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SUPPLEMENT | July 2018 Let’s put smart to work
Sometimes sunlight is more powerful after dark. Today, energy companies work with IBM Services to intelligently distribute solar and wind power to a network of batteries. This helps balance the grid and enables renewable energy to be stored when demand is low and available during hours when it’s high. ibm.com/smart IBM and its logo, ibm.com and Let’s put smart to work are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. See current list at ibm.com/trademark. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. ©International Business Machines Corp. 2018. P32899
Credits
PUBLISHER Jovan Regasek
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Ranka Jovanovic
EDITOR Simon Foulds
Editor’s
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Adrian Hinchcliffe
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tracy Burrows,
James Francis,
note
Dave Glazier,
Adam Oxford,
Tamsin Oxford,
Rodney Weidemann
COPY EDITOR Patricia Czakan
DESIGN Infiltrate Media
PHOTOGRAPHY Karolina Komendera How do you differentiate your security elements are in place, and
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Caryn Berman business from the competition? controlling how data is protected and
DIRECTOR: PRINT caryn@itweb.co.za You continue pushing the envelope, utilised.
MEDIA SPECIALIST Carmel Singh ensuring you have access to the future IBM believes there are three
carmel@itweb.co.za – today. critical pillars in doing business in the
SALES MANAGER Carrie-Ann Waldeck Disrupt or be disrupted is today’s future: cognitive, cloud and industry.
carrie@itweb.co.za
mantle. Do you sit back and wait Cognitive is the art of understanding
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Belinda Ndlovu for the next wave of technology, or data through new intelligent systems;
MANAGER belinda@itweb.co.za strive to take your business forward? cloud is the powerhouse where
PRODUCTION MANAGER Sindiso Khupe Companies cannot afford to sit many of these concepts are being
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Ontiretse Ngolwane back. They need to adopt the latest executed; and industry is the ultimate
DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT Nikola Djuricanin, technology, and move forward in beneficiary of any resulting services,
Ana Golijanin
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Contents IN SPECIAL
FOCUS THIS
MONTH
4 Let’s put smart
to work
As technology continues
to infiltrate all aspects of
life, what are the forces
driving the next wave of
technological evolution?
By Adam Oxford
11 Intrinsically
invested
When it comes to
contributing value to the
South African economy
and society, IBM has made
local focus a part of its
value chain.
By Tamsin Oxford
15 Inside every
industry
How is IBM transforming
companies, industries and
professions in a cognitive
era to provide specific,
tailored solutions?
By Dave Glazier
18 Knowledge is power
IBM Research is focused on
driving cutting-edge studies
24 Prevent, detect,
respond
When the cyber security
32 Technology meets
humanity
The new consolidated IBM
and investigations into question changed from ‘if Services portfolio brings expert
how technology can play a we get attacked’ to ’when’ consulting and advanced new
significant role in helping it was time to change tack. technologies for South Africa’s
to transform industries and It’s critical organisations can digital revolution.
society as a whole. respond to cyber threats By Tracy Burrows
By Rodney Weidemann intelligently and in real-time.
20 Innovate with the
By Tamsin Oxford
36 Differentiate your
business
intelligent and
secure
Transformation is a scary
28 Blockchain’s future
is now
Forget Bitcoin and the crypto
Building models that
support partner ecosystems,
build collaborative client
prospect, unless you partner market: the real value of experiences.
with a company that’s been blockchain is emerging in the By Tamsin Oxford
there many times before. enterprise space.
By James Francis By James Francis
38 Futureproof finance
The rate at which technology
22 Gaining a bigger
brain
Artificial intelligence
30 Re-imagining
infrastructure
Data has become the
is evolving may well leave
companies concerned that
they won’t obtain a proper
promises to augment the ultimate in strategic assets, return on their investments.
capabilities of the human but only if infrastructure is IBM Financing has the answer.
brain with unheard of geared to keep up and stay By Rodney Weidemann
ahead.
40
speeds and capacity.
By Rodney Weidemann By Tamsin Oxford At a glance
Fast facts.
By Simon Foulds
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 8
4 Inflection point
Hamilton Ratshefola,
Country GM, IBM
Let’s put
smart to work
As technology continues to infiltrate all aspects of life, what
are the forces driving the next wave of technological evolution?
J U LY 2 0 1 8 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUS
Inflection point 5
BY: Adam Oxford
PICTURE: Karolina Komedera
T
here are two underlying forces
driving the current wave of
disruption we are facing: namely
pervasive interconnectivity and
the explosion of data.
“15 years ago, people were talking
about infinite bandwidth,” says IBM
South Africa country general manager,
Hamilton Ratshefola. “The impact
of practically unlimited bandwidth is
playing out now. The fact that so many
devices and things are connected,
allows for the types of applications
that are arising. Industry analysts,
Frost & Sullivan estimates there will
be 34 billion connected devices in the
world by 2020.
“Now add the amount of both
structured and unstructured data being
created – 45 zettabytes by 2020. We
keep coming up with new orders of
magnitude for data volumes.”
The result according to Ratshefola is
two-fold: the traditional IT industry is
re-platforming and new technologies are
remaking the industry.
This change is not new, the last
300 years may have brought us four
industrial revolutions, but within
the world of IT there have been four
similarly ground-shifting eras of
computing technology that have defined
the way business works. Every decade
or so, the industry hits an inflection point
where enterprises have undergone rapid
periods of transformation based on
fundamental changes in the technology
architecture used and the impact of new
technologies. Today we’re standing at
the one of those points.
The last 50 years can be divided
into four distinct periods of dominant
business technology. These periods of
disruption and widespread adoption
have changed the way firms around the
world operate, bringing rapid advances
in productivity and IT capability – and
each time IBM has been at the forefront
of change, defining the way the next
generation of businesses will be run.
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 8
Inflection point 7
In the 1960s, there was the more reliant on emerging technologies automation AI is becoming the
revolutionary mainframe and the like AI to aggregate that information defining competitive edge.
origins of today’s datacentres: and filter the important messages from As much as AI is causing concern
centralised repositories of knowledge the noise.” about its impact on employment,
and computing power which enabled Ratshefola is bullish about the
businesses to make better decisions, Putting smart to work prospect for the new world it will
faster. By the 1980s, the desktop IBM’s strategy for moving past the herald. “At IBM, we prefer to think of AI
era was in full swing, driven by latest inflection point is based on as augmented intelligence, machines
‘IBM-compatible’ architectures that three core pillars Ratshefola explains, working with humans to achieve far
enabled mass adoption through and it’s the company’s ability to more than either could do alone. AI will
hardware standards. engage deeply in all three areas that liberate all of us from routine repetitive
With the birth of the World Wide gives him the confidence that IBM will tasks and allow us to focus on higher
Web in the early 1990s, IBM rapidly once again emerge as a leader. value activities. It will certainly impact
established itself as a platform leader The first pillar is cloud. Cloud is a jobs, but the efficiency gains will drive
in the emerging fields of e-commerce catalyst for innovation, speed and new higher productivity, leading to new
and IT services – IBM software still applications allowing enterprises to types of employment. The new types
underpins financial services and innovate instantly. IBM has 58 IBM of work will need new skills, what we
networks of ATMs, as well as online cloud datacentres around the globe and refer to as ‘new collar workers’, and AI
payment gateways and distribution more than 100 billion transactions a day will even help us all to gain new skills.
centres around the world. on IBM systems globally. IBM’s focus is IBM is investing in Africa to address the
By the mid-2000s, IBM was an early to deliver cloud services in a way that’s requirement for new skills through our
pioneer in the realm of Software as a
Service (SaaS), rapidly transforming
itself from a hardware vendor into one of
the world’s largest software companies
in systems software, showing leadership
in artificial intelligence (AI), machine
learning and enterprise cloud.
IBM is investing in Africa to address the requirement
for new skills through our Digital Nation Africa
A critical juncture
The IT industry is clearly at an inflection initiative and our local development centre.”
point. The next year or two will be Hamilton Ratshefola
critical for IT providers, as businesses
and institutions around the world will
be making key architectural decisions – tailored to enterprise customers, secure Digital Nation Africa initiative and our
about cloud, data and AI. The outcomes and ready for AI integration. local development centre.”
of these decisions will define business AI is the second area. AI systems The third area is industry application
and IT for many years to come. augment human intelligence, allowing based on deep industry insights with
The next phase of business faster and more informed decision- innovation and implementation in
computing, says Ratshefola, will be making. Watson is at the core of the context of industries. To bring
built on the foundations of pervasive IBM’s AI technology with one billion higher value to the market, IBM is
connectivity and the ability to process customers reached by Watson in providing solutions that are specific
vast amounts of data. Coping with 2017. Watson is now an increasingly and tailored to the challenges
the vast amount of data generated by common feature in many different enterprises face in their industry,
technologies such as the Internet of applications around the world. using the power of IBM’s advanced
Things (IoT) will require fundamentally AI, for example, has the potential AI computing capabilities built on
new approaches to business technology. to transform customer experience the IBM Cloud. The company is
“If you take something like cyber across different industries. In call working with companies ranging from
security, you can see that current centres, Watson is helping to deliver a retailers, banks and shippers to apply
approaches simply won’t work as IoT much more consistent experience to this technology to transform their
becomes more ubiquitous,” Ratshefola customers by either guiding agents to ecosystems. “Take the example of
says. “If you have millions of devices better answers or allowing customers telcos,” Ratshefola says, “the ability
connected to your network, there’s to get answers for themselves. In the to leverage data, analytics and AI
no way that human operators will be hotel industry, AI-powered assistants will allow telcos to offer tailor-made
able to deal with the number of alerts are improving customer experience packages based on past behaviour and
and logging information that will be by enabling guests to request room preferences, allowing for a much more
generated. Teams will become much services automatically. In industry personalised experience.”
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 8
8 Inflection point
bullish about blockchain. Partnerships
such as the one recently sealed between
IBM and shipping giant Maersk are
showing exactly how revolutionary
Cloud computing and artificial intelligence allow distributed ledgers will be. “Blockchain
really comes into its own with cross-
clients to look at how they can take their own data border trading and logistics,” Ratshelofa
and combine it with information from lots of other says. “Traceability and transparency are
important foundations for logistics and
sources to improve services and decision-making.” trade. IBM Blockchain optimises business
transactions and trading relationships
Hamilton Ratshefola
with robustly secure business networks
on blockchain – both at scale and
The world is a lab applied and far-reaching exploratory globally. This is exciting because it offers
In addition to the three pillars of its research into Africa’s grand challenges a shared ledger that’s updated and
strategy it’s important to note that and are committed to delivering validated in real-time with each network
IBM’s history is entrenched in research commercially-viable innovations that participant. It enables equal visibility
and innovation. With some 3 000 impact people’s lives. of activities and reveals where an asset
researchers and scientists spread Ratshefola says the adoption of is at any point in time, who owns it and
across 12 global labs on six continents, emerging technology is closer than many what condition it’s in. This, for example,
the world is its laboratory. With locations people imagine. Commercial applications will reduce waiting times at ports thanks
in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, for quantum computing will be obvious to better inventory management and
South Africa, IBM Research – Africa is in around five years, he says, and early notification of issues, and improve
IBM’s 12th global lab. The locations are blockchain is already being adopted in productivity and revenue at customs
the first on the continent for conducting key industries. Ratshelofa is particularly agencies too.”
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Growth in South Africa is going to platforms that it’s offering customers. opportunities, refine its capabilities
come from local businesses’ ability “We use the same tools to automate and extend into new markets.
to harness and understand the a lot of our own business,” Ratshefola “This is a critical component in
data that they and their customers says. “Our IT department is all based our approach to the market,” states
generate. Ground-breaking work in on self-service principles using IBM Ratshefola. “Our network is made up of
the area is being conducted, not least Watson Assist. Watson answers the companies both large and small, from
through the projects being run out of phone when there’s a problem with a those that sell IBM to those that use
the Research Lab in Tshimologong, laptop, for example, and either offers it, from the traditional reseller to the
Johannesburg. Local teams and assistance or schedules a repair.” freshly-made cloud company. But the
their enterprise partners are both The opportunity now, Ratshelofa questions remain: how will you deal with
benefiting and contributing to the says, is bringing the technology this change? And, are you ready to go
rapidly developing global strategy of that IBM has at its disposal, on the offensive? We believe that every
the company as a whole. combined with its deep knowledge one of our clients has great knowledge
of South Africa to create solutions in their company to build a platform and
Let’s build tomorrow together which will help local businesses create a whole different set of values for
“Cloud computing and artificial leapfrog international peers. whoever their client is.
intelligence allow clients to look at Differentiating your business “In this era of data, we constantly ask
how they can take their own data and from the competition requires – what’s your big bet? Our big bet is our
combine it with information from lots of innovation, acceleration and the clients. This is why we reinvented IBM.
other sources to improve services and right partnership. IBM understands We reinvented IBM for what we think will
decision-making,” says Ratshefola. that to excel, the organisation be in the hope that our clients are going
An important part of the strategy requires support, partnerships and to seize this moment. It will only be
is that IBM has already made many networks. It’s within these webs of once in a lifetime that you can get real,
changes in the way it works internally, collaboration and information sharing exponential and sustainable change in
based on the same technology and that the organisation can find new this kind of era.”
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IAL FOCU | IBM | JUNE 2018Commitment 11
Ziaad Suleman,
chief operating officer, IBM
Intrinsically
invested
When it comes to contributing value
to the South African economy and
society, IBM has made local focus a
part of its value chain.
BY: Tamsin Oxford community at large. The aim is to IBM has invested in a new online, free-
PICTURE: Karolina Komendera positively impact all stakeholders and to-all digital learning and enablement
the measurement of success lies in platform, Digital Nation Africa (D-NA).
substantive business value.” The mission is to help raise overall digital
I
Suleman leads the Special literacy, increase the number of skilled
n 1952, IBM entered the South Projects and Investments Unit, the developers able to tap into cognitive
African market with its inventive Transformation and Operations Unit as engines and enable entrepreneurs
technology and approach to well the Equity Equivalent Investment and would-be entrepreneurs to grow
people and community. Over the Programme. All of these are tailored businesses around the new solutions. “By
past six decades, IBM has been paying to the local environment, providing not virtue of attaining the relevant knowledge
attention to more than just its bottom only business value, but personal and and skills set achieved through D-NA,
line and technological advancement. professional development. the beneficiaries will open up access
Through an intrinsic social upliftment “IBM is geared towards delivering to a wider range of opportunities, and
strategy that develops entrepreneurs, the best services and products to our as a result, we will have sufficient skills
emerging SMME business partners and customers, collaboration partners and available to compliment the market
provides for skills enablement through our people. These special programmes needs,” he says.
various education initiatives, IBM has differentiate IBM in the market through “This investment allows many
focused on investing into the country innovative technology offerings and people to be conversant in emergent
and its people in ways that are both technology infrastructure platforms – technologies at no financial cost,” says
relevant and sustainable. the impact of which is amplified through Suleman. “It allows for the creation
“We believe we have a responsibility the Research Lab and the IBM Client of vital digital literacy skills that will
to South Africa and the ecosystem Centre.” translate into improved workforce
within that we operate,” says Ziaad Over the decades, IBM has been capabilities and better futures for both
Suleman, chief operating officer, driven by innovation and this is leading business and citizens.”
IBM. “Our investments are focused the push to enable digital competence, D-NA also provides an enablement
on meaningful outcomes, which are local innovation and ultimately support a platform to support innovators
positively impactful, progressive 21st century workforce in South Africa. and entrepreneurs to develop new
and sustainable. We’ve engaged and As part of this strategic drive to build intellectual property aimed at solving
continue collaborating with the ICT digital, cloud and cognitive IT skills, local, national and regional challenges.
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 812 Commitment
test, application development and partners. The centre is focused on
maintenance services, IBM South Africa using IBM technology to innovate,
has also invested in a local development generate ideas and test concepts
centre in Johannesburg. Its focus is to prior to production. From proof of
We believe we have ignite innovation and the integration of concepts, proof of technology, design
new technologies within existing and thinking workshops and enablement,
a responsibility to new ecosystems while consistently to Infrastructure as a Service and
South Africa and the enhancing people’s skills. awareness, the Client Centre takes
“The local development centre is the learnings from best practice and
ecosystem within which committed to setting up hybrid skills industry knowledge to the next level.
we operate.” such that the resource is able to add “We continuously examine how
value at customers and within IBM. we can align our value proposition
Ziaad Suleman
These skills provide a platform upon and create solutions that support our
which to build careers,” says Suleman. customers and their business,” says
By providing learning into some of “Once students have completed their Suleman. “At our client centre, we
the most impactful new technology training and are ready for customer collaborate with customers and partners
areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), engagement, we place them with to produce a proof of concept, and
blockchain, security, cognitive and AI, customers so they gain hands-on we have all the technology we need
data science and analytics, and cloud, training and skills development and to take ideas and solutions into new
the platform is designed to help develop through this we continue to strengthen and exciting spaces. Our overarching
much-needed technology skills. the ecosystem.” goal is to create an ecosystem where
IBM South Africa has a jewel in the all the beneficiaries, recipients and
Driving skills development heart of Sandton, namely a dedicated partners can leverage these ideas and
As part of the IBM skills drive client centre, to better serve and capabilities to differentiate and thrive
across Africa by providing high value collaborate with customers and using best-of-breed technology.”
JUNE 2018 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSCommitment 13 The B-BBEE commitment development and research. The business and research innovation. Part of the IBM South Africa is a Level 1 B-BBEE development aspect is unique in that it EEIP includes the creation of IBM’s 12th contributor and this includes a hefty caters for entrepreneurs at varying levels global research lab which focuses on R700 million Equity Equivalent of maturity: aspiring entrepreneurs for technology innovation, solving grand Investment Programme (EEIP) through those at the ideation phase; startups challenges, collaborating with emerging the DTI, that’s set to run for ten years looking to leverage a wide range of SMMEs and so much more. until 2025. The underlying premise support mechanisms such as incubation, “We’ve worked hard to provide of the EEIP focuses on substantive financing, coaching and mentoring, South African beneficiaries with value driven social upliftment through access to markets, and business process true enablement and we regard this education enablement by providing full support; and deep skills for medium to responsibility as an important aspect of bursaries to disadvantaged students in large enterprises looking to augment our local value proposition,” says IBM’s the field of computer science, business their enterprise with IBM technology Ziaad Suleman. IBM’s plan to transform and engage black-owned entities that struggle to take core of its commitment to the country doesn’t end there. IBM South Africa their businesses from survivalist or micro and this is reflected in the variety of promotes socio-economic development level, to a sustainable and profitable level. initiatives it has invested into. From its through various initiatives such as its Enterprise and supplier development procurement strategies to its enterprise Corporate Service Corps programme, programmes target local capacity and supplier development programmes Impact Grants, Kidsmart and Science. and skills enablement to enhance to its promotion of socio-economic Enterprise and supplier development, the beneficiaries value-add within development across a huge range of is also a vital element, that addresses transactions and the broader economy. initiatives, IBM is set on a path to deliver key challenges facing small and micro IBM has put value and relevance at the real value to South Africa.
Industry transformation 15
Craig Holmes,
VP: industry solutions
and business development
Inside every
industry
How is IBM transforming
companies, industries and
professions in a cognitive era to
provide specific, tailored solutions?
BY: Dave Glazier to optimise supply chains, improve Financial services is a great example
PICTURE: Karolina Komendera scheduling and embrace predictive of how IBM has harnessed powerful,
maintenance,” he says. leading-edge technology to inform new
“In utilities, it’s a similar scenario, strategies, new execution capabilities,
D
with a keen focus on predictive asset and new ways of thinking.
igital may be disrupting management, and data platforms that
organisations of every shape can ingest multiple feeds of real-time Focus on financial services
and size, but this disruption is data. We’re also exploring the potential of Financial services has traditionally been
happening in a different way drone technology to inspect faults along one of the biggest spenders when it
within each industry vertical. IBM’s deep power and water lines and improve the comes to enterprise technology; and in
vertical sector specialisation, combined management of these assets.” recent years many of those investments
with its leading-edge technology The public sector is an area ripe for have been channelled towards the goal
capabilities, present a power-packed technology opportunity, notes Holmes, of enhancing customer experience and
combination that transforms industries. with everything from connected sensors, accessibility.
Craig Holmes, VP: Industry Solutions to mobile services, to surveillance Ria Pinto, director: Global Markets, IBM
and Business Development, IBM Middle systems able to bring rich data to South Africa, says the focus has been
East and Africa, says, across industries, municipal leaders and reflect ‘the pulse of on surface-level interface design and
common themes like cloud-based the metros’. scrambling to beat the competition with
architectures and data-driven processes “Healthcare is another vertical in new innovations that offer great visual
and applications are coming to the which we’ve made significant strides, experience, but don’t really ‘move the
fore. However, within different sectors, harnessing big data technology to needle’ in terms of business results.
specialised technology capabilities are capture information that was previously “In many organisations, all of these
needed. “In capital-intensive industries, just stored anecdotally by individual efforts aren’t changing the business
such as logistics, shipping, capital doctors or clinicians. Now, we’re metrics, such as rationalising costs,
asset and infrastructure management, digitising procedural notes, images, reducing physical infrastructure,
we’re seeing tremendous application test results, lab findings and all kinds of reducing cost-to-serve, attracting new
for IoT platforms and instrumentation other datasets, pulling it into the Watson customers, and creating new revenue
combined with blockchain technology platform to inform other diagnoses streams,” Pinto says.
for smart contracts – allowing firms around the world.” The reason for this, she says, is that
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 816 Industry transformation
We believe that we’ll see
the rise of a host of new-
collar jobs as enterprise
adopts the technology and
responds to the change
in the organisation’s skills
needs and the demands of
their customers.” Craig Holmes
many of the core systems aren’t designed
with customer experience in mind. “The
focus should be to leverage the core
systems for the heavy lifting but deliver
business results by transforming and re-
architecting processes, eliminating hand-
Ria Pinto,
offs between people, and apply machine
director: Global Markets,
learning and artificial intelligence into the
IBM
processes and systems.”
JUNE 2018 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSIndustry transformation 17
Pinto cites key learnings from IBM’s most disgruntled,” she advises. “This In the area of artificial intelligence,
successful transformation programmes could be client onboarding, for instance, Holmes says that repetitive or physically
with major banks around the world, that and then deal with these specific user- exhausting tasks will increasingly be
could help South African banks and other journeys from end-to-end.” handed over to AI-powered robots, as
financial players with their challenges By incorporating automation, machine AI continues to work its way into almost
locally. She highlights the importance learning and new processes into these every area of the enterprise. “We believe
of enterprise architectures that make journeys, they can become best-practices that we’ll see the rise of a host of new-
data available in the right places in as the teams build their enterprise-wide collar jobs as enterprise adopts the
order to build intelligence into business transformation vision. technology and responds to the change
processes, and the need to always adopt in the organisation’s skills needs and the
a ‘multichannel mindset’ (and not focus The next era demands of their customers.”
merely on one banking channel). Holmes says the next era of IBM will be Ultimately though, it’s not just about
Considering the scale of major all about the limitless power of cognitive the technology. Holmes notes that
financial companies, and the breadth solutions, delivered via hyperscale cloud the most successful players are those
of their service offerings, how does (private, hybrid and public) platforms, to that are actively reshaping industry
one begin on a transformation journey? give clients the ultimate in flexibility. ecosystems, creating new platform-
Pinto advises clients to establish a He says there are some technologies based business models, forming new
unified enterprise transformation that will play a particularly important role, partnerships, embracing incubators
strategy and start by choosing a such as blockchain. By participating in and startups, and changing the way
customer journey that stretches across the cross-industry consortium known as they interact with customers and
the organisation. It’s important to the Hyperledger Project, IBM is playing a other stakeholders.
deliver results early by choosing ‘quick leading role in developing core blockchain “Technology certainly plays a vital
wins’ to show just what would be networks in the cloud, to provide trusted role in that, but it’s critically important to
possible at an enterprise level. transactions and eliminate friction in deploy new technologies with a broader
“Pick the areas where customers are value chains. enterprise transformation in mind.”
#VoiceFirst Digital Assistants, VoiceBots and ChatBots using
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | JU NE 2018
///sketch.dinosaur.hurry
© 2018 Ocular Technologies (Pty) Ltd www.ocu.cx | info@ocu.cx 0861 OCULAR18 Research
Knowledge
is power
IBM Research is focused on driving cutting-
edge studies and investigations into how
technology can play a significant role in
helping to transform industries and society as
a whole.
BY: Rodney Weidemann Market Solutions, is to invent things that two issues that are necessary for the
PICTURE: Karolina Komedera matter to the world and to make scientific long-term survival of any research
breakthroughs that transform industries entity. Diversity is a critical driver in
I
and society. research, because it ultimately enables
nnovation rarely occurs in “A key part of our mission is to you to obtain contrasting views and
isolation; brilliant new ideas tend foster local innovation, which means perspectives.
to occur far more frequently when working closely with universities, donor “At IBM Research, the work we do is
colleagues share a meal or a organisations, the government, non- designed to resonate with all cultures,
lab-to-lab video chat. This is why IBM governmental organisations and the creeds and races, and because of this,
Research places such a premium on local community. This is vital, since the we find our institution is very attractive to
encouraging and fostering a culture of solutions we create need to be designed scientists and developers. They want to
collegiality, interaction and collaboration to address local needs and meet local experience our unique environment, while
across disciplines. requirements,” he says. at the same time having the ability to
By developing such a cooperative Since the aim is to solve real-world tackle the big problems facing our world.”
environment, the organisation is able to problems, while at the same time
bring together a community of thinkers fostering local innovation, he continues, Taming the knowledge economy
whose focus is on addressing some of collaboration is crucial, but it’s not the Assefa says that at IBM Research, a major
the world’s most complex problems and only critical element. part of its focus is on the knowledge
challenging opportunities. IBM Research’s “Diversity is very important to us as economy and on the technologies that will
ultimate goal, says Dr Solomon Assefa, VP well, since diversity essentially means enable humanity to leverage this properly.
of IBM Research for Africa and Emerging new ideas and different approaches, As such, IBM is conducting pioneering
J U LY 2 0 1 8 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSResearch 19
While such technologies offer incredible
hope for the future, Assefa says the Developing skills locally
company’s Kenyan lab provides a real- IBM Research’s Dr Solomon Assefa
world example of how technology is says the organisation relies on a
currently being utilised to change lives for pipeline of talent to maintain its
the better. cutting-edge research. To achieve
this, there are several mechanisms
Beyond the laboratory in place.
“We recently deployed a retail platform “We insist on hiring local talent
for SMEs connecting small shopkeepers, and upskilling them, something
their suppliers and the financial that’s achieved by regularly bringing
institutions. By bringing these players interns into the lab to work on
together, we enable the SMEs to obtain exciting projects and proofs of
microfinance to purchase goods from the concept. We ensure that the lab is
suppliers that they can then sell,” he says. accessible to them and also provides
“The platform assists SMEs to mentorship to help them develop
determine the right prices to maximise their skills and knowledge in respect
their profit, while it offers the supplier a of the latest technologies,” he says.
better understanding of the distribution “We also expend a lot of effort
of and markets for their products. in getting our message out there,
Finally, it offers the financial institution via public lectures and seminars,
a clearer understanding of the through work we undertake with
individual SME’s circumstances, so the various universities and by providing
bank can determine how much to lend opportunities for students to interact
to the SME and also how that money is with our labs. Most crucially, we
being spent.” have over 3 000 scientists in our labs
In effect, he says, this platform is across the world, and we can make
about creating shared options for all. this whole network available to the
Solomon Assefa, Already it’s enabling huge numbers continent, as a means of helping to
VP: IBM Research for of SMEs in Kenya, and he says the drive learning and ultimately open up
Africa and Emerging opportunity exists for the solution to the knowledge economy to Africa as
Market Solutions help tens of millions of SMEs across the a whole.”
continent too.
“My future vision is for IBM Research
to continue hiring the best scientists,
researchers and developers, to ensure with issues like improved air quality and
research and has played a significant we have the capability to continue reductions in pollution. We see great
role in advancing the development of tackling Africa’s major challenges. I hope potential for the utilisation of algorithms
technologies like blockchain and AI. that in the next decade, we’ll have been and technology to assist us in taking
“The continued development of AI able to make significant contributions in better care of the environment and for
is significant, because the ability to multiple arenas. driving a true sustainable development
analyse and mine big data is becoming “This includes healthcare and agenda. Ultimately, the key to such future
increasingly critical. At the same time, encompasses not only the tackling of success lies in technology, and in using
if you look at how regional integration infectious diseases, but also the creation it properly to make the world a better
is increasing, it’s becoming ever more of better efficiencies in hospitals and place. The research that we undertake in
important to be able to apply technologies stronger regional integration. We also our labs is the foundation underpinning
like blockchain to things like trade anticipate making big strides in dealing all of this,” he concludes.
logistics, to make it better, faster and
more transparent.”
The same could also apply to
agriculture value chains. “After a harvest,
often a lot of the produce ends up spoiled
because it doesn’t get to the right place
at the right time. Adapting blockchain to The solutions we create need to be designed to
suit this environment could easily have a
major and positive impact on the logistics
address local needs and meet local requirements.”
Solomon Assefa
chain, significantly reducing such waste.”
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 820 Cloud
Innovate
with the
intelligent
and secure
Transformation is a scary
prospect, unless you partner
with a company that’s been there
many times before.
Maurice Blackwood,
director, IBM
J U LY 2 0 1 8 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSCloud 21
BY: James Francis typewriter era, we had successfully the cocoa plant by decoding its genes to
PICTURE: Karolina Komedera transitioned through those times to preserving classic movies.
where we are today in this data era. There are different levels of maturity
We’re defining ourselves as the company required to make transitions possible
T
that’s committed to cognitive solutions and IBM walks that journey with its
he world today is growing and cloud platforming. That, in essence, customers, from incumbents to cloud-
increasingly connected, is how we’re allocating our resources, born companies.
creating new possibilities and how we’re investing in new areas, like “Even ‘born in the cloud’ companies
opportunities around every blockchain, IoT, API calls, even cloud – how can they use these services and
corner. But, fundamentally, the entire datacentres across the world.” APIs? They don’t have to develop the
revolution is anchored to one vital This change isn’t a new step for IBM, services themselves. They can use these
resource. says Blackwood. “We didn’t get here APIs that will help them transform. So
“It all starts with data and that data is overnight. It’s been a very focused across the landscape, we work with
going to be the resource that commands strategy of delivering what we view as the partners in the ecosystem. We start
the most attention,” says Maurice hybrid cloud era. We’re really enabling with our developers; we have resources
Blackwood, director of IBM South Africa. companies to extend their current and development teams responsible
“This is a paradigm shift. It’s saying that investments into the new era of data, on- to help skill teams both in SMMEs and
data is going to make the foundation of premise as well as off-premise.” enterprises on how they can run in our
what we do. We build a level of analytics Putting clout behind that statement cloud,” says Blackwood.
around data to determine what the data are the numbers. IBM has 58 cloud Those partners range from established
is telling us. Then we ask, how do we datacentres in 19 countries across the vendors and services providers to the
infuse programming languages, machine globe. Over 4 000 startups use the new bloods defining the cloud era, from
learning, and all the concepts of deep IBM cloud, which runs over 100 billion Apple to Salesforce. This is strengthened
learning, with the data analytics, to get to transactions a day, encapsulating through global alliances with top
this era of cognitive computing, putting over 160 different services including integration partners. IBM’s ecosystem
things to work that we may not have had
access to in the past?”
The future’s three pillars
This is why IBM has built its strategy on
three pillars: cognitive, cloud and industry.
Cognitive is the art of understanding
We’re in the era of smart business right now and it’s
data through new intelligent systems; the next evolution of where we’ve come from.”
cloud is the powerhouse where many of
these concepts are being executed; and Maurice Blackwood
industry is the ultimate beneficiary of any
resulting services, and as such the central cognitive, IoT and blockchain. IBM’s continues to develop with traditional as
cog of this motion. Combined, they create clients make over 9.5 billion calls to its well as next-generation partners that help
the blueprint for this new era. But while APIs every month. it offer solutions. IBM is not a monolith –
anyone can attempt to combine such “We’re delivering and continue to it’s a family.
elements, not all companies are in the move into new markets that some of our Being able to transform and use data in
position to spark a revolution. clients don’t know about. We have a proud the most agile, efficient means is key. This
In an industry where companies rise history, but even brighter future in terms of is the goal of IBM, to help create the new
and fall quickly, IBM is a rare standout. cloud and what we can do to innovate and era of smart business.
One of the original technology titans, it be ready for this new cognitive, AI world.” Says Blackwood: “We’re in the era of
helped define the early days of digital smart business right now and it’s the next
technology, a time of vast monolithic A partner that knows change evolution of where we’ve come from.
systems. Today’s cloud era seems counter IBM’s reputation has been built over It’s going to be embedded in everything
to that and has tripped up giants as they decades by serving its customers through that we do, from the back office through
failed to see the change in front of them. many paradigm shifts in the business and to customers. The products and service
But IBM didn’t arrive where it is through technology worlds. that we have will be embedded with
complacency. No company could have This is the company that helped make this new ‘smart’. Our point of view is
survived and thrived as long if it didn’t the Apollo missions possible, popularised that cognitive is in essence the new
know how to evolve. the barcode, developed Watson – an AI so way that we work. We’ll always work
“Transformation is hard. But we have clever it beat champions in the wordplay to find ways to make that value real
a 107-year history of transforming. Go quiz show Jeopardy! – and currently uses for our customers, now and into the
back to the mainframe era or even the its clout to do everything from saving future. This is what IBM does.”
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 822 Intelligence
Hein Badenhorst,
technical advisor and
technical data lead, IBM
Gaining a
bigger brain
Artificial intelligence promises to augment the
capabilities of the human brain with unheard
of speeds and capacity.
BY: Rodney Weidemann sheer scale of data being generated, at a very serious disadvantage to those
PICTURE: Karolina Komedera combined with the unstructured which can,” says Andrew Quixley, sales
format of the majority of that data, has leader for Watson and cloud platform at
A
outstripped the capacity of humans and IBM South Africa.
rtificial intelligence has raised traditional computing capabilities to “Any business that deals with large
understandable anxiety make sense of it all. Unstructured data: numbers of customers, services,
that it could replace human typically text, images, video and audio products and transactions generates
intelligence in the workplace. was ‘invisible’ to traditional computing data on a grand scale. The ability to
However, the experts believe that capabilities. Today, these cognitive gain valuable insight from the data is
the optimal outcome is not to replace functions can be performed by AI crucial. It’s long been possible to gain
human intelligence, but to augment it, computing capabilities, at huge scale insights from structured data – the sort
enabling humans and machines to work and great speed. that easily fits into database tables,
together to achieve far more than either “Being able to effectively analyse but before AI entered the picture,
can achieve separately. large quantities of unstructured gaining insights from unstructured
AI is rapidly becoming indispensable information is essential in the modern data was generally done by a human.
in today’s data-driven world, where the world. Enterprises that cannot do so are And humans, of course, take breaks,
J U LY 2 0 1 8 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSIntelligence 23
and learn (Machine Learning). increased levels of supercomputing is
Hein Badenhorst, technical advisor going to deliver incredible benefits to the
and technical data lead at IBM world,” he says.
South Africa, adds that in traditional
computing, once a machine is Brain for hire
programmed to do something, it does Badenhorst says the enormous
that same something every time. workloads created by unstructured
“With AI, on the other hand, data require massive processing
we utilise a process known as power. “We’ve designed the
unsupervised learning, where the necessary infrastructure right down
machine is able to learn for itself. And to the processors. Without these
because it’s a machine, it’s able to run developments, computing capabilities
through alternatives and test different would not cope with today’s AI. Our
options rapidly and repeatedly, enabling heritage in designing and building
it to constantly learn by evolution. computer servers has been a significant
Ultimately, this means it’s able to advantage in this domain.
solve complex problems in a matter “What’s most exciting in a commercial
of seconds that might take a human a sense is that we’re democratising these
lifetime,” he says. AI capabilities so that any organisation
“Now, think about adding this ability can use them affordably,” says Quixley.
to the unbelievable processing power “Think of how international travel has
that will soon be available via quantum evolved. Most of us could never afford
computing. That will result in a machine to own a passenger jet, but we can
able to tackle problems far beyond the afford to pay for a seat on the plane for a
reach of the human mind.” given journey. It’s the same with our AI.
Badenhorst points to an extremely There’s no need to invest in the gigantic
complex system like the weather – computing power needed to process
Most of us could never afford to own a passenger
jet, but we can afford to pay for a seat on the plane
for a given journey. It’s the same with our AI.”
Andrew Quixley
holidays, sick days, and even the best which is affected by a multitude of some of these very complex workloads –
of us make mistakes,” he says. factors, such as the atmosphere, the because we make it available in the cloud
heat of the land, movement of the sea as a ‘pay as you go’ service.”
The essence of AI and many other elements – as the kind Furthermore, says Badenhorst, with
“Cognitive is a word used to describe of thing such computers will be able to digital transformation, the need for AI
the things that a human brain can do, study. and the trustworthy data and insight it
such as count, add, subtract, read, “AI will likely be able to forecast the delivers has never been greater.
speak, think, recognise, imagine, learn… weather over a much longer period, “Any enterprise undertaking a digital
the list is truly enormous. Traditional simply because it can compute how transformation can gain from using AI
computers have done arithmetical these various factors will impact and cognitive computing. It’s really the
tasks (like count, add, subtract) for the bigger picture. Now, with such best way of handling the vast quantities
many decades. With Watson, we granularity available in forecasting, of unstructured data currently being
have enabled computers to do more it could enable farmers, for example, generated, and the only solution to
cognitive tasks, including read (we call to plant crops at the most ideal time obtaining the kind of deep insight that
it Natural Language Understanding), to ensure optimum harvest. I have no can drive a digital transformation agenda
recognise (Visual Recognition) doubt that a combination of AI and forward,” he concludes.
SPECIAL FOCUS | IBM | J U LY 2 0 1 824 Security
Sheldon Hand,
Security business
unit lead, IBM
Prevent,
detect,
respond
When the cyber security question
changed from ‘if we get attacked’
to ’when’ it was time to change
tack. It’s critical organisations
can respond to cyber threats
intelligently and in real-time.
BY: Tamsin Oxford In 2015, Ginni Rometty, IBM’s CEO, time insight across the business,” says
PICTURE: Karolina Komedera said: “Cyber crime is the greatest threat Sheldon Hand, security business unit
to every profession, every industry, and leader, IBM South Africa. “This allows
T
every company in the world.” Today, her the business to react quickly, based on
he rate and sophistication words remain as relevant as they did then. real-time data. The average enterprise
of cyber security threats are Every organisation today requires has approximately 85 different security
growing daily, making the threat an intelligent immune system of tools from 45 different vendors. With
pervasive, the risk exponential security technology that will allow it IBM, we give visibility into these tools
and the defences inadequate. to detect and prevent threats while by consolidating the information into
According to the 2018 IBM X-Force responding quickly and completely a centralised, integrated platform that
Threat Intelligence Index, more than 2.9 to a breach and IBM Security’s highly operates in real-time.”
billion records were leaked globally from adaptable platform with near real- IBM Security includes a variety
publicly disclosed incidents in 2017. Cyber time intelligence processes provides of products and services that work
criminals shifted to focus on ransomware sustainable cyber crime prevention and together to prevent, detect and respond
attacks and as a result, ransomware holistic responses in light of a rapidly to cyber attacks. Like a technological
attacks cost companies more than $8 evolving threat environment. immune system, these tools are
billion globally last year in downtime, lost “IBM has developed a platform that powered by the latest in AI, research
revenue and in ransomware payments. provides the organisation with real- and threat awareness.
J U LY 2 0 1 8 | IBM | SPECIAL FOCUSYou can also read
