Re: Really??
They're trying to. I was one of those who left last year (with a decent package, thankfully). I still talk to former colleagues and yes, there are still customers who want work done; many of them have got themselves into lengthy contracts with IBM.
IBM, having sacked most of the skilled workforce, attempt to fob them off with someone in India, who can't do the work, as they are thousands of miles away, 4 1/2 hours ahead, have lack of experience, and cannot comprehend the customer's business and how what they are doing relates to it.
So yes, they're apparently trying to fill the void with contractors, or at least want to. I've not seen any contracts show up on the usual job boards.
It has also come to my attention that where IBM have no obligation to do work for a customer, they are simply turning it down as they don't have enough skilled people.
Naturally, as someone else mentioned, the customer decides to get a different product next time. Hey, they may even decide to buy some new technology, like cloud, analytics or the other ones. IBM gets crossed off the list rather quickly.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
