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Accelerating into a new era for IBM UK and Ireland

Investing in our people, our partners and our locations

We have never lived in such an extraordinary age with monumental changes taking place over the last year. The extent of uncertainty and change everyone has dealt with in all aspects of their lives throughout the pandemic is unparalleled globally. I am so proud and continue to be inspired by how IBMers in the UK and Ireland have come together to support each other, our business, and our clients.

As we head towards a new post-pandemic era, I am pleased to share more on how we are investing in our people, our partners and our locations, reimagining our physical workspaces and adapting to a new hybrid way of working across the UK and Ireland.

The UK and Ireland remain two of the most important markets for IBM. We have a rich tradition and history of innovation and our teams have contributed to projects of significant societal and national impact. Today we are experiencing an explosion of digital innovation. The potential of technologies such as hybrid cloud, AI, Blockchain, and Quantum have created a powerful opportunity to empower people to do good and help make our world work better.

In this era of rapid reinvention, I know that every IBMer in the UK and Ireland is keen to make a mark and help our clients and society solve some of the greatest challenges in a post pandemic world.

Reimagining the workplace – including a new home in London

To help IBMers maximise this opportunity, we need the right environment for all of us to thrive.

Like all companies we continue to follow Government guidance in relation to reopening our locations and when our people return, we will take a hybrid approach that combines the best of how we worked pre-pandemic with the best of the virtual work completed in the past year. We will continue to offer flexibility and choice, blending home and office working.

Whilst many have been away, we have continued to improve several of our locations to make them ready to welcome teams back. IBMers will return to work environments that, as well as being safe, are flexible, sustainable spaces that drive innovation, foster greater teaming and celebrate diversity to support our people, our clients and our partners. We asked how our people wanted to work, and we listened.

In London we will be entering an exciting new era by relocating our home along the Thames, underlining our commitment to the city, our people, clients and partners. We will be moving into 20 York Road alongside Shell in a phased relocation later this year.

This new physical workplace is being explicitly designed to be open, flexible and created for collaboration, experimentation and to inspire. When teams are in the office they will work together, innovating and co-creating ideas, defining outcomes and determining the best path to get there. Not limited to a desk, if people want to grab a hub, a break-out space, a private room or space on the outdoor terrace, they can. Agile and Design Thinking will continue to be foundational to how we work—providing a blueprint for inclusive teaming aimed at supporting every IBMer to achieve their greatest potential.

Key to this will be digital experiences that make it easier for IBMers to book rooms, order food, register guests, as well as engage with those working remotely as though they are there. Sustainability and wellness are key factors in the design of this space too; the office will be a destination for work, rest and play.

Investing in People and Partners

To help our people thrive, we are committed to providing development opportunities to help IBMers succeed in their careers through open, two-way transparent dialogues. We are also recruiting people with specific industry-leading deep technology skills to join teams in our Services business, Technology Unit, IBM Garage and more. In the UK and Ireland we currently have openings for Designers, Architects, Developers, Data Scientists, Business Strategists and Thought Leaders on Cloud and AI.

To work hand in hand with our workforce we are elevating the role of our ecosystem partners. Globally we are adding hundreds of new partnerships with global system integrators, independent software vendors and major third-party software partners. Together we will deliver more value to clients.

Looking to the future

As we accelerate through the next year and beyond, I am excited to be working alongside our teams across the UK and Ireland as we enter this new era and continue to push the boundaries of technology every day. Our investments in workplace, skills development for IBMers, hiring of new capability and our ecosystem are essential parts of our transformation as IBM continues to help clients to accelerate their digital transformations, return to work smarter, and drive better outcomes for business.