Think 2019: Companies entering 'chapter 2' of AI adoption, says IBM CEO

Ciarán Daly

February 14, 2019

2 Min Read

SAN FRANCISCO - In her annual keynote at Think 2019, IBM's CEO, President, and Chairman, Ginni Rometty, took a wide-lens look at the digital transformation journey many businesses and enterprises are undergoing today. Rometty explored how businesses have successfully experimented with AI and working with the cloud, preparing them for 'Chapter 2': the move from experimentation to true transformation.

Along with hybrid cloud and 'responsible stewardship', digital and AI are critical to this next step as enabling technologies for scaling. Businesses, Rometty argued, are pursuing two distinct approaches to digital transformation: the 'outside-in' approach is largely "driven by the market and demand for new digital services", an inside-out approach is about modernizing core systems and "architecting your business for change".

Rometty then went on to say that "there can't be AI without IA" (information architecture), claiming that companies need a business platform to connect all of their digital services and manage the lifecycle of their AI apps.

From here, Rometty announced that IBM is launching WATSON ANYWHERE. With businesses 20% of the way through their cloud journey, Rometty argued that it is now critical that they move mission-critical apps to the cloud. Consequently, the company's flagship AI platform will be available anywhere on the cloud for businesses to use and deploy, including Watson Assistant and Watson OpenScale. It can be run in any environment - on-premises, or on any private, public, or hybrid-multicloud - enabling businesses to infuse AI into their apps anywhere.

Guest speakers on Rometty's keynote included John Donovan, CEO of AT&T; Ted Chung, CEO of Hyundai Card; Bernard Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente; Greg Kalinsky, EVP and CIO of Geico; and Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO of Red Hat.

Watch Ginni Rometty's full keynote here

IBM Think 2019 runs from February 12-15 - stay tuned for more key takeaways on AI Business

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