a trip with a contractor to (of all places) Fiji to try and find some more low cost resources. Did any of y’all get invited to that trip?
Some quick Google searches show that it’s about 1/3 Cost of Living (COL) compared to Charlotte, so that’s somewhat understandable. But considering the time zone differences with all the other sites, how the heck are we supposed to have team meetings? Or is it only connection via email with no chance of getting global meeting's with existing teams in US / Europe / India.
If it hits $360, that means it's time to exit my position.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/ibm-stock-price-top-pick-2026-35af20b3
By: Mackenzie Tatananni
Updated Jan 08, 2026, 2:59 pm EST / Original Jan 08, 2026, 2:15 pm EST
Skeptics may argue that International Business Machines has lost the clout it had decades ago, but one analyst is doubling down on his bullish bet on the stock heading into the new year.
Much of the negative noise surrounding IBM appears to be unfounded, according to Oppenheimer analyst Param Singh, who has chosen IBM as one of his top picks for 2026. He rates the stock at Outperform with a $360 price target.
IBM stock was 2.1% higher at $303.04 on Thursday as the Nasdaq Composite traded in the red. Singh’s price target suggests the stock can rise another 19%.
Attitudes on the stock are indubitably mixed. Of 22 analysts polled by FactSet, 11 rate IBM at Buy, while seven rate it at Hold, and four at Sell. So why the vote of confidence?
“Bears have the estimates wrong, making expectations low into the print,” Singh said, referring to IBM’s fourth-quarter earnings report due later this month. He believes IBM can deliver durable growth by consistently raising prices, and described its portfolio of software as “sticky,” meaning clients repeatedly return to the products even though alternatives exist.
IBM has been winning bigger contracts because it has more products and services to offer, largely driven by acquisitions and the rollout of new mainframe computers. Last year, it paid $6.4 billion for HashiCorp, a provider of infrastructure and security tools, and has had early success integrating those offerings into its portfolio.
Taken together, these factors could boost overall revenue by 6% and software revenue by 9% in 2026, Singh said. His call for revenue growth is double the consensus forecast on Wall Street and nearly double the call for growth in software revenue.
“We believe IBM will positively surprise the bears on its earnings through the year, driving upside to the stock,” Singh said.
That comes after a decent run in 2025, a year dominated by the conversation around artificial intelligence. Shares rose 35% last year, behind a 39% gain for AI heavyweight Nvidia but ahead of a 20% gain for the Nasdaq.
There already are signs 2026 will be a good year. Despite recent chatter, Oppenheimer’s checks show little to no customer attrition, even as IBM passes along a 6% price hike to customers renewing enterprise license agreements.
And then there is IBM’s consulting division, which has become a significant contributor to revenue. Singh and the Oppenheimer team see little evidence of a pullback on spending, although software is expected to continue to grow more rapidly
Software revenue is expected to achieve sustained, double-digit percentage growth as opposed to “low-single-digits” for IBM’s consulting arm, Oppenheimer said.
Barron’s wrote favorably on IBM for a different reason in December: the company’s burgeoning quantum-computing division. Big Blue was an early entrant in the space, and aims to release a fault-tolerant quantum supercomputer by the end of the decade. That would be an industry first.
I believe their gonna cut so much more then most think Crazy this firm will consult to cut more management but yet their benefiting Executive Hires (McKinsey Alumni): Several high-ranking Verizon executives are former McKinsey personnel, including:
Alfonso Villanueva: Recently named Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer, effective November 2025. He was previously a Senior Partner at McKinsey, where he led the Telecom, Media & Technology practice across Asia Pacific
Consulting companies for modern tech recommend 1000 per billion revenue, that would mean 5000-6000 employees
The math doesn't work and selling 25% of the company won't be enough. For anyone left there will be massive layoffs
In addition to ongoing engineering performance challenges, a lack of transparency around progress, and significant network and connectivity problems, we are now encountering scheduling issues with India-based engineers. Several have declined to attend meetings scheduled after 10:00 a.m. Central Time, citing the late hour on their end. In some cases, there is resistance to meetings held after 8:30 p.m. local time, which would require U.S.-based staff to substantially alter their work schedules by starting meetings as early as 6:00 or 7:00 a.m, a practice that falls outside standard industry norms. These scheduling disputes are repeatedly raised while the engineer declines to attend meetings or take on work, leaving the engineering lead and offshore vendor to sort through the issue. This pattern can persist for weeks, during which the offshore engineer continues to submit and receive approval for full 40-hour weekly timesheets. This outcome reflects the risks associated with outsourcing while eliminating experienced in-house talent.
Sounds familiar?
Starbucks did not lose $30 billion because of bad coffee. It lost it because the company
mispriced what actually created its value.
When Starbucks appointed a McKinsey-trained executive as CEO, the mandate was operational discipline. Costs were scrutinized. Processes were standardized. Stores were pushed to behave like efficiency machines rather than community spaces.
On paper, the logic made sense.
Consultants optimize margins by removing friction. But Starbucks was never a pure efficiency business. Its premium pricing depended on brand emotion, store experience, and cultural loyalty. Those are intangible assets, but they carry real monetary value.
As efficiency initiatives rolled out, customers noticed. Service quality declined. Stores felt
transactional. The brand lost its emotional moat. Foot traffic softened. Growth expectations reset. Markets reacted quickly. Over 17 months, Starbucks shed roughly $30 billion in market capitalization. Not from insolvency risk, but from a reassessment of future cash flows tied to brand strength.
The board reversed course. The CEO exited. Strategy changed.
The wealth lesson is structural. Consulting frameworks work best where value is mechanical and repeatable. Consumer brands compound wealth through trust, identity, and habit, not just margins.
When leadership optimizes the wrong variable, scale turns small misjudgments into massive losses.
Starbucks did not fail at execution. It failed at understanding what it was actually selling.
Recent layoffs at McKinsey have sparked a broader conversation about the state of the consulting industry. As one of the world’s most influential consulting firms trims its workforce, analysts are questioning whether this move reflects internal restructuring or a sign of slowing demand across the sector. Many are now watching to see if other consulting firms will follow with similar job cuts.
we can be creating a company in the consulting industry, about strategy, process, whatever, to bring our intelligence to the market
we know Vz weaknesses and we know the market, we need one leader to start it
anyone ?
we could also crush the wholesale market ....
Discussing a 10% workforce reduction in non-client-facing departments.
Tech has the knowledge, no need for Consulting
Anyone know what we’re doing with them? resale?
They say his highest spot ever. I am wondering how much advertising we need to buy to get him to the top 5. Maybe we can pay a consulting company millions of dollars, so they can give us a strategy to get there. We can do it!
Hear me out!
It was reported that the executive board wanted to lay off 10000 employees. But of those, 3000 quit and others found a job somewhere within the company.
There are also reports that the restructuring expenses cost €3.1 billion.
Now I am no math genius but if I divide 3.1 billion with 3000, that is more than a million on an average. Given how high some salaries are, it is safe to assume that many employees got hundreds of thousands. But definitely not millions.
So where did all the money go?
If you ask around, you'll hear that a lot of money went to Marty Cagan and his company and to third-party consultants who suggested layoffs. I don't know if this is true. But we need an investigation into this.
What is to say that the executive board isn't actually laundering the money through these consultants?
In 2024, SAP expenditures related to restructuring were 10% of the total cloud backlog! Why would any company in their right mind reduce cash flows like this by laying off more employees and also doing share buybacks and paying executive bonuses in millions? And then saying there is no money left for salary increments or bonuses? We aren't even beating inflation and the board is spending money the company doesn't have just to continue with the tooth brushing exercise.
How can we as employees demand an investigation into this?
Has anyone considered consulting an attorney? Not for wrongful termination. Just to review the numerous documents to make sure we're not getting sc--wed according to your state's laws.
So I had cause to re-watch Office Space over the weekend. The studio released this movie in 1999. It focuses on the corporate absurdities that permeated cubicle life in the late 1990s, with the lead-up to Y2K as a backdrop.
I’ve seen the movie countless times and still find the story of the Bobs—two consultants hired to reduce headcount—hysterical, although the last seven years of hired consultants and annual layoffs is a bit too much art imitating life.
What struck me this time was a throwaway line I hadn’t noticed before. The main characters work for a company named Initech—which, they explain, is a made-up word created by smashing innovation and technology together. Sound familiar?
So the “innovative” naming that made us all Solvers became part of cinematic history over 25 years ago. Make no mistake, folks: these leaders of ours are not bringing anything new. We talk about AI and the positions it will eliminate, but with this crew of senior leaders, we could replace them with a Magic 8-Ball that simply says, “Hire consultants and restructure.” That seems to be their cure for anything that ails us.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
So the big "integration" of the Network orgs is going just super. The two SVPs who now run the combined mess apparently can't figure out what to do with us. Heard through the grapevine they just hired a big-name consulting firm to "evaluate the organizational design and operating models."
The kickoff meeting was yesterday. Feels familiar, right.
This seems to be the classic move when leadership doesn't actually have a plan. They pay a few million to a bunch of people who don't understand our business to come in and tell them what to do. The word is they're going on a "listening tour." They'll probably make a bunch of pretty charts and graphs that basically say we have too many people doing overlapping work.
It looks like a way to get cover for the cuts they already wanted to make. Now they can say "the data suggested" we need to streamline. The whole thing has that distinct passive-aggressive vibe. Instead of just making a tough call, they're bringing in a third party to do it for them. It's like they ordered a pour-over at a coffee cart and then asked the barista to taste it first to make sure it's good.
Maybe I'm just being cynical. An outside perspective could actually spot some real inefficiencies, I guess. But let's be real. This is likely just the first step. If you're on a team that's been a pain to get resources for, or your projects have been in "wait and see" mode since the SVP shake up, I'd be updating the resume.
This is usually how it starts. Heads up.
It has become prisoners of Mckinsey. Mck folks have more info than employee. on an average there is 1 (employee) to 10 McK person in meetings.. think if McK people charge 400 an hr. how much they are minting. I am sure Mr CIO gets the kickback. This company is going to go down.
Poor performance, multiple waves of layoffs, running the company to the ground. Bryan Hanson should be sued by Solventum employees, not paid $40 million. Please consult a good employment attorney to explore this option.
How many of these places do we expect to keep more than 1 person? Most of the Network Affecting work happens during the MW, most of the work can be contracted out or sent to other grps to run configurations. Will the switch techs just be there for vendor access??
Rumors are leaking out that once again McKinsey is bilking IBM for some serious cash and IBM seems to be going down the path of this McKinsey Three Horizons of Growth nonsense to grow sales and cut costs I guess. Inquiring minds would like to know how many tens of millions IBM has paid McKinsey going back to Gerstner where he was a director there for 13 years 1965-1978. Lets guess since Gerstner came in 1993 IBM has shelled out $3M/year to McKinsey. 32 years x $3M (likely more) is a cool $96,000,000. For what?
1 of a thousand failed examples here...IBM's Personal Computer division reached $4 billion in revenue by 1984, which was more than twice that of Apple at the time. The company continued to be a major player in the global PC market in the following years.
But by 2004, when IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo for $1.75B, annual sales for the division were approximately $10 billion. The company faced increasing competition from "clone" manufacturers throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, which eroded its market dominance and profit margins.
IBM completely F'd up it's wonderful PC business by not properly protecting the HW IP from Intel and the SW IP from MSFT. Combine that with IBM F'ing up MCA micro channel architecture, Token Ring, SNA and OS/2 and that is tens of billions of dollars lost to ineptness.
TODAY: Lenovo turned a $1.75B investment into $57,000,000,000 and IBM approx $62,000,000,000. An unknown Chinese firm in 2005 now rivals IBM for annual sales?! Could IBM use $60B of revenue for the next forever?!
IBM's latest Hail Mary here with McKinsey => https://flevy.com/topic/mckinsey-three-horizons-of-growth/case-growth-strategy-redesign-professional-services-competitive-market?srsltid=AfmBOoqmaY7ObrlfwqN8tDc9rAtBsbhQri_INrMLx8-zVOaRvYhjsN-9
How much money (and time) has CDW wasted on consultants? Between Deloitte, Bain, and others we have spent millions on companies that don't give us answers, they just get paid to tell us we are doing it wrong (and then leave it to our own people to try to figure out how to fix it). We also have hired on way too many former consultants too who clearly don't know how to lead. If we had just invested the money wasted on consultants internally on our people we would be performing better.
Whatever brilliant leader thought the best strategy was to pay a ton of money to consultants to come in, should be fired immediately.