Published on the 23/02/2016 | Written by Newsdesk
The IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference took place in Orlando, Florida, last week, unveiling a new partner programme and digital experience for its partners to help serve their clients in “the cloud and cognitive era”…
For IBM the arrival of the cloud and cognitive era mean that its strategic growth areas include cognitive computing, cloud, commerce, Watson, Internet of Things, analytics, mobile, social and security.
“Digital business combined with digital intelligence is fundamentally changing companies, professions and industries,” said Marc Dupaquier, GM for IBM’s global business partners. “IBM is accelerating our transformation by helping Business Partners capture emerging business models, build deeper expertise and at the same time, broaden our reach to attract new Business Partners.”
The Partner conference also hosted the IBM Beacon Awards which recognise IBM Business Partners who have “delivered exceptional solutions using IBM products and services”. The winners’ achievements are described by IBM as demonstrating how IBM technology and innovative solutions can drive business value and transform the way their clients, the industry and the world do business.
Local client, New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) which runs TAB – itself a revolutionary company when it was first established in 1951 – was the focus of one of these transformative projects. After decades of coping with running its systems on a 35-year-old antiquated infrastructure, it embarked on a digital project to reinvigorate its inflexible infrastructure and combat the threat of competition from foreign companies reaching into the domestic market.
NZRB chose New Zealand IT company IntegrationWorks, an information integration practice specialising in integration strategy, architecture and devOps for both on-premises, hybrid or cloud-based environments, for the project. It implemented a middleware and integration layer using IBM technology, which opened up the company’s digital channels (including a mobile app) and expanded its online gaming and wagering business.
The 12-month project earned IntergrationWorks the accolade of 2016 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Middleware Solution. It was the only Kiwi company to win an award at the event and the first to win the middleware category. It was also one of only a handful of Asia-Pacific companies to be honoured.
Partner awards such as the IBM Beacon Awards give local integrators much-needed publicity and the chance to display their abilities on a global stage. IntegrationWorks is now planning to expand its Kiwi development teams and expand business out of its newly-opened Australian office as well as further afield in the UK and US.
