IBM launches Client Engineering team in MEA region

IBM on Wednesday announced the launch of its Client Engineering team in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region for clients and business partners.

Located across four countries – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and South Africa – IBM Client Engineering will drive innovation across the MEA region by providing an enhanced customer experience, focused on co-creation, technical eminence, and speed.

Speaking in a webinar for members of the press, Saad Toma, general manager, IBM Middle East and Africa, said that the company is “very focused” on delivering the best for its clients as they navigate the digital future. “Today, the focus is all about digital transformation across industries.”

He also elaborated on how it has become more critical than ever to innovate with technology and look for new approaches to doing business. “With Client Engineering’s focus on co-creation and co-execution, these teams will ensure organisations across MEA overcome obstacles to modernise and transform – ultimately fast-tracking innovation and helping clients drive lasting, meaningful outcomes.”

IBM’s Client Engineering teams consist of designers, solution architects, data scientists, cloud engineers, security experts, business transformation consultants, and more who work on the agile co-creation of IBM technology and consulting solutions for their clients – all within 6-8 weeks. The team of creators uses technologies such as Cloud, Data, Automation, and Security to deliver innovative solutions that address business use cases and challenges in industries such as government, financial services, telecommunications, and travel & transportation, among others.

In addition, the Client Engineering teams will have deep expertise in AI, automation, site reliability and security to help optimise business operations and improve client outcomes in the region.

Sabine Holl, CTO at IBM MEA, observed that over the past two years during the global pandemic, the pace of digital transformation has accelerated. “And what has been planned for years, has basically come down to a year’s journey. So, this requires a lot of skills, a lot of talent, and we are here to work together with our clients to solve real business problems by providing these deep technical skills, and industry knowledge.”

“With this accelerated digital transformation, new skills are required and everybody is looking to adapt to these new skills,” she added. “So, we are growing our technical community, which is really focused on being client-centric. By establishing this new team in the Middle East and Africa, we are investing in talent and a deep technical skills.”

Mohamed Behiry, IBM MEA Client Engineering Manager, also highlighted how the company’s clients have been “greatly challenged” by the unprecedented disruption of Covid-19, which increased demand, expectations, complexity, and constraints.

“To truly come out stronger and resilient, organisations must invest in end-to-end transformation. The time has come for a different approach that leverages the latest open technologies in hybrid cloud and AI combined with agile methods which helps organisations test market fit quickly and expand solutions using real-time data – this is what IBM Client Engineering is set to do for businesses in MEA,” he said.

Across the region, Client Engineering will also leverage access to the Global Industry Solution Centres and their expertise and solutions to advise clients across industries on solving their most critical business challenges at speed - including those clients in some of the most highly-regulated industries.

Engagements with clients will be varied based on their specific journey and teams will leverage design thinking methodology for client results. While some will work towards the creation of a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), other engagements will lead to a prototype which integrates features of a product or service or Proof of Technology (POT) designed to test whether a specific technology is a viable solution.

rohma@khaleejtimes.com