Re: I notice my bigcorp is taking the hint from IBM and HP
The problem is that cloud has now started to bite and it is very disruptive. 15 years ago IBM made big money on outsourcing. But then everyone saw how much they were making and all piled in -- the margins dropped and companies got wise to how to deal with the outsourcers (no more billion dollar deals, but maybe $100 or just $10 three-year rolling contracts).
In fairness to IBM they saw the writing on the wall some time ago and have been trying to ditch the outsourcing business and focus on cloud. Their selling point was/is to add these high-value business services on the back of them, so cloud is cheap or a loss-leader, and then the businesses are all supposed to want to buy into Analytics, etc.
While IBM has been pushing AI (branded as Watson) everyone else has jumped on the AI bandwagon. It remains to be seen how successful this will be for everyone, but the proof of the pudding will be how much money those companies that come to IBM and the rest can make on the back of this technology.
If Brexit means we get anti-austerity, inflationary policies that put more money into Joe Public's pocket, this may help in the longer term.
Oh, look, is that a flying pig?