IBM supports up to 4000 jobs with analytics centers

IBM plans to expand its business analytics work with a network of new analytics centers around the world that will allow the company to retrain or hire as many as 4000 analytics consultants and mathematicians.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 4/29/2009

IBM today announced plans to expand its business analytics work with a network of new analytics centers around the world that will allow the company to retrain or hire as many as 4000 analytics consultants and mathematicians.

Five such centers will be opened in the current quarter in Tokyo, London, New York, Beijing, and Washington, DC. IBM said that much of the demand for analytics work is being driven by new stimulus investments around the world in areas such as financial risk management, smart grids, electronic medical records, and food tracking. These clients are embedding new sensor technology into their processes to gather better performance and management data, Big Blue explained, adding that organizations are then leveraging new analytics capabilities to turn that data into predictive intelligence to help run new digital infrastructures more effectively.

"Advanced analytics are increasingly essential to help companies and organizations confronted with vast amounts of data and systemic change, and who are looking to build smarter business systems," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chairman, president, and CEO, in a statement. "All organizations today need to sort through myriad choices, make smarter decisions quickly and accurately, and act decisively. Our unique expertise in R&D, software, and consulting will be brought together in our new IBM Analytics Solution Centers -- helping to make our clients' businesses into smarter enterprises, and helping to create the jobs of the future."

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To be true, IBM has both subtracted from and added to its headcount this year. IBM has cut or transitioned overseas thousands of US-based jobs, much to the ire of local workers union groups in upstate New York where the company is headquartered. However, IBM has also committed to extend its R&D partnership with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany NanoTech Complex as part of an overall $150 million CNSE expansion that is expected to bring 600 new high-tech jobs to New York State.

IBM said its first three analytics centers will be in Tokyo, London, and New York, and will be staffed at start with more than 100 consultants and mathematicians each. The centers initially will be staffed with domain experts from across IBM. As demand grows, the company said it will shift training investments to hire or retrain 4000 workers needed for next-generation positions.

A fourth center will be located in Washington, DC, at the IBM Institute for Electronic Government, and will focus on analytics requirements needed to manage economic recovery investments. And the fifth analytics center will open in Beijing, and will focus on rail and transportation analytics, a major stimulus opportunity in China.