IBM Think: AI, Hybrid Cloud Tech Advances You Might Have Missed

IBM is ramping up its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and hybrid cloud. Together, these technologies will fuel the future, Big Blue believes. As such, it’s pouring $1 billion into initiatives for its PartnerWorld members.

But there’s more. Earlier this week, at its annual Think conference (held digitally because of COVID-19), IBM unveiled several new platforms. Each one emphasizes AI and/or hybrid cloud.

There’s good reason for that.

New market research commissioned by IBM shows that almost one-third of IT professionals say their business now uses AI. Almost half (43%) say their company has accelerated AI rollouts because of the pandemic. In other words, organizations’ needs are changing quickly and AI helps by automating workflows, facilitating communication and interaction with customers, and even managing network security.

Cloud, of course, remains core to provisioning and using AI. And IBM sees hybrid cloud as the model that will best support those efforts. The company’s own Institute for Business Value recently published a report that projects hybrid cloud adoption to grow by 47% over the next three years. On average, one organization will use six hybrid clouds, according to the study. Those findings mesh with others conducted by independent analyst firms. For example, McKinsey & Co. predicts hybrid cloud poses a $1.2 trillion opportunity by 2022.

COVID-19 stands out as the impetus for more widespread AI and hybrid cloud adoption. With that in mind, click through the slideshow above to read about the tech advancements IBM debuted this week at Think. You may have missed them in all the excitement surrounding the PartnerWorld announcements.