272 Inverting the Paradox of Excellence
Global Services was charged with the task of spearheading IBM’s push into the outsourcing and
value-chain management business to go head to head with competitors such as EDS and Accenture.
Gerstner’s business model was now that Global Services would offer clients an outsourcing and
business consultancy service based on assessing a customer’s current legacy system and its future
computing needs. IBM consultants would then design, plan, implement, maintain, and upgrade the
client’s IT system over time to help reduce the client’s cost structure, improve its products, and build
its competitive advantage. Gerstner also hoped that providing such expert services would once again
build up switching costs and ...