IBM Technology Services: 20 Reasons Why It`s No. 1

GTS primarily provides IT infrastructure services and business process services, delivering business value through the company's global scale, standardization and automation. GTS capabilities include strategic outsourcing services, business transformation outsourcing, integrated research services and maintenance. The division's outsourcing businesses are supported by two integrated worldwide delivery organizations: integrated innovation delivery and business process delivery.

In addition to GTS, the other services segment is IBM GBS, the professional services arm of Global Services. The world's largest IT consultancy services organization, GBS includes strategic management consulting, industry expertise, business analytics and optimization, systems integration, and application management services.

Collectively, IBM's services divisions—including innovation services and business services—represented 42 percent of IBM's total revenue in 2009.

The 2002 acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting brought IBM new insight into client business issues and new market opportunities. Some notable recent acquisitions include: Internet Security Systems; Softek; Serbian Business Systems; NovusCG; Arsenal Digital Solutions; and National Interest Security Company.

IBM partners with the world's leading organizations to solve fundamental business problems and transform business models through research. Over the last few months, IBM announced new deals with Hilton Worldwide, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and ElectraCard Services, among others.

The business continuity arena

With more than 40 years of global experience in the business continuity arena and more than 155 business resilience centers worldwide, IBM has deep industry-specific knowledge and a broad range of major customers and leading services.

GTS Services Delivery is responsible for delivering IBM's IT and business process outsourcing services. The strategy to drive quality and productivity in GTS Services Delivery is achieved through standardization, automation and global integration.

IBM operates an extensive network of service delivery centers in more than 20 countries—with multiple sites in many of those countries. The centers provide IT services and business process outsourcing capabilities to IBM customers around the world.

IBM has six worldwide research labs focused on technology in security research and nine global security operations centers to monitor for the latest threats and protect customers. IBM is as well the only technology provider with more than 40 years of security development and technology.

The knowledge from the company's research arm—

IBM's innovation services division applies the knowledge from the company's research arm—which includes eight global locations—to the practical development of innovation services and cloud computing. One example includes a recently opened research services delivery center in Dubuque, Iowa, as part of IBM's Smarter Cities project.

In one of the largest services agreements in the history of the health care industry, Kaiser Permanente tapped IBM to deploy smart systems and activate its highly sophisticated global delivery network to provide patients, members and physicians real-time access to medical data and tools whenever and wherever they need it.

IBM's data center approach can easily and efficiently be expanded to handle additional computing capacity as needed using the same simple, "plug and play" approach that all computer users are accustomed to. It's just like popping in memory to a laptop. The new design approach is paying off for customers, helping them reduce data center energy costs by up to 50 percent.

IBM was the first IT services organization to launch a service line dedicated to business analytics and optimization, allocating more than 6,000 consultants with industry expertise, as so then as launching seven global analytic solutions centers in 2009.