No silver lining for IBM cloud revenues
Despite a big push in its cloud-coated ambitions, IBM has revealed a drop in revenues for its technology services and cloud platforms.
For its Q2 2017 results, revenues for this largest part of its business (including infrastructure services, technical support services and integration software) was $8.4 billion, down 5.1%.
However, in its “strategic imperatives”, IBM states that Q2 cloud revenues increased 15% to $3.9 billion. Cloud revenue over the last 12 months was $15.1 billion. Some publications highlight the drop from its technology services and cloud platforms division, while others solely point to the strategic imperatives. We decided to share both.
This fall (or rise if you see it that way) comes in the wake of a range of IBM cloud deals – such as fintech titan Finastra turning to IBM to power its banking operations; Mizuho going open banking; and UnionBank of the Philippines’ digital customer base dream.
Ginni Rometty, IBM chair, president and CEO, says: “In the second quarter, we strengthened our position as the enterprise cloud leader and added more of the world’s leading companies to the IBM Cloud.”
Elsewhere, IBM revealed a net income of $2.33 billion in the second quarter, but total revenues were down 4.7% year-over-year.
Of course, the tech titan is not just about the cloud.
Rometty adds: “We continue to innovate, adding regtech capabilities to our portfolio of Watson offerings; developing solutions based on emerging technologies such as blockchain; and reinventing the IBM mainframe by enabling clients to encrypt all data, all the time.”
However, its artificial intelligence (AI) aspirations didn’t produce any fireworks. For its cognitive solutions business (includes transaction processing software) – revenues were $4.6 billion, down 2.5%.
For the full year 2017, the company says it continues to expect operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share of at least $13.80 and GAAP diluted earnings per share of at least $11.95.
