An immersive roadshow designed to educate and orient IBM’s leadership around a new global strategy and help transform the company’s market position in the cloud computing space
Background
In 2019, IBM found itself at a crossroads. With just 4-5% of the global cloud infrastructure market, the tech giant was significantly behind dominant players like AWS, Microsoft, and Google.
Rather than continuing an uphill battle for public cloud market share, IBM recognized an opportunity that aligned with their strengths: the growing hybrid cloud space where they could leverage their deep hardware expertise and enterprise relationships.
IBM Global Technology Services needed to fundamentally reorient its strategy around hybrid cloud. This meant not just developing new offerings, but transforming how thousands of leaders thought about cloud services and engaged with clients.
They needed to equip their team with the knowledge, tools, and narratives to drive this strategic pivot successfully. SYPartners was brought in to design and execute a comprehensive global roadshow that would catalyze this transformation.
Approach
As Creative Director, I led a design team to create “Journey to the Cloud” – a touring leadership summit combining keynotes, workshops, and interactive experiences across a 3-day curriculum.
At the heart of the event was the Evidence Expo – an immersive learning experience where IBM leaders could see the hybrid cloud strategy come to life.
Throughout the venue, distinct exhibition spaces highlighted key strategic elements through thoughtfully designed displays and installations.
Each zone featured exhibits (designed for easy setup and transport between global locations) showcasing case studies, key information, and data to support the strategic shift.
Shortcodes on the display corresponded to rich-media content in the companion app, allowing visitors to research the most relevant content to them, at their own pace.
As leaders explored, the app prompted them to reflect on how each story applied to their teams and clients.
By engaging with relevant content over the course of the event the app, attendees were able to systematically build out their personalized business cases and action plans which could be downloaded in PDF format.
Integrating the app within an Eventbase wrapper enabled the addition of other practical features such as agenda and breakout information, polling, and live messaging for the events.
To complete their learning journey, attendees developed and practiced their own strategic narratives, capturing them on video to share internally or use for personal refinement – sharpening their skills as a leader and ambassador for IBM’s hybrid cloud future.
Outcomes
The “Journey to the Cloud” roadshow proved transformative for IBM’s business:
By the end of 2020, IBM’s cloud revenue had grown 19% year-over-year, reaching $7.5 billion for Q4 alone. The company had successfully onboarded over 2,800 clients to their hybrid cloud platform, with core service offerings in regulated industries including financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications.
The program was adapted for IBM’s ‘Your Learning’ internal learning and development platform, ultimately reaching 5,000 employees. A train-the-trainer model further ensured continued scale and impact.
Most importantly, the roadshow successfully reoriented IBM’s leadership thinking around hybrid cloud, giving them the tools, confidence, and narratives needed to drive this strategic pivot—one that would eventually account for over a third of IBM’s total revenue by 2021.