Dubai, Riyadh, Istanbul, Johannesburg – March 16, 2022: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the launch of its Client Engineering team in Middle East and Africa (MEA) for clients and business partners. Located across four countries – Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and UAE - IBM Client Engineering will drive innovation across the MEA region by providing an enhanced customer experience, focused on co-creation, technical eminence and speed.

Client Engineering teams consists of designers, solution architects, data scientists, cloud engineers, security experts, business transformation consultants and more who work on the agile co-creation of IBM technology and Consulting solutions for their clients – all within 6-8 weeks. The team of creators uses technologies such as Cloud, Data, Automation and Security to deliver innovative solutions that address business use cases and challenges in industries such as government, financial services, telecommunications and travel and transportation, among others.

In addition, the Client Engineering teams will have deep expertise in AI, automation, site reliability and security to help optimise business operations and improve client outcomes in the region.

Across the region, Client Engineering will also leverage access to the Global Industry Solution Centers and their expertise and solutions to advise clients across industries on solving their most critical business challenges at speed - including those clients in some of the most highly-regulated industries.

“As it becomes more critical than ever to innovate with technology, organisations across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are looking for new approaches to doing business which enable them  deliver digital transformation to address fast-changing consumer needs despite disruption,” said Saad Toma, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Africa. "With Client Engineering’s focus on co-creation and co-execution, these teams will ensure organisations across MEA overcome obstacles to modernise and transform – ultimately fast-tracking innovation and helping clients drive lasting, meaningful outcomes.”

COVID-19 has changed the entire landscape in which organizations worldwide operate. Customers and employees became homebound, supply chains and entire industries were disrupted. Organizations needed to reinvent their existing business models, speed digitization and technologies like AI, hybrid cloud and prioritize security to survive and emerge stronger.

As Client Engineering teams set out to drive transformation, spur innovation, and reshape business for a digital future, they will focus on jointly deciding on outcomes for clients and act with urgency while adapting and iterating solutions. Engagements with clients will be varied based on their specific journey and teams will leverage design thinking methodology for client results. While some will work towards the creation of a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), other engagements will lead to a prototype which integrates features of a product or service or Proof of Technology (POT) designed to test whether a specific technology is a viable solution.

Teams will also engage, scope and deliver MVPs faster through accelerators for open hybrid cloud, data fabric, customer care, business automation, observability and security and build client journeys in automation, Data & AI, AI applications, and Security. 

By adopting a co-creation approach with IBM, organisations across industries will be enabled to quickly innovate IT solutions:

• In government, IBM Client Engineering will help address the growing need for the public sector to be able to work with agility and speed to harness new capabilities, reduce costs and improve on the effectiveness of citizen services. 
• Financial Services providers co-creating and co-executing with Client Engineering teams will be better enabled to meet the needs of digital customers while addressing regulatory and resiliency issues and enhancing mobile and digital platforms for future operations.
• For telecommunications providers increasingly looking to drive value from their data, improve fraud detection and implement cost-effective analytic processing on their network, IBM Client Engineering teams offer expertise to address these large-scale issues.

“Our clients have been greatly challenged by the unprecedented disruption of COVID which increased demand, expectations, complexity and constraints. To truly come out stronger and resilient, organisations must invest in end-to-end transformation. The time has come for a different approach that leverages the latest open technologies in hybrid cloud and AI combined with agile methods which helps organisations test market fit quickly and expand solutions using real-time data – this is what IBM Client Engineering is set to do for businesses in MEA,” explains Mohamed Behiry, IBM MEA Client Engineering Manager.