“Another good quarter for us in cloud, I think,” Schroeter said. “The reason [customers] move to the cloud is that they are really looking for our expertise …. They need to know that their data is going to be not only secure, but that the insights and their AI models — they need to know that that’s going to be theirs.”
IBM has at least one cheerleader — famous investor Warren Buffett, who has praised IBM’s cognitive intelligence, Watson, as a valuable experiment. But some, like Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya, have deemed the technology a “joke.”
Schroeter said that if Palihapitiya was truly dismissive of Watson, he wouldn’t bring it up to begin with. Schroeter also noted that many of Watson’s biggest markets are overseas.
“He’s a competitor, so who wouldn’t be out disparaging competitors,” said Schroeter. “Watson’s seen and helped 40,000 patients and doctors work together. I don’t think 40,000 patients and doctors, and that relationship, I’d classify as a joke.”
