Leading in a new era

As the world enters the next generation of computing, powerful changes will be seen in the way businesses - and society - process, understand and respond to increasingly complex data.

These were the words of IBM's newly appointed president and CEO, Ginni Rometty, in a session on leading in a smarter planet, at the company's PartnerWorld Leadership Conference taking place in New Orleans.

Rometty opened by focusing on elements of IBM's partner strategy that wouldn't change: a solid commitment to business partners, a continued shift to higher value, and staying in growth plays by investing in key areas like cloud computing.

She emphasised IBM's continued commitment to its 120 000-strong business partner base, noting that partners are responsible for 95% of analytics implementations in its general business, and that by mid-2012, 80% of business partners would have done some work with IBM's cloud offering.

After acknowledging these principles, Rometty moved to outlooks for the future, saying one of the things she had learned from predecessors Sam Palmisano and Lou Gerstner was to “always reinvent your business - never ever stop”. This future involved two broad dimensions, she said: the new era of computing (big data and cognitive insight), and creating new clients for IBM and its business partners.

“Ten years ago, the belief around the future of IT was that the PC era was ending, and what we believe going forward is that the new era of computing will be all about big data and cognitive insight.

“Smarter planet is just the beginning of this new era. Cognitive insight-driven systems will see computing move from the back-office to the front-office and the centre of everything we do,” said Rometty.

“Take smarter cities initiatives - very few are about the efficiency of the back-office, they're about improving the wellbeing of citizens.”

She noted that data is growing 10 times every five years, and that by 2015, 80% of data will be unstructured. The US Department of Homeland Security alone generates 50 billion records of data per day. Rometty added that much of this data will also be uncertain.

“In this world of imperfect data, database systems will have to make sense of data 10 000 times faster than systems today, to be able to handle this growth, and for that we need cognitive insight-driven systems.”

IBM yesterday announced a breakthrough in the performance of quantum computing devices, bringing supercomputing capabilities that's been the stuff of science fiction a step closer. This 'new frontier' of computing could help solve previously unsolvable mathematical problems and crack the most complex computer codes imaginable. All of which could now be a mere 15 years away.

“You and I will see the third generation of computing,” said Rometty, the beginnings of which have already been realised in innovations like the Watson artificial intelligence system. “It learns, it hypothesises, it suggests - this will change your business in this lifetime.”

These advances are likely to be the next iteration of what Rometty sees as a unifying theme in business - and life. “I think of analytics as the silver thread that weaves through the future of everything we do.”

Her sentiments have been reflected by other business leaders. In her first 60 days as CEO, Rometty met with around 100 CEOs to gauge their thoughts on the new era of computing. She said they were all talking about the millennium generation, new employees, new customers, mobility, and what underpinned all these themes was unstructured data.

“Data will separate the winners from the losers in every single industry. Data will become like a new natural resource, and because it's available to everyone, it all depends on what you do with it.”

This rapidly shifting environment also brings significant new opportunities for growth. Rometty noted that of the 13 000 partners IBM added last year, half were in growth markets, and that it would continue looking for new markets and clients.

She used a smart cities project as one example of finding new customers. After implementing an integrated operations centre with IBM to help the city of Rio better predict and respond to landslides, mayor Eduardo Paes was keen to show the centre off to as many people as he could.

This may seem like an obvious response for a mayor, said Rometty, a way of trying to drum up some publicity. “But it wasn't that. It had redefined his role as mayor; because of that technology he saw himself in a new way. And it's not just about mayors; it's about chief marketing officers (CMOs), chief financial officers - these are all new client markets.”

Rometty said there was a “moment in time” to create a market around CMOs. She noted that in an IBM study of more than 1 700 CMOs, 71% said they were unprepared for the digital future. “They are looking for leadership, they are looking for solutions - and the same goes for the chief of supply chain, the chief of risk, the chief financial officer.”

She summed up the implications of these developments with a quote from partner Bharti, the largest private telco in India, about IT having become the core of its business, even though its people are not technologists.

“They're looking for us to be consumable together. They're looking for integration by design.” The ability to deliver this, and the analytics that enable it, will be the hallmark of leaders of the future.

(Lezette Engelbrecht is hosted in New Orleans by IBM SA.)