Two months later, Watson met Flint, the founder of IBM. Flint is the most prosperous financier on Wall Street and is known as the "King of Trust". He had long heard of Watson's talent and immediately hired him as the manager of the computing and tabulation record company. This Flint company mainly produces scales, scales, clocks and tabulators. Because his predecessor didn't get to the point in business, he was heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy less than three years after his establishment. Watson is interested in this company mainly because of its products. He believes that clocks and watches and tabulators are tools of office automation and have broad business prospects.
At first, because Watson had been convicted, the directors only asked him to be a small manager, but the shrewd Watson not only wanted a decent salary, but also demanded a certain percentage of profits as a reward. The directors are eager to turn losses into profits. I agreed to Watson's demands one by one, but everyone looked down on him. Watson is isolated in the company, and Flint is the only one who supports him. From 19 14 to 65438+
The first thing Watson did after taking office was to borrow $50,000 from the bank. Used for product development. When the bank questioned the solvency of the company. He explained? "Debt can only explain the past. And this loan is for the future. " Watson's greatest sales promotion in his life moved bank officials, so he successfully got a loan. After the initial difficult period. The company's performance began to rise rapidly.
At the end of World War I, the demand for watchmakers surged. Almost every major insurance company and railway company has used Hollely tabulator made by Computer Tabulation and Recording Company. Soon, government departments also adopted it. Watsons timely introduced a new type of printing and tabulation combination machine, which was welcomed by customers. Orders are piling up and products are in short supply. 19 19 years, the company's sales reached130,000 dollars, and its profit also rose to 2 10/0,000 dollars. 1924 In February, Watson, who had become the general manager of the company, decided to rename the company International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). That year, Watson just turned 50. Since then, he has erased the last trace related to anyone and started his last 32 years of integration with IBM.
In the early 1930s, IBM began to enter the typewriter industry, producing typewriters, punched cards, punching machines, sorting machines, accounting computers and other products, and introduced new products such as electric typewriters and alphabet tabulators. By the end of 1930s, IBM's sales increased to $39.5 million, and its profit reached $965.438 billion, exceeding the sum of the other four large companies of the same type and becoming the largest commercial machinery company in the United States.
At this time, thomas watson didn't know that the future world would be controlled by numbers, and the punching machine he produced was hinting at the trend of the future world. He doesn't know how important the computer produced by his company is and how it will change the world. Super salesmen admit that they don't like wine and girls, but just like "recruiting salesmen". In the 1930s, IBM's success depended on these salespeople specially trained by Watson.
After the war, the computer market began to rise, and IBM took the lead in capturing the computer market. Although Watson didn't go to college or have any technical background, his keen intuition was tempered by long-term market operation. Without Watson, there might be a completely different computer-a computing tool instead of technology. Therefore, he was called "the father of computers", and the real computer industry flourished in the hands of his descendants.
As early as 1933, IBM designed a high-speed calculator for Columbia University. In 1937, Dr. Aiken, a computer expert at Harvard University, suggested that Watson combine several machines to make a faster arithmetic unit. To this end, Watson allocated $500,000 to develop the world's first automatic sequence control computer, named "Mark 1" in six years. In 1946, IBM introduced the first electronic calculator, and in 1948, it also introduced a digital computer with some electronic devices and some motors. This machine is installed in IBM's headquarters in new york, and directly operates for visitors. IBM began to set foot in the field of electronic computers, but it can't be said that IBM has really risen in electronic technology and computer industry technology.
At that time, Remington-Rand Company was well-known in the industry and was founded by two professional researchers. 1946, they successfully manufactured the world's first electronic computer, named "Enyak", which was much faster than IBM. Faced with such a strong competitor, is IBM an electronic computer with unpredictable development prospects, or will it continue to operate a punch card computer with considerable profits? There is a heated debate within IBM. The school headed by old Watson believes that although computers can solve all important scientific calculation problems, they are expensive and few people are willing to invest in such machines. Moreover, the future of computers is very slim, and their uses are not very wide. Old Watson's son Thomas Jr. disagreed. He is convinced that there will be a huge market for computers at some point, and the father and son often argue about it.
At this time, the market had feedback: the punching counter was seriously unsalable. Facing the reality, Watson realized that the era of advanced electronic computers had arrived, and it was time for him to step aside. 1949, the president of IBM officially appointed his son Watson Jr as executive vice president, letting young people go to new industries.
1956, Watson, who had just completed the handover of power, died of a heart attack. And 1955 was the most perfect year in his life, and the company's income was $700 million, almost six times that of 1946 after the war. After entering the 1980s, IBM became the largest industrial company in the world.