System iNetwork

January 29, 2008

Mark Shearer Still In Play

In a previous post about IBM's latest reorganization, I noted that our last System i general ganager, Mark Shearer, seemed to be in a bit of limbo when it came to a new position at IBM. Although there was never a doubt that Shearer would work for IBM, for a while we had a little trouble getting some confirmed answers about which role he would play. Then, when IBM's shift kicked loose Marc Dupaquier, who essentially seemed to take on a role that could have been filled by Shearer, I was really curious about which executives IBM would send to COMMON.

I still haven't gotten an official confirmation out of IBM's media relations team on this topic, but I'm guessing that after this week things will settle down enough at IBM to let the real work begin -- determining the future of the reorganized IBM and how it's going to shake out.

As for Shearer, I traded a few lengthy e-mails with a large and proactive System i customer who managed to track down Shearer's new role within his own contacts at IBM. The customer prefers to remain anonymous. He's a fan of Shearer and his open and customer-centric philosophy , and he has been around the industry long enough to have seen the effects of a few other System i-related general managers. Here's a great point from my customer source that I can share:

"Mark has always been extremely eager to listen to our needs, took the time to deal with us personally on some things, and also seemed to be a man of action. There are always lots of things going on inside IBM that we don't know about. It's always hard to tell why things happen and in some cases not-so-good things happen to great people. I blame a lot of issues with the System i squarely back onto IBM itself."

In any event, my source reported that Shearer is now the "Vice President of Marketing for Business Systems," which is very close to the official title: "Vice President, Marketing & Offerings, Business Systems, IBM Systems and Technology Group." After a bit of a delay in January -- no surprise there, given the turmoil at IBM -- Shearer responded via e-mail to my colleague Rita-Lyn Sanders just yesterday, confirming the new title.

What's interesting about Shearer's new position is that on one hand, it seems as if it's a demotion. Yet on the other hand, Shearer's scope of responsibility has seemingly expanded: he will be taking all the Systems and Technology Group's products to market and will likely have a hand in shaping how the technology is packaged into product offerings that customers ultimately invest in. We're talking about not only the System i but also the System p, z, x86 and BladeCenter, and storage products.

It's hard to say how IBM will invest in future new System i-related sales. Is IBM's strategy to lead with the System i in response to customer business problems, lead with another solution, or simply respond to the customer's perceived path of least resistance?

With a guy like Shearer in the new vice president of marketing and offerings role for the IBM Business Systems unit, we may soon see the future. At the very least, as the marketing strategies at IBM are hammered out, Shearer will be fully aware of the capabilities of the System i -- and that's a good start.

Posted by cmaxcer at January 29, 2008 12:05 PM