In August 2023, we announced the launch of our IBM Consulting Azure OpenAI Service offering, marking a significant milestone in our continued collaboration with Microsoft. Today, we are pleased to share we are driving our collaboration forward again with the opening of the IBM-Microsoft Experience Zone in Bangalore, India – a first of its kind for our collaboration. The Experience Zone brings our “better together” philosophy to life, providing a dedicated space where clients can explore how generative AI, hybrid cloud and other Microsoft products and technologies can help them accelerate their business transformation journeys and gain a strategic advantage.

At the Experience Zone, clients from around the globe and across industries can work together with IBM Consulting in various technology stations to co-ideate and co-create generative AI-powered solutions – leveraging Microsoft technologies including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot. Within the technology stations, clients can explore business solutions for cloud modernization, data, analytics and advanced AI, customer relationship management, employee experience, finance and operations, IoT and edge, and emerging technology including augmented reality and virtual reality. The Experience Zone also highlights industry solutions for the government, retail and energy sectors.

Additionally, the space provides an opportunity for clients to learn more about how to elevate employees’ talents with next-generation skills, access best-in-class case studies and discuss with peers how to harness generative AI in today’s competitive marketplace.

“We are excited to launch the new Experience Zone in collaboration with IBM, bringing together IBM Consulting’s expertise and Microsoft Cloud technologies and services to deliver value for clients,” said Dinis Couto, General Manager of Global Partner Solutions for Microsoft. “Partners like IBM are key to helping businesses deploy AI and hybrid cloud solutions at scale. This brings us closer to clients and underscores our progress as partners.”

IBM Consulting and Microsoft already serve clients across a variety of industries with a range of AI solutions and services. In fact, IBM Consulting recently worked with Virgin Money to develop and launch Redi, a conversational virtual assistant that helps credit card customers in the Virgin Money credit card app. Redi, powered by Virgin Money’s suite of Microsoft Copilot products, is a testament to the power of partnership.

Expanding our collaboration with our second-ever IBM-Microsoft Hackathon

Last year, IBM Consulting and Microsoft collaborated with client teams to address real-world business challenges using Azure OpenAI Service in our first IBM-Microsoft Hackathon. The results showed just how transformative this technology can be. For example, IBM Consulting and Microsoft worked in the course of last year’s Hackathon on a use case with Bank Julius Baer to efficiently process and summarize financial reports while automatically creating an audio version of the report, addressing a need for more personalized content for customers.

Additionally, IBM Consulting and Microsoft worked together with Wintershall Dea to implement a knowledge extraction tool designed for information retrieval within Wintershall Dea’s vast knowledge bases. The team developed a user-friendly tool, integrating OCR and Microsoft Azure OpenAI, that helps eliminate the need for manual browsing. In turn, users can effortlessly search for valuable insights across the organization.

Building on last year’s success, I am pleased to share that IBM Consulting and Microsoft kicked-off a second client-focused Hackathon last month alongside the IBM-Microsoft Experience Zone launch. The Hackathon brings together over 350 participants, including clients and experts from IBM, Neudesic, Bluetab and Microsoft, to explore and build solutions, leveraging Microsoft Copilot, that can help clients improve productivity, unlock creativity and streamline business processes.

Each of these initiatives builds on our momentum as partners. We have a shared commitment to the co-investment, co-creation and co-delivery of joint solutions for our clients, and I look forward to the future of our partnership, meeting clients where they are to unlock the full potential of generative AI and hybrid cloud across the enterprise.

Learn more about our collaboration with Microsoft here.