IBM Consulting axes dozens of senior staff in Australia

26 March 2023 Consultancy.com.au

IBM Consulting has slashed dozens of roles in its Australian arm, as the global consulting giant seeks to re-align its headcount with slowing demand.

According to multiple reports on the local reorganisation, IBM Consulting has axed up to 75 people at the start of the month, with those axed being told the company needs to ensure it has “the right mix of expertise and skills” to meet changing market demands.

Most of the staff affected work in the cloud advisory practice, which helps clients adopt cloud-based models of working and with migrating to new cloud systems. The move marks a notable change in sentiment for the practice: in 2021, IBM Consulting turned to inorganic means to beef up the – back then – rapidly growing practice.

IBM Consulting axes dozens of senior staff in Australia

Prior to the reorganisation, IBM Consulting had around 500 staff in Australia, meaning that up to 15% of headcount has been trimmed. That final number is not clear however, because the firm has made efforts to redeploy employees affected into other areas of the business.

IBM Consulting has so far not responded to questions about the cuts, but has released a brief statement that acknowledges that the company is “refocusing its [consulting] efforts into other parts of the market”.

The majority of those sacked operated at relatively senior level: just below the partner rank, comparable to the associate partner and director levels at the Big Four firms.

The news sees yet another consulting giant take measures in anticipation of slowing demand. KPMG recently cut roughly 200 consultant roles in Australia (about 2% of its 10,000-strong staff), while strategy player McKinsey & Company is in the process of cutting 2,000 jobs globally (although the Australian arm is reportedly unaffected).

Last week, Accenture announced it expects to cut 19,000 jobs across its global business over the next 18 months – or 3% of its around 738,000 strong workforce. Cuts are expected to trickle down to the Australian business, and in addition, the firm has frozen the next edition of its Graduate Program.

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