After decades of specializing in hardware and on-premise servers, IBM is emphasizing its new-wave agency IBM Interactive Experience (IBM iX), a mashup of design, systems integration, analytics and the Internet of Things, with billings in the billions.

IBM iX made three digital, design and brand agency acquisitions in a single week this winter when it snapped up Resource/Ammirati, Ecx.io and Aperto.

Then it paid about $200 million for digital consultancy and Salesforce specialist Bluewolf.

Many industry insiders wondered why IBM would acquire a competitor’s key consulting partner.

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