IBM Introduces IBM Consulting Advantage, an AI Services Platform and Library of Assistants to Empower Consultants
- IBM Consulting Advantage saw productivity improvements of up to 50% in an application design, development, and testing pilot
- The platform includes a library of role-based IBM Consulting Assistants to support consultants in their day-to-day tasks
- The platform has embedded capabilities for data security and privacy, including AI guardrails to help mitigate bias
- IBM Consulting formed a Center of Excellence for Generative AI and deepened its relationships with strategic partners in 2023
- Clients such as Dun & Bradstreet are already working with IBM consultants using the platform to scale new AI use cases leveraging partner technology
- None.
Insights
The introduction of IBM Consulting Advantage represents a strategic move by IBM to enhance its consulting services through advanced AI capabilities. The claimed productivity improvements of up to 50% in application design, development and testing pilot projects are significant, as they suggest potential cost savings and efficiency gains for clients. This could lead to a competitive advantage for IBM in the consulting market, potentially increasing market share and revenue.
Moreover, the deployment of role-based IBM Consulting Assistants, powered by IBM watsonx, indicates a commitment to innovation in the consulting industry. By enabling consultants to access a library of tailored prompts, models and output formats, IBM is positioning itself as a leader in the integration of AI with human expertise. The ability to rapidly build and share pre-trained assistants could foster collaboration and knowledge sharing within the organization, further improving service quality.
For stakeholders, the short-term implications include the prospect of enhanced service offerings and potential new client acquisitions due to improved productivity and innovation. In the long term, IBM's investment in AI and its ecosystem of partners could lead to sustained growth and transformation within the consulting sector.
IBM's announcement of IBM Consulting Advantage is likely to be scrutinized by investors for its impact on the company's financial performance. The reported productivity improvements and the integration of AI into consultancy workstreams could lead to operational efficiencies and margin expansion. The use of proprietary methods and assets also suggests potential for intellectual property monetization.
From a financial perspective, the cost savings and additional revenue streams generated by improved consultant productivity and client services could positively affect IBM's profitability. The ability to configure private instances of generative AI models with embedded data security and privacy features could appeal to clients concerned with data governance, potentially leading to higher demand for IBM's consulting services.
However, investors will be closely monitoring the costs associated with the development and maintenance of the IBM Consulting Advantage platform and its return on investment. It will be important to evaluate whether the increased revenue and cost efficiencies will offset these investments over time.
The emphasis on data security and privacy in the IBM Consulting Advantage platform is a critical aspect in today's data-driven environment. IBM's proactive measures to create spaces configured for project teams and to set up private instances of generative AI models that do not store data for training are in line with current industry best practices for data privacy.
The platform's integrated AI guardrails to mitigate bias and enable auditable use signify a strong commitment to ethical AI practices. This could enhance IBM's reputation and trust among clients, especially in sectors with stringent compliance requirements. The alert system for personal identifiable information (PII) in prompts reflects a deep understanding of the importance of data protection regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, which could reduce the risk of data breaches and associated legal and reputational costs.
For clients, these features provide assurance that their sensitive data will be handled with the utmost care, potentially leading to stronger client relationships and retention. The focus on privacy and security could also attract new clients who prioritize these aspects in their vendor selection process.
- Enables IBM consultants to build and interact with role-based Assistants powered by IBM watsonx
- Early adopter teams using IBM Consulting Advantage saw productivity improvements of up to
50% in an application design, development and testing pilot
It includes a portfolio of proprietary methods, assets and Assistants that leverage technology from IBM and strategic partners. When using aspects of IBM Consulting Advantage in an application design, development and testing client pilot, early adopter teams saw productivity improvements of up to
Core to the platform is a library of role-based IBM Consulting Assistants to support our teams in their day-to-day tasks. This includes assistants trained on IBM proprietary data and composed of tailored prompts, models and output formats to put the collective knowledge of IBM and the wider industry at the fingertips of 160,000 IBM consultants. Employees can use strategy assistants to support use case prioritization and business case development, business analyst assistants to support creating personas for user-centric design, or developer assistants to support code generation and conversion.
IBM Consulting Assistants are accessed through an intuitive conversational interface powered by IBM watsonx, IBM's AI and data platform. Consultants can toggle across multiple IBM and third-party generative AI models to compare outputs and select the right model for their task, and use the platform to rapidly build and share prompts and pre-trained assistants across teams or more widely across the consulting organization. The interface also enables easy uploading of project-specific documents for rapid insights that can then be shared into common business tools.
"Generative AI is driving the most fundamental shift in the consulting model in decades, motivating us to rapidly innovate how we serve clients," said Mohamad Ali, COO, IBM Consulting. "The IBM Consulting Advantage platform lets us harness more of our intellectual property, including an array of AI assistants, in our client engagements. This allows our consultants to be even more creative and productive as they use the platform to deliver greater value faster to thousands of our clients."
IBM Consulting Advantage has embedded capabilities for data security and privacy, including the ability to create spaces configured for and limited to a project team. IBM Consulting Assistants can be set up with private instances of generative AI models that do not store data or use it for training the models. They can also alert users if personal identifiable information (PII) appears in prompts. In addition, the Assistants have integrated AI guardrails to help mitigate bias and enable auditable use, such as the ability for a consultant to ask one of the Assistants a question and select an option to check for bias in the answer.
Delivering value for clients with IBM Consulting Advantage
Clients are already seeing the value in IBM Consulting Advantage combined with the deep expertise of IBM consultants.
For example, Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, will be working with IBM consultants using these capabilities as they build and scale new AI use cases leveraging Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud and IBM watsonx to help improve employee productivity and customer experiences.
IBM Consulting has taken a use-case led approach to helping clients scale AI. It has developed preconfigured solutions powered by watsonx and partner technology, starting with the use cases of customer service, human resources and application modernization. These solutions are already driving outcomes for clients. In 2023 alone, IBM Consulting helped hundreds of clients apply AI from IBM and strategic partners in their digital transformation journey, from Parle Products to Windtre to Wintershall Dea.
Combining a new platform with proven methods, deeper expertise and expanded partnerships
The IBM Consulting Advantage platform will be applied across the breadth of IBM Consulting's services, spanning strategy, experience, technology and operations. It is designed to work in combination with IBM Garage, a proven, collaborative engagement model to help clients fast-track innovation, realize value three times faster than traditional approaches, and transparently track business outcomes.
Today's announcement builds on IBM Consulting's concrete steps in 2023 to further expand its expertise, tools and methods to help accelerate clients' business transformations with enterprise-grade AI. For example, IBM Consulting formed a Center of Excellence for Generative AI, and also deepened its relationships with strategic partners in 2023, announcing expanded AI collaborations with Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Salesforce and SAP.
IBM Consulting helps accelerate business transformation for our clients through hybrid cloud and AI technologies, leveraging our open ecosystem of partners. With deep industry expertise spanning strategy, experience design, technology, and operations, we have become the trusted partner to many of the world's most innovative and valuable companies, helping modernize and secure their most complex systems. Our 160,000 consultants embrace an open way of working and apply our proven, collaborative engagement model, IBM Garage, to scale ideas into outcomes.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.
Media contact:
Michelle Mattelson
IBM External Relations
morrison@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM
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