Networking News

IBM Leverages Artificial Intelligence to Automate IT Infrastructure

New capabilities and services from IBM will use artificial intelligence to automate to IT infrastructure at a lower cost during COVID-19.

Artificial Intelligence, COVID-19, IT Infrastructure

Source: Thinkstock

By Samantha McGrail

- IBM recently launched new capabilities and services powered by artificial intelligence to help chief information officers (CIOs) help their businesses recover and restart in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IBM’s Think Digital conference intends to help CIOs automate their IT infrastructures to become more resilient to disruptions and reduce costs. 

"What we've learned from companies all over the world is that there are three major factors that will determine the success of AI in business – language, automation and trust," said Rob Thomas, senior vice president, cloud and data platform at IBM. 

"The COVID-19 crisis and increased demand for remote work capabilities are driving the need for AI automation at an unprecedented rate and pace. With automation, we are empowering next generation CIOs and their teams to prioritize the crucial work of today's digital enterprises—managing and mining data to apply predictive insights that help lead to more impactful business results and lower cost."

IDC, a market intelligence firm, predicted that enterprises that are powered by AI will be able to respond to customers, competitors, regulators, and partners 50 percent faster than those not using AI by 2024.

To that end, IBM launched IBM Watson AIOps as part of the Think Digital conference, which uses AI to automate how enterprises self-detect, diagnose, and respond to IT anomalies in real-time.

IT incidents that are unforeseen cost businesses. Watson AIOps allow organizations to introduce automation at the infrastructure level to help CIOs predict and shape future outcomes, focus on higher-value work, and build more responsive and intelligent networks that can stay up and running longer, IBM stated.

Built on Red Hat OpenShift, Watson AIOps runs across any cloud environment and works in collaboration with an ecosystem of partners, including Slack and Box.

"The greatest challenge for organizations is one of alignment. Slack is most valuable when it integrates tightly with the other tools customers use every day, bringing critical business information into channels where it can be collaborated on by teams," said Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and co-founder. "By using Slack with Watson AIOps, IT operators can effectively collaborate on incident solutions, allowing them to spend critical time solving problems rather than identifying them."

Aaron Levie, CEO of Box also noted that secure data sharing and accessing files is vital, especially during this time of remote work. 

"It is more important than ever before and we're thrilled to expand our partnership with IBM to deliver content and collaboration across Watson AIOps, enabling IT organizations and businesses to get work done faster, simpler, and more securely,” Levie said in the IBM announcement.

As part of Think Digital conference’s rollout, IBM also launched the Accelerator for Application Modernization with AI, which was designed to help clients decrease the effort and costs associated with application modernization.

The accelerator includes various tools designed to optimize modernization and boost the analysis and recommendations for architectural and microservices options, IBM said. The accelerator uses learning AI models to adapt to preferred software engineering practices and stay up to date with the evolution of technology and platforms.

In addition to the Think Digital conference, IBM announced various new and updated capabilities designed to give CIOs a guideline for successfully operating during a pandemic. The new capabilities are designed to help automate business planning, business operations, and call centers. 

IBM Cloud Pak for Data, IBM's fully integrated data and AI platform, was also updated with new capabilities to help business leaders automate the access to critical business-ready data. And a new update to IBM Cloud Pak Automation, software for designing, building and running automation apps allows clients to easily create AI "digital worker" automation solutions.

Additionally, updates to IBM Watson Assistant, IBM's AI-based conversation platform, will automate the more complex interactions and potentially boost customer satisfaction while reducing operating costs. The assistant now has a pre-built user interface that requires no development effort to deploy and is designed with user experience-based best practices, IBM stated.