Pauline Nist, the GM of Enterprise Software Strategy at Intel, is one of The Cube’s first interviews with John Furrier and Dave Vellante.  Information on Demand is IBM’s big software show, which Intel attends due to the close OEM relationship between IBM and Intel (full video below).

IBM is a serious software partner, with IBM owning a large software stack from virtualization to big data to operating systems, says Nist. “IBM is the adult supervision of big data,” with Intel thrilled to be working along with IBM on their PureFlex System.

Nist points out the difference in her company’s strategy.  Previously, they focused just on hardware, while now they’re working with companies like IBM to offer consumer solutions by delivering the product the consumers want to solve their multitude of organization needs.  Nist believes that IBM solves these problems as good as, or better than, anyone else which is evident through their strong performance over the last ten years.

Furrier notes that the performance of IBM over the past decade has been nothing short of strong, which is proof of their business acumen, that are driven by the products and services that they offer.

While IBM has more or less dumped its personal computer business, it has done so in exchange for services they hadn’t previously considered – at the expense of the company.  No longer are the great minds of IBM trying to make the cheapest personal computer they can, instead they’re doing what they can to solve the next great questions of the technological world.  They’re not merely managing mission critical operations with IBM solving the “what next” problem that Hadoop brings.  With a massive range of offerings, there is an IBM for every need.  The real question is “how can you be competitive?” You have to differentiate yourself to the customer, and IBM does that by having their arm in a multitude of areas.

Vellante asks Nist “What’s your take on the impact of all this big data?”  Services are now IBM’s main prerogative, with software on the backburner, and Nist believes that things are going to shift more towards solutions and the cloud versus the mechanics and the IT related aspects of the field.  The cloud is the wave of the future, and for IBM, it would be unwise to ignore this segment, considering they have the knowledge, skill set, and capital to immediately invest in viable cloud solutions.  IBM is essentially acting like GM, who are now bringing back all of their processes to the United States, recreating an IT field that has been ravaged by outsourcing.  But, no more is the IT field going to be about fixing circuits and ensuring that servers are maintained, instead they will be the drivers of big data and cloud storage, with the ability to alter a product as needed to ensure their needs are best met.

Nist, when asked about the desire for flexibility in software, replies that she believes that’s what people want and that the needs of a business can change – and very quickly.  Using Black Friday sales as an example, where as before, a business would have to wait until the Monday after, now businesses can determine the day after what their sales were and how well they did compared to other businesses.  They stores can then use this information and change their tactics (lowering prices, increasing inventory).  Software needs to be able to be augmented on the fly so that in situations like this, alterations can occur as needed.

To hear what else Pauline, John and Dave have to say, watch the interview below.