North Carolina residents may be interested in the lawsuit Bridgestone recently filed against IBM. The tire company hired IBM to design and implement a new $75 million computer system to handle order processing and fulfillment. However, Bridgestone claims that the system performed so badly that it threw the company into chaos, and it is seeking $600 million in damages.
IBM responded to the business litigation with a statement that detailed its interaction with the Bridgestone system. The technology company said that it had been brought into fix the system after several IT companies had been previously hired and fired from the project. IBM also claimed that Bridgestone lacked leadership and changed chief information officers six times over the two year span of the system’s design. IBM said it warned Bridgestone about flaws in the system and recommended delaying its launch. When Bridgestone insisted on implementation, IBM said it asked the tire company to sign a form releasing IBM from liability for the system’s performance.
Although a suit of this magnitude is unusual, conflicts over large-scale enterprise software projects aren’t rare. According to a prominent consulting firm, nearly half of these types of projects get derailed at some point. IBM said it would vigorously defend itself and its work in the lawsuit. When asked for further comment, a Bridgestone representative said the lawsuit speaks for itself.
It’s not unusual for customers and vendors to disagree over the quality of a delivered project. This especially true if the expectations and the parameters of the project weren’t agreed on prior to its start. An attorney could help a business develop the appropriate documentation to prevent this type of disagreement.
Source: Business Insider , “IBM Rips Into Bridgestone Over $600 Million Lawsuit “, Julie Bort, November 20, 2013