IBM has not traditionally pursued the after-market servicing of computers other than its own. Service contracts for its own computers are often included in the sale of large systems, while the servicing of personal computers is largely left to authorized dealers and service companies.
The after-market service of computers and computer equipment is a large industry which offers significant opportunity to a company such as IBM which already has a large presence in the computer industry. If IBM enters this market and attempts to service equipment by manufacturers other than itself, it could realize a healthy increase in revenues which would serve to bolster the company's fortunes overall.
IBM has advantages over other companies in this industry in that it has a recognizable name, a reputation for providing quality products, and a long and relatively stable corporate history. It also has a large customer base from which to draw, and may well be able to attract customers of other hardware vendors.
Successful implementation of this new business would require the creation of a computer service division which would oversee the existing field offices. Technicians would be trained in IBM as well as the hardware of other manufacturers, and plans would be put into place to measure and provide remedial action for maximizing the benefit to the company.
In the early 1980s when IBM entered the personal computer market, it could control the market because of the financial resources that backed the company and the dominant position that the company held in terms of computers in general. By the end of the 1980s, that situation had changed dramatically. IBM had lost considerable market share to companies that "cloned" its personal computer technology, and Microsoft, a small software company at the beginning of the decade, had grown to a financial powerhouse on the strength of its MS-DOS product, which provided the operating system for al...