New locations in Bucharest,
Romania, Buffalo, New York,
and Leicester, UK, aim to help
clients explore opportunities in generative AI, hybrid cloud and
other Microsoft technologies to transform their business
ARMONK, N.Y., Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IBM (NYSE:
IBM) and Microsoft announced the official opening of three new
IBM-Microsoft Experience Zones within IBM's Client Innovation
Centers. These Experience Zones are designed to help global clients
across industries, such as financial services, government,
healthcare, industrial, manufacturing and consumer packed goods
(CPG), find new ways to derive value from generative AI, hybrid
cloud and other Microsoft products and technologies.
In addition to the inaugural IBM-Microsoft Experience Zone in
Bangalore, India, which opened in
April 2024, the three new Experience
Zones are strategically located in geographic locations that expand
IBM's reach and ability to engage with clients to take full
advantage of Microsoft's technologies to explore how to propel
their business forward and innovate on potential opportunities. The
new Experience Zones are located in: Bucharest, Romania; Buffalo, New York; and, Leicester, United Kingdom.
"The IBM-Microsoft Experience Zones will give clients and
prospects an opportunity to explore potential solutions that
leverage the strengths of both organizations," said Brian Wood, Research Director, Global IT
Services and Systems Integration Services at IDC. "The combined
tools and platforms for data and AI show synergy in many
environments and business processes."
The IBM-Microsoft Experience Zones
Utilizing the Experience Zones, IBM's global clients will have
access to Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Azure, Azure
Open AI Service, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Dynamics and more, by
using dedicated technology stations to explore and co-create
generative AI solutions that span internal and external business
functions. Clients can also experiment with select IBM technologies
that run on Microsoft Azure, including IBM Maximo Application
Suite.
"Our IBM consultants understand the challenges today's
businesses face in adapting to the cloud and how AI can help them
drive successful business outcomes," said Chris McGuire, Vice President and General
Manager for the Global Microsoft Strategic Partnership at IBM.
"Before clients begin their cloud transformation journey, these
Experience Zones can provide opportunities for hands-on access and
ideation with IBM and Microsoft experts to identify those
challenges and help clients develop technology solutions to create
value and solve their most pressing business needs."
At the Experience Zone in Bangalore, CIOs and their teams have explored
solutions around cloud modernization, Microsoft Azure and custom
copilots. Industry clients such as manufacturing, gas and oil, and
CPG have shown an interest in capabilities with augmented reality
(AR) and virtual reality (VR), including solutions like Microsoft's
Hololens and Azure Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge.
While onsite, IBM experts can work with clients to identify and
solve their unique business challenges using cloud and generative
AI solutions that can help them accelerate their business
transformation and realize increased return on investment. For
example, a financial services client could explore how Microsoft
Copilot and its ability to create AI-based solutions could help cut
down on the time to find documentation and review loan applications
for approval. Or a client in the healthcare industry could assess
ways to use various Microsoft Azure solutions to provide cloud
computing for business-critical applications, such as cross-clinic
access to patient files while also securing patient health
information. In addition, the Experience Zones provide clients with
an opportunity to up-level their employees' skill sets by
showcasing next-generation technologies and industry-specific case
studies to provide the resources to help enterprises harness
generative AI to solve the complexities of competitive business
environments.
"IBM's inaugural Microsoft Experience Zone has empowered
customers to harness the full potential of the Microsoft Cloud,
generative AI, and Copilot, to enable business transformation, and
we are thrilled that IBM is launching three additional
IBM-Microsoft Experience Zones," said Dinis
Couto, GM, GSI Commercial Partners, at Microsoft. "Our
partnership with IBM to establish three new Experience Zones will
enable even more customers to create groundbreaking and
transformative AI-powered services and solutions."
Microsoft as a Strategic Partner
IBM Consulting's continued investment and work with Microsoft
helps our clients bring cloud and generative AI solutions to market
through the expertise and guidance of IBM's dedicated practice of
Microsoft practitioners globally. Today, IBM consultants have more
than 46,000 Microsoft certifications and aim to add 10,000
generative AI certifications by the end of 2024. To-date, IBM
consultants have successfully delivered thousands of Microsoft
projects for clients, and the new Experience Zones add another
opportunity for global clients to engage and discuss their business
needs onsite where they can use IBM's expertise to develop and
deliver innovative solutions that will enable them to transform
their business so they can take full advantage of AI.
As another example of IBM's partnership with Microsoft, during
the recent IBM-Microsoft Copilot Hackathon, 250 client teams and
more than 800 participants worked with experts from IBM, Neudesic,
Bluetab and Microsoft to explore and co-create AI-based solutions
to improve productivity, unlock creativity and streamline business
processes. Beyond developing solutions on Microsoft Copilot, the
teams utilized IBM Consulting's Copilot Runway offering, announced
in May, which allows enterprises to create and deploy customized,
tailored copilots to help enhance business efficiencies that can
impact the bottom line. From more than 150 submissions, the
hackathon's winning prototype solutions addressed challenges
including enhancing customer engagement and enablement to creating
the ability to accelerate business decision-making.
With these three new Experience Zones, and client-focused
engagements like the hackathon, IBM continues to highlight its
commitment to – and momentum with – Microsoft as a strategic
partner to deliver joint solutions for clients globally to unlock
our "better together" philosophy and harness the full potential of
generative AI and the hybrid cloud. With continued client interest
and demand for Microsoft technologies, and to provide even greater
access for clients globally, IBM will evaluate expanding the
Experience Zones to additional global Client Innovation Centers in
the future. Learn more about IBM's collaboration with Microsoft,
here.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and
consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries
capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business
processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their
industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in
critical infrastructure areas such as financial services,
telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud
platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital
transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's
breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing,
industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and
flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's
long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility,
inclusivity and service.
Visit www.ibm.com/ for more information.
IBM contact:
Joel Rushing
Joel.Rushing@ibm.com
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