Emerging markets, such as Brazil, China and India, along with cloud-computing, analytics tools and solutions for a smart planet are IBM Corp.’s four main global initiatives. Big Blue believes that the combination of these four sectors will drive its growth in the coming years. “While we celebrate IBM’s 100th anniversary, we need to look at next 100 years, and it will be driven by innovation and IT benefits for society,” said Ricardo Pelegrini, IBM Brazil CEO, during the opening of IBM Forum in São Paulo.
Cloud-computing is becoming one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide, and IBM estimates that cloud solutions will represent US $7 billion of company’s revenue by 2015. “We are aggressively embracing the cloud,” emphasized Erich Clementi, senior VP at IBM Global technology services.
Asked about why many CIOs still resist adopting cloud-computing, Clementi explained that in the enterprise segment there are some problems to be solved, such as security, privacy and compliance. In the other hand, consumers are largely adopting cloud-based services. Enterprise deployment is going to happen. “We see a transformation in how companies outsource, from full outsourcing to vendors creating specialized delivery centers. For the next five years we will be an increase in new models and technologies, such as cloud computing.”
Emergent markets
Brazil presents a potential growth market for IBM. However, the country must to resolve some issues such as investments in research and development. “Brazil has a huge gap in innovation. Compared to other countries, Brazilian private-sector investments are lower. Private companies invest 0.5% of GDP in innovation, while in Japan it’s about 2.7% and in the U.S. 1.9%,” said Pelegrini, IBM Brazil CEO.
However, executives emphasized that IT sector growth is two times bigger than Brazilian GDP. This could explain why IBM decided to install in Brazil its ninth lab, called IBM Research. Globally, IBM invests about US $6 billion per year on R&D. “We are investing in Brazil, China and India and we want to participate in their growth,” said Clementi.
IBM also has installed in Brazil its Service Innovation Lab (SIL), which is dedicated to integrate knowledge from IBM’s scientist, mathematics, researchers and service specialists around the globe. Globally, SIL comprises about 200 technology experts hand-picked from around the company. IBM believes that the lab will accelerate the expansion of real-time analytics and software automation in both IBM’s technology services offerings and its global services delivery capabilities. Initially, the lab is focusing on the creation of services software applications for cloud computing, analytics and mobility.
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