Senior VP of Software & Chief Commercial Officer, Ibm
Search every verified Robert Thomas interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President of Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, has been a frequent commentator on enterprise AI adoption and value creation. In early 2026, he stated that the most incorrect idea about AI is fear, arguing that productivity growth—driven by AI—is the only path to continued GDP growth. He noted that S&P 500 operating margins have risen from roughly 13% in 2019 to about 19% in recent quarters, attributing this in part to technology. Thomas has emphasized that 2025 would be a year of "value creation" with AI, moving beyond experimentation. He has also discussed IBM's own use of AI, stating the company generated $4.5 billion in productivity by automating manual tasks and has displaced some jobs while hiring into R&D roles. Thomas has been involved in several major IBM acquisitions, including the $11 billion purchase of Confluent, which he described as "the rails of this AI moment" in a December 2025 interview. He has also discussed the importance of open source in AI, arguing it prevents vendor lock-in and reduces barriers to adoption. Thomas has advised companies to focus on cost savings before revenue when starting with AI, and to embrace iteration over large, long-term projects. He has also spoken about the cultural and change management challenges of AI adoption, noting that a Fortune 50 CIO told him that while the technology works, getting people to use it remains difficult.
“S&P 500 operating margins were about 13% in 2019 and have risen to roughly 19% in recent quarters through 2025, with maybe another two points to come in 2026. Technology is having a big impact.”
“I think the most incorrect thing is fear. GDP growth comes from population growth plus debt growth plus productivity growth, and since population and debt growth are constrained, the only way for the world to continue to grow is productivity — AI can be the single biggest driver of that productivity.”
“We're incredibly excited about Confluent. Confluent and what they've built in terms of real-time data is the rails of this AI moment.”
“Most of the brand excitement right now in AI is around consumer companies. We are a B2B company, and when we brought out Watson X ... our book of business is now 9 billion.”
“Today, artificial intelligence is everywhere. If you're working in IT or you're a developer, you've probably either already come into contact with AI, or you may very soon find yourself involved in some projects with AI.”
“The problem with this is that we're seeing 90% plus failure of AI initiatives that are happening in this style.”
“Let's try to get to 80% plus success rates in our AI initiatives.”
“MCP service stands for Model Context Protocol.”
“Tools are what can I do? And data sources is what do I know about.”
“We're going to need an orchestration layer, and the orchestration layer is going to spawn armies of AI agents.”
“I've discovered why many large companies struggle to innovate, and it comes down to one word, which is iteration. Large companies typically have long planning processes. They want to make big bets, and that's the opposite of iteration, because when you're iterating you're doing a little bit, you're trying, you're getti...”
“The 100% fallacy is people say, All right, we're going to look at doing this with AI. It either has to be 100% accurate or it's going to be 100% human. But hold on — our humans are not very accurate. Why are we holding AI to a higher standard than we would even hold our humans?”
“By the end of this year, we will have generated four and a half billion dollars of productivity by automating things that used to be manual. We started with basic repetitive tasks — things like employee verification, or how you look at salary planning and promotions — just augmenting what humans are doing.”
“It has displaced some jobs, but we've then hired people into R&D roles. So it's really been a shift in labor for us more than anything else.”
“Every company is going to be a technology company, and so we better start thinking about what that means now, as opposed to waiting until that moment comes.”
00:01:06 – IBM's Role in AI and Government 00:02:03 – Extracting Value from AI 00:02:44 – Challenges in AI Adoption 00:04:24 ...
Rob Thomas, SVP of Software at IBM, uses the Industrial Revolution railroad analogy to explain why IBM is acquiring Confluent ...
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Rob Thomas has spent more than two decades at IBM, rising from consultant to SVP of software and chief commercial officer.
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Patrick Moorhead, Daniel Newman & IBM's Rob Thomas discuss CIOs' most significant challenges in AI adoption. Full interview ...
New insights from Davos ❄️ – the future of AI is about value creation. Has AI reached a pivotal point? IBM’s Rob Thomas believes it’s time to move beyond experimentation and to focus on generating real value with AI. Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman are joined by IBM's Rob Thomas, SVP, Software and Chief Commercial Officer, for a conversation on IBM's recent initiatives and his take on the future of AI in this installment of The View from Davos. Tune in as they cover ⤵️ IBM's strategic priorities and how they are shaping the future of technology and business Insights into the latest tre…
Send us Fan Mail (https://www.buzzsprout.com/214745/fan...) Rob Thomas, leader of IBM’s Data and AI division, talks with host Al Martin about the need to de-mystify AI. In particular, Rob recommends a "fail fast" approach to data science: run wide-ranging but short-term experiments — and expect disappointment on the way to insight. This episode offers a host of such suggestions, plus thoughtful leadership advice and tips for motivation. Part 1 of 2. --------------------------- Show Notes 00:00 - Check us out on YouTube ( / @almartintalksdata4134 ) and SoundCloud ( / mds_podcast )…
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Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/tex...) This week we chat with Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM. Rob talks health and hobbies, the state of AI, and IBM's overall vision. • 01:57 Maintaining Health • 03:57 Where is IBM Today? • 06:58 Modernizing the Data Center 08:08 Acknowledged Mistakes • 10:41 The State of AI • 13:48 IBM's Position on AI • 17:14 The InstructLab Project • 19:33 IBM's Vision and Outlook • 20:43 What Must IBM Get Right? • 21:40 Emerging Technologies • 23:30 THINK Confere…
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