IBM’s overall revenues for the most recent quarter (Q1 2016) continued to be flat, but the company’s cloud and “strategic imperative” lines of business are seeing significant growth.
Overall revenues for the first quarter were $18.7 billion, IBM reported. Revenues from strategic imperatives -- cloud, analytics and engagement – totaled $7 billion, for a 14% increase from the same quarter last year. Its cloud business for the quarter totaled $2.6 billion – up 34%. IBM reported total cloud revenue of $10.8 billion over the last 12 months.
Revenues from analytics increased 7%, while revenues from mobile increased 88%. Security revenues increased 18%.
IBM’s Systems category (includes systems hardware and operating systems software) saw revenues of $1.7 billion, down 21.8% from the same quarter a year ago. The company did not break out z Systems revenue in its statement.
IBM’s Cognitive Solutions (includes solutions software and transaction processing software) had revenues of $4.0 billion, down 1.7%. However, the company reported “strong growth in the Watson businesses,” which focus on analytics and artificial intelligence.
Global Business Services (includes consulting, global process services, application management) saw revenues of $4.1 billion, down 4.3% from a year ago. Strategic imperatives revenue within the segment was up 19%, and generated nearly one-half of segment revenue.
Technology Services and Cloud Platforms (includes infrastructure services, technical support services, integration software) experienced revenues of $8.4 billion, down 1.5%. Growth of 41% in strategic imperatives revenue within the segment was driven by hybrid cloud infrastructure engagements.
A copy of IBM’s Q1 financial statements is available here.