AI, Automation and Quantum Computing: The Future of Business

Q: How has IBM transformed in the past few years?

A: IBM has undergone many transformations during its 111 years but its long-term impact vision has never changed. We are turning 95 years old in Mexico. Our clients have been with us for decades and we have accompanied many of them in their own transformation, forcing us to invest in areas such as R&D and talent to be ready for the future. One has to believe they will exist in the future to invest in the present. We filed for about 7,000 patents in the last 14 years as people at IBM are only thinking about innovation.

IBM is a technology company. We created storage solutions, commercial processors and mainframes, among other products. During this process, IBM became a solutions company rather than a technology business. When the world transformed three years ago, our CEO decided that IBM was going back to its roots. We now create, design and market technologies, such as AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, automation, quantum computing and other solutions. This change turned competitors into allies, allowing them to build their own solutions using our technology.

Four years ago, we bought Red Hat for US$34 billion, which was IBM’s largest acquisition in history. IBM is a company that is totally committed to the future.

Q: What is IBM's vision of the technological future?

A: The pandemic played a fundamental role in technology’s acceleration. Before the pandemic, companies did not prioritize digital transformation and there was no follow-up on the CIO's proposals because they were not considered strictly urgent. With the pandemic, companies began to transform digitally and realized that the proliferation of data was so great that something had to be done with it. For example, the world of retail and last-mile deliveries learned a great deal about customer interaction. At the time, businesses did not have a choice to adapt: they either adapted or disappeared. Many businesses disappeared and now digital transformation is a top priority.

Sustainability is also a major priority because companies need to attract the next generation of talent, which is looking for a company committed to the future of humanity.

Q: How should companies prepare for the imminent digital transformation?

A: To talk about digital transformation could be redundant because every player is already undergoing it. For example, many banks today claim to be technology companies because otherwise, their customers would be captured by digital platforms that allow users to open an account through an app instead of wasting time visiting a bank. This is also happening in the world of retail. CEOs who are not convinced of the relevance of technology will have problems keeping their company competitive in the market. The key to all this is the proliferation of data, as the world generates 3.5 trillion bytes of data. AI is essential to deal with that.

Q: How can companies best make use of AI in their daily operations?

 A: The approach is different for every industry. In the financial industry, for example, AI makes it possible to analyze patterns that help anticipate certain crises before they occur. This could have helped us deal with previous crises because the data did exist but not in a format that could be processed. The financial world will become more resilient as companies continue to invest in AI.

AI is on its way to being integrated into companies’ operations in Mexico. According to the ai Adoption Index, commissioned by IBM, 31 percent of Mexican companies already have implemented AI to their organization. As well as being applicable industries, AI is applicable across areas within a single organization. It has the potential to transform processes to promote growth and standardization of data, but it can also be used to make faster, more assertive decisions, promoting data-driven business leadership.

Q: What other measures should companies take to become more resilient?

A: The search for resilience is common across industries but cybersecurity is also a relevant issue. Nowadays, companies seek to get closer to customers through apps, and other interactive technologies, but this represents a risk since the data can be compromised by cyberattacks. These threats used to be simpler: a hacker would simply hijack bank transactions, steal the data and use it for petty theft; an antivirus helped prevent this problem. However, cybercriminals now use ransomware to capture company information and extort money from organizations, causing reputational damage to companies and getting them in trouble with regulators. All industries are exposed to this threat. In fact, banking is not the main target of ransomware, the manufacturing sector is. An attack on this sector breaks the supply chain, greatly impacting society.

We have a strong cybersecurity unit that manages talent, processes and technology to help companies prevent these attacks, which is what helps make them resilient. It is not about whether a cyberattack might happen or not; it is about when the cyberattack will take place.

Q: Data governance is becoming a key element that could either expand the technological market or limit it. What is IBM doing in this regard? 

 A: There are two ways to approach this topic. On the one hand, governments are developing standards and regulations for the use and protection of data. On the other hand, companies capture data, process it and use it so their business units can reach the customer more efficiently. We are convinced that AI can make a big difference in this process. If a company is not able to use and implement AI, data is not worth the effort and can even be counterproductive.

Ethics are also important because without the right processes, implementing AI could have a negative outcome. We believe that all AI models capable of analyzing and generating insights have to be open, so they are programmed by human beings with solid ethical standards. IBM is convinced that the proliferation of data can be managed with AI but always under strict standards for ethics and data governance.

Q: What is IBM’s role in the current technological scenario?

 A: The only way companies can be successful in today's world is by applying technology. IBM is committed to bringing technology to different markets, including Mexico, which is our second-largest market in Latin America. We aim to provide emerging technologies that can make a large difference thanks to AI, cybersecurity, automation and quantum computing. The day cybercriminals start using quantum computing, a large part of the algorithms that companies have today regarding cybersecurity will be obsolete. The change is so strong that our commitment is to continue providing technology to face future challenges. IBM will continue to be a deeply technological company that will put in the hands of its clients the tools they need to be competitive, successful and have more fluid relationships with clients. Today, we are 95 years old in Mexico and we would like to be here another 95 years.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is dedicated to providing companies with solutions to improve their business processes through the appropriate use of information technologies.