AI, hybrid cloud and 5G dominate IBM Think digital keynote

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced new services that facilitate digital transformation in business and society.

Standing in front of a blue digital background, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna welcomed viewers to the virtual IBM Think conference on Tuesday. Originally set to be held in San Francisco for the second year in a row, IBM Think quickly became one of the many tech events forced online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"There's no question this pandemic is a powerful force of disruption and an unprecedented tragedy, but it is also a critical turning point," Krishna said. "History will look back on this as the moment when the digital transformation of business and society suddenly accelerated, and together, we laid the groundwork for the post-COVID world." 

Krishna highlighted the importance of hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) in pushing forward digital transformation, particularly in this chaotic time. 

"What has changed is the pace at which they're being adopted," Krishna said. "Transformation journeys that were going to last a few years are now being compacted into months. They're thinking about how to use technology to reassess and reimagine modes of consumption, supply, interaction and productivity. They're looking for long lasting answers on what they can do with technology to address the key issues that COVID-19 has brought to light." 

Some of these questions involve how supply chains can become even more resilient to resist global shocks; which workload should be moved to the public cloud; which IT tasks can be automated so that a workforce can focus on higher value ones; and how an organization can secure its IT infrastructure, including remote working.

"If there's anything the COVID 19 pandemic has taught us is the critical importance of technology solutions that enables speed, flexibility, insight and innovation," Krishna said. 

To help companies work toward digital transformation during this unprecedented time, Krishna introduced some new tools from IBM that highlight the benefits of hybrid cloud, AI, 5G, and edge computing. 

"AI for IT are capabilities that give every CIO [and] every technologist the ability to automate their IT infrastructures to immediately reduce costs and to be more resilient," Krishna said. 

A major component of this product is called Watson AIOps, which relies on AI to help respond eto problems in real time, helping organizations prevent issues from occurring before they happen, according to Krishna. 

"Watson AIOps is built on the latest release of Red hat OpenShift, so it can run across any hybrid cloud environment.