Driving Eastern European Business Forward: How IBM Client Engineering Delivers Rapid Industry Solutions

Share this post:

One of the main challenges businesses are facing today – operating in financial services, government, telecommunications or other industry – is the need for personalized solutions that are

• tailored to their specific industry needs,
• fast to implement and
• outcome-focused.

The time has come for a different approach that leverages the latest open technologies in Hybrid Cloud and AI combined with agile methods which help companies test market fit quickly and expand solutions using real-time data. That is what IBM Client Engineering, as a unique client co-creation experience model, is set to do for businesses.

A team of IBM engineers and developers work side-by-side with clients and IBM business partners to identify specific pain points and solve critical business and technical challenges from the users’ perspective. Finally, the team designs a solution that is tailored to each client’s unique needs – in most of the cases, between six to eight weeks.

Client in the driver’s seat

One of the key benefits of the IBM Client Engineering model is the ability for customers to directly engage with the technology and fully explore its potential without having to make a significant financial investment upfront.

By being in the driver’s seat, directly engaged in solution development, interacting with the technology physically, and testing it before any dollar is on the table, clients and business partners can be confident that their IT solutions are truly customized to their needs.

Whether in a final output of a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), Proof of Value (POV), Proof of Technology (POT) or other – clients and partners can test whether specific technology is a viable solution and how it can be applied in their real environment.

Solving challenges in industries: 3 stories from the field

Clients and IBM business partners in Eastern Europe are already partnering with the IBM Client Engineering team in the region to solve their industry challenges, meet regulatory requirements and drive business growth:

• KEVR, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) in Bulgaria, is responsible for the regulation and transparency of the Bulgarian wholesale energy market, including analyzing, reporting, and detecting market manipulations in the energy sector. To comply with REMIT*, the EWRC reports collected data to the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), which oversees the European Union’s wholesale electricity market. Recently, EWRC worked with IBM Client Engineering to co-create a Minimum Viable Product(subject to testing) in three months for detecting and reducing market manipulators before ACER’s involvement. The solution enables EWRC to visualize trends in the energy market and obtain insights into fraudulent activities, using automated algorithms to flag potential manipulations.
  

• ZPIZ, the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia, is the sole provider and implementer of Slovenian obligatory pension and disability insurance. They insure more than one million insured persons and pay benefits to their beneficiaries in more than 50 countries over the world. ZPIZ has one of the most advanced business process-driven environments in the public sector, their business is entirely digitized. As part of their continuous search for technology improvements and processes optimization, they decided to check the value of the IBM Process Mining solution. Partnering with IBM, several experts from ZPIZ worked hands-on with the IBM Client Engineering team and technical sales to successfully ran a Proof for Value for IBM Process Mining based on a selected business process challenge from the ZPIZ’s environment. PoV has resulted in a successful solution evaluation, bringing valuable information for future optimization and improvements to the process.

• For retail companies, it is critical to offer the products on a diverse set of channels and to manage it’s supply chain effectively through real-time data tracking in a centralized database. Bilumina, an IBM business partner, built their retail Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution on top of IBM Db2. They recently collaborated with IBM Technical Sales and Client Engineering teams, moving their solution to the IBM Cloud. In tight collaboration with Bilumina and through MVP approach, the IBM team proved the Bilumina’s ERP solution works and performs well in IBM Cloud and can be offered to their end-clients in the cloud. This gives clients more options in terms of deploying and consuming the solution anywhere in the world. Recently – using the ERP solution – a client of Bilumina, AKIDS, improved automation and control over supply chain, achieved leaner stock and optimized business processes. The solution also enables AKIDS to provide more personalized offers to their customers, which equates in bigger sales and increased customer loyalty.

A newly established IBM Client Engineering team in Eastern Europe is dedicated specifically to clients (existing or new) and IBM business partners in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. The team is helping companies digitally transform with Hybrid Cloud, AI, Automation, Sustainability or Security technologies across industries, including those clients in some of the most highly-regulated industries.

Delivering solution in weeks

In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies need to be able to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer demands. IBM Client Engineering is helping businesses address this challenge by providing rapid prototyping capabilities that allow clients to test their solutions before they are fully developed. This approach enables businesses to quickly iterate on solutions, making adjustments and improvements as needed to ensure they are meeting their business needs. The final output, such as assets or architecture of the MVP, is designed in a way to be implemented instantly after the MVP completion, which speeds up the implementation of the solution and cuts go-to-market time significantly.

Outcome-focused solutions

Finally, businesses are seeking outcome-focused solutions. They want solutions that deliver real, tangible results. By working closely with clients to identify their specific business objectives, IBM can develop solutions that are designed to meet those objectives. Within the Client Engineering model, IBM is co-creating with the client and partner – we are there with them each step of the way. After workshops to understand the context of the client’s challenge, we co-develop the best possible solution, where IBM experts are working closely with the experts from the customer’s side thru the entire process.

Conclusion

The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) CIOs believe that Cloud, AI, IoT, automation and 5G are the primary technologies that will deliver the results they need in the next 2-3 years*.  As companies decide about future IT investments in support of their strategic goals, IBM Client Engineering is helping them to change their approach to IT solutions and solve industry challenges. By providing a unique customer co-creation experience that is focused on personalization, speed, and outcome-focused solutions, we are helping businesses in Eastern Europe address industry challenges and stay ahead of the curve.

*Source: 2021 IBM CIO STUDY

About IBM Client Engineering
IBM Client Engineering brings together teams of designers, solution architects, data scientists, cloud engineers, security experts, business transformation consultants and more who work side-by-side with business partners and clients on the agile co-creation of IBM Technology and Consulting solutions for their clients – all within weeks. The model is focused on providing an enhanced client experience that is focused on co-creation, technical eminence, and speed. Teams use technologies such as Cloud, Data, Automation and Security to deliver innovative solutions that address business use cases and challenges in industries such as government, financial services, telecommunications and travel and transportation, among others.
More: https://www.ibm.com/client-engineering