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IBM today announced a set of new, cloud-based Industry Platforms as part of an effort to globally expand its business solutions capabilities. The company also announced the opening of a new cloud center in Bangalore, India.
The new portfolio of IBM Cloud Industry Platforms and Solutions provides users with access to cloud and big data services targeted at specific industry needs.
“Our portfolio of Cloud Business Solutions is a recognition of the mandate for speed and time to value, along with the requirement of clients to personalize business solutions to their own processes and culture and deploy them via the cloud,” said Sanjay Rishi, managing partner of Cloud Consulting Services for IBM Global Business Services, in a statement, “Our new IBM Cloud Business Innovation Center will help us co-create with our clients, addressing their unique needs with tailored solutions, delivered on the cloud for fast results.”
Cloud Business Innovation Centers provide an opportunity for IBM customers around the world to work side-by-side with Big Blue solution consultants, researchers, and digital marketing and experience design experts to personalize the Industry Platforms to their specific needs.
In 2014, IBM Global Business Services launched a portfolio of Cloud Business Solutions that package multiple technology and services components into a single client agreement and delivers end-to-end solutions “as a service.” The initial offerings addressed business functions in the areas of sales, marketing, financial management and operations and included consulting services, intellectual property assets from IBM Research, software, advanced analytics, ongoing support and cloud infrastructure delivered via IBM SoftLayer. Today, Cloud Business Solutions have been applied in more than 500 client engagements.
However, building on this portfolio, IBM is announcing Industry Platforms that will combine multiple Cloud Business Solutions with deeper industry content for expanded business benefits and faster time to value. Each Industry Platform offers clients access to a set of standard assets that can be quickly tailored to deliver a differentiated business solution.
IBM’s first three Industry Platforms consist of:
- Retail Consumer Experience: A Consumer Engagement Platform that empowers retailers to quickly deploy increasingly sophisticated engagement capabilities driven by contextual, relevant, multichannel, end-to-end personalization that deliver a “passion-driven” consumer experience.
- Personalized Learning: A platform that delivers data-driven personalized learning to empower educators to help students reach their full potential and for corporations to address fast-moving learning needs within their organizations.
- Insights for a Connected World: An Insight platform designed for the industries reshaped by the Internet of things. The platform turns volumes of data from multiple sources into insights that can be sold to ecosystem partners or used to inform new business models, or improve customer service and business operations.
IBM Cloud Business Solutions combine the scale, speed and ease of the cloud with the industry insight of IBM consulting services to address specific industry verticals and business functions. In the past year, IBM has launched more than 20 solutions for specific business domains across industries. A full list of available Cloud Business Solutions can be found here.