IBM is extending its collaboration with Microsoft to help clients accelerate the deployment of generative AI, one of the biggest business trends of 2023. The partnership aims to provide the necessary expertise and technology to effectively innovate business processes and expand generative AI.
Generative AI has been earmarked as a game-changer for organizations worldwide, but its complexity poses a challenge for many. Despite over 60% of organizations feeling underprepared for AI, it’s projected that AI could spur a 16% growth in global annual revenue, revolutionizing multiple industries.
The focus of this partnership is to assist clients in implementing and scaling Azure OpenAI Service, a fully managed AI service available on Azure Marketplace. This service allows developers and data scientists to utilize powerful large language models (LLMs), including their GPT and Codex series.
IBM Consulting will also offer access to its team of experts, which includes 21,000 data, AI, and experience consultants. These specialists can help businesses implement generative AI models to advance their transformation and define an adoption strategy with specific, value-add use cases.
Among these use, cases are automating sourcing and procurement processes for new business supply chain insights and summarizing financial reports. The partnership will also target healthcare processes, offering a solution that can automatically analyze complex medical records to aid clinicians, reducing administrative burdens and improving the clinician experience.
This collaboration builds on IBM and Microsoft’s recent momentum to transform businesses. IBM Consulting, which has a dedicated global practice focused on Azure Data and AI, has trained its consultants extensively, with over 40,000 Azure certifications.
Following the acquisition of Neudesic, a company specializing in Microsoft Azure, IBM Consulting now brings additional expertise and capabilities to Microsoft clients. IBM recently announced its Centre of Excellence for generative AI, housing more than 1,000 consultants with specialized generative AI expertise ready to accelerate business transformations with enterprise-grade AI, including technology from Microsoft, IBM, and other ecosystem partners.
Francesco Brenna, Global VP & Senior Partner of Microsoft Practice at IBM Consulting, emphasized the importance of responsibly adopting and integrating multi-model generative AI solutions. He said, “Our work with Microsoft is another example of IBM’s open ecosystem model designed to bring value to clients while helping them responsibly build and scale generative AI across their businesses.”
Dinis Couto, GM of Global Partner Solutions at Microsoft, echoed the sentiment, highlighting how partners like IBM are critical to enabling customers’ successful use of generative AI to advance business transformation.
This powerhouse partnership between IBM and Microsoft marks a significant step forward in the journey toward widespread adoption and scaling of generative AI. With their combined expertise and commitment to responsible AI development, the future of generative AI looks promising indeed.
