Building certainty into banking services
A customer-focused approach to resilience Every time a data breach hits the headlines, banks and financial services firms echo their commitment to resilience. But the challenge isn’t going anywhere soon: the likelihood and cost of a data breach is growing year-on-year, with financial services a more likely target than any other industry. The world is […]
Overcoming the Cloud Security Compliance Conundrum
The growing demand for increased business agility and cost reductions in relation to IT infrastructure and applications is not a new agenda item for C-level executives. It has, however, remained a priority topic in 2018 and will continue to do so in 2019 and beyond. Compliance with various regulations and cloud security requirements has expanded […]
Modernising government services
The UK government knows that delivering better results for all citizens is essential. That’s why government departments are constantly striving to modernise services. However, there are many major challenges to overcome such as programme silos, regulatory burdens and cyber security risks not to mention the cost of maintaining aging IT systems. Of course, cloud technologies […]
The golden rule of automation
It’s easy to assume that automation is all about process. But businesses often take a somewhat over-simplified view of how it can bring about improved performance – particularly in the longer term. There are, of course, huge benefits to be gained from holistically addressing organisation-wide processes and identifying repetitive, manual tasks that could be undertaken […]
Productising IT Services
It’s great to see Agile ways of working taking such a firm hold in our collective psyche. I’m a big believer, having recently found a few curious (and curiously effectively) ways to use them. Agile’s principles can be applied more broadly than most people recognise, and compliment the dominant “digital” agenda which implicitly drives much […]
Optimizing the performance of your blockchain
Time flies! The Think 2019 conference is almost here! With my colleague Jorge, I will be in San Francisco presenting our experience of running performance testing on the IBM Blockchain Platform. Through customer engagements and internal projects, we have gained some insight that we are looking forward to sharing. People can be intimidated by the […]
Black Friday and beyond – How omnichannel strategies deliver industry-leading growth rates
For retailers, heads of e-commerce, and any executive focused on transformation in the B2C and B2B worlds, Black Friday delivers illuminating insights. Here’s the stat that caught my eye: seven retailers outperformed Amazon in year-on-year growth during the Black Friday week. Given what we know about Amazon, this seems incredible. In Europe we saw some […]
The next level of collaboration between IBM and Vodafone
I’m excited to share the next level of our two decades of collaboration between IBM and Vodafone today, which accelerates our strategy to drive consistent and open Cloud management. Our two companies have entered a new strategic commercial agreement to provide clients with the open, flexible technologies they need to integrate multiple clouds. We’ve also […]
The Rise of Virtual Assistants: Lessons on Scale and Bias for Your AI Projects
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to remain a red-hot growth area. Research from the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that by 2022, global spending on AI projects will reach $77.6 billion: nearly three times the forecast for 2018. But as telco, media and entertainment companies press ahead with AI initiatives, significant challenges lie ahead. As […]
From hype to help – Making AI real for supply chain professionals
At this point, supply chain professionals might be getting a bit impatient with AI. You’ve likely heard how this technology is poised to revolutionise the supply chain. But as a supply chain professional, you’re not working in R&D; you’re responsible for P&L. The obvious question is: what’s in it for me and my bottom-line performance? […]
How to be a conversational bank – Seven steps to smarter customer service
In my previous blog post I discussed the emergence of conversational banking – the use of highly-capable virtual agents, underpinned by customer data and cleverly-applied AI, to make digital banking personal. So how do you get started – and what are the key things to focus on? Technology is already enabling conversational banking. Platforms such […]
Business Platforms: Rethinking your Experience
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (Maya Angelou) A few years ago I was having breakfast on a small island in the Grenadines. One of the staff expressed his concern at the mosquito bites on my […]
Customer Experience vs Customer Engagement
With consumers wanting to experience media and content in new ways, Telco and Media & Entertainment companies must find new means to engage with existing and potential customers with the goal of developing new markets, new revenue streams and new business efficiencies. Earlier this year, I joined George Bevir, Editor, IBC365, to discuss the ever-growing trade-off of […]
Application Modernisation – Rewrite what’s necessary, but don’t necessarily rewrite!
I’m in a very fortunate position to speak to lots of customers from various industries, across the UK, lately the conversations have been about application modernisation and the choices available to businesses. In this first in a series of blogs I want to share the options that IBM brings to organisations who are embarking on […]
The moment is now: how HR will lead business growth in the AI era
Welcome to our HR Modernization Playbook: Tomorrow’s people – Why HR matters more than ever in the age of artificial intelligence. Digital transformation is happening faster than ever. The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation will redefine jobs, enhance employee productivity and accelerate workforce development. In fact, skills and culture – not technology – […]