IBM is splitting, placing the boring parts where it actually runs people’s business in a new company and keeping all the buzzwords in the company that will still be called IBM. Meanwhile, Oracle is trying to regain its mojo by buying a cool video app used by teenagers. Neither is likely to work.
You should not look to large companies for innovation. If they have survived and grown for decades, they are likely to have an unparalleled ability to execute, and it makes sense to tap them for running the steady part of your business. But innovation has to come from small, new organizations that have not assimilated a big-corporation culture. Running innovation centers inside the organization is hard – getting innovation from small outside companies is much easier.