Pros
Team building: You are forced into this situation as there is nothing provided to direct you as an employee to an answer. It does build a skill of self reliance and independence, if you survive
Kontras
IBM has outsourced so many divisions, including its own HR department, to India and other countries that customers are lied to in the name of profits. Customer facing positions are being relocated to India and customers are "assured" that they will not be impacted. IBM's greed is so excessive that profit margins are demanded from project managers in the neighborhood of 50%. If you cannot produce those kinds of results, they will find a way to get rid of first, half your staff, then you, then either boggle the job so bad that the customer seeks other service bids, and they gives the impression, "well we tried". The technical staff is core unit the customer sees in most cases. Relationships must be developed to keep these customers happy. IBM has torn apart the service staff to the point of hiring completely unskilled labor for $10-12 hr, while stating the idea that you can guide anyone through this kind of work. WRONG! This unskilled labor is usually a "3rd sub" from a company they spun off a few years ago called Qualixserv, in some cases Manpower. This staff is told that they are not to disclose to the customer that they are not employees. Merely to say that they are "John/Jane Doe for IBM". Project teams are facing customers who are discovering this and demanding that if they cannot provide IBM direct employees that they are not to send anyone to the customer PERIOD. We are preached to on a daily basis that it costs more to generate new business than to retain it. But each day we are encouraged to walk away from our customers, "just under the radar", or lying to the point that it requires the entire team to have several meetings, just to prepare for a meeting with the customer when the s*&% hits the fan.
