The IBM Service Corps launched in 2008 as part of IBM’s Global Citizen’s Portfolio: a collection of policy and program initiatives to help IBMers become more effective professionals and global citizens. Modeled in part on the Peace Corps, the IBM Service Corps aims to impart skills and expertise to enable employees to succeed as leaders on a global stage — as well as gain experience working with various communities on economic development. They tackle issues ranging from entrepreneurship, transportation and education to government services, healthcare and disaster recovery.
In the program’s first year, IBM sent a small team to Ghana to explore ways for local businesses to engage with communities, markets and each other. This included providing training and technology solutions to help a network of Ghanaian enterprises scale their businesses. Soon after, teams were dispatched to the Philippines, Romania, Tanzania and Vietnam. The structure of the engagements has remained more or less consistent regardless of location. Teams spend three months researching a project and preparing for their time in the field; a month on site, working directly with the community; and two months in post-service work back at IBM, in order to share experiences with peers and monitor project development from afar.
In 2010, IBM extended the Corps’ reach through its Executive Service Corps (ESC) program, which deployed executives on more advanced engagements, such as the one in Katowice. That same year, IBM sent teams of ESC-level IBMers to 100 cities in both emerging and mature markets, as part of the newly introduced Smarter Cities initiative. By 2013, more than 2,400 IBMers had served with the Corps, participating in 850 projects with an estimated global impact on 140,000 individuals.
By then, IBM had reached the top of The Civic 50 list, a ranking of America’s most community-minded businesses, published by Businessweek. IBM Service Corps had also become a model for companies wishing to build their own programs. Dow Corning, FedEx, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Novartis all launched similar initiatives. As Peter Scher, an executive vice president at JPMorgan, remarked, “IBM has been a leader in demonstrating the impact that the private sector can [have] in contributing talent and expertise to our communities.”