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Robert Thomas

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. At the Sierra Ventures’ CXO Summit on October 15, 2026, Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President of Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, discussed enterprise AI adoption and quantum computing in a conversation with Managing Partner Tim Guleri. He stated that the primary obstacle to enterprise AI is not the technology itself but fear, both within companies and in how the industry discusses AI. Thomas criticized current software marketing trends, saying that framing products as dangerous is counterproductive to adoption, and advocated for a more optimistic approach while acknowledging the need for safeguards. Thomas also addressed IBM’s internal transformation, noting that the company had become overly risk-averse and has spent six years working to encourage more risk-taking. He said IBM has reduced its back-office spending by six billion dollars through AI automation of repetitive tasks, moving from mid-decile to top-decile performance in that area. Regarding quantum computing, he mentioned that IBM had previously committed to demonstrating quantum advantage by 2026, a claim he said was published a month prior, and discussed early revenue from the technology.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“Our ambition four years ago was we said we want to become the most productive company in the world. We were not at the time just to be clear. We were spending 12% of revenue on GNA. Far far from top decile. You fast forward to now we've said publicly we've taken six billion out of our back office. So we've gone from at best mid decile to the top decile and this is all through using AI to automate repetitive tasks fro”

“I think scaring the customers is a bad idea. So I think we should stop that because I think obviously we should have the right safeguards but scaring people is not good. It's not going to be good for business for anybody. And I think there actually is a huge reason for optimism. You look at 250 year history of America for every kind of technological revolution until this expense gets to be about 25% of GDP it can kee”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Supply and demand is as true now as it was then, so look at what's happening in the market for GPUs — are we supply constrained or do we have a supply glut? I think we're still supply constrained now, but every big demand moment tends to lead to a supply glut and trying to time markets is a fool's errand.”

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