After IBM’s Think conference 2020 broke records for virtual attendance, IBM reimagined the digital experience, with Think 2021 offering more content, accessible in more ways, to more people across the globe.

As always, theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, covered the event live. In this article, we distill our extensive coverage to reveal five key themes that recurred throughout the event. So grab a fresh coffee, sit back and check out our insider tips from IBM Think 2021. (* Disclosure below.)

1) Intelligent automation is the secret to smooth digital transformation.

When companies first started to undertake the journey to digitization, incorporating artificial intelligence was a pipe dream. Not so today. The technology is now accessible for any size business, and taking advantage is critical for companies undergoing digital transformations.

Traditional automation relieves humans of repetitive tasks, but intelligent automation can take that a step further by augmenting human skills. This is analogous to self-driving cars in the way that business operations can be put on “autopilot.”

The automation of the enterprise will be “the next tidal wave to hit organizations,” according to  Savio Rodrigues, vice president of integration and application platform for IBM, in a recent interview with theCUBE.

And he’s not just talking about automating business tasks. “We think that the real differentiation is going to come to organizations that attack the task of automating work for all three labor types: business, developers and information technology,” Rodrigues stated.

Also speaking with theCUBE during the IBM Think conference, Vinodh Swaminathan, principal of cloud, data, and AI strategy, CIO and Advisory at KPMG LLC, weighed in on the subject, saying “companies like IBM have done a phenomenal job of demystifying the technology, making it much more accessible for the business user. We’re going to see continued momentum in adopting these kinds of simple technologies to transform business processes, customer interactions and so on.”

2) Don’t go it alone: Ecosystem collaboration is a hallmark of the digital era.

Collaborative ecosystems will change the future of business, predicted Mark Foster, senior vice president of IBM Services and Global Business Services, in an interview with theCUBE. When organizations combine forces, each expands its market footprint. Smaller businesses can leverage the platform of larger businesses, while established companies can access the speed and innovation of smaller start-ups.

“The ecosystem and its success become the strategy … of the participants as opposed to being something that they happened to be going along with. So it becomes the strategy of the organization,” Foster stated.

IBM recently committed $1 billion to expand its hybrid cloud partner ecosystem, a move that recognizes the days of vendor lock-in are in the past, according to Kirsten Craft, global head of business development and marketing at Prolifics, while speaking with theCUBE.

“It’s just a really good synergy as far as how IBM can scale with their customers and how customers can realize that benefit of a broader ecosystem and skill sets,” she stated.

3) Environmental and social responsibility is profitable.

Global events are bringing the importance of sustainability to the fore. But responsible global stewardship doesn’t have to be a negative on the balance sheet. As customers demand environmental responsibility and ethical standards from the brands they support, companies are adopting business models that aim for a double bottom line of profit and sustainability.

“You’re not forcing people to make a choice between sustainability and profitability, sustainability and quality of life. You build that into the core products and services,” said Keric Morris, executive partner and enterprise strategy global energy and sustainability lead at IBM.

Making sustainability the core of the business requires a paradigm shift in leadership and in relationships with partners, supplies and competitors, according to Morris, who was part of a panel discussion on business success and sustainability. That shift requires a company to create a sustainability strategy; implement climate risk management, electrification, energy and emissions management; build resilient infrastructure and operations; and operate a sustainable supply chain, stated Kareem Yusuf, general manager of AI applications and blockchain at IBM, during an interview with theCUBE.

While becoming a sustainable company won’t happen overnight, companies need to start their journey immediately.

“Pick a starting point and tie it to something that matters, that changes how you’re doing something today. That’s really the key,” Yusuf stated.

4) Success is set to be defined by relationship strengths.

The question companies need to ask is not “Do we have the best product?” but rather “Do we have the right trust, commitment and loyalty of the people that work with us going forward to serve the client needs?” according to Piet Bil, managing director for American Express at IBM, speaking on the future of customer relationships. Loyalty and trust will become the differentiating factors in a crowded technology market, he predicted.

This is already happening with Prolifics’ customers, according to Craft.

“They’re no longer looking to buy a product and then have somebody come in, install and implement. They’re looking for guidance. They want ideas: ‘Here’s what I’m trying to do with my business. How can you help me?’” she said.

The new model requires more than selling a customer a product and providing product support. Based on building lasting relationships with mutual benefits, “it’s not just about you and being able to do everything. It’s about you being able to bring the right solution and the right ideas to a customer and to help them be successful for the long term,” Craft added.

There are different dimensions to the process, according to Bil.

“And it’s not always that hard-coded anymore. It’s the subtlety of really relying on each other,” he said, citing the relationship between IBM and American Express as an example of this level of commitment. “When something happens in the middle of the night with American Express, all of IBM is on board as of the second,” he said.

5) Robotic assistants amplify human potential.

The fears that AI will steal human jobs are unfounded. The reality is that humans and robots make excellent co-workers.

“We’re never finding the zero-sum game, because there is always something for people to do,” Glenn Finch, global leader of big data and analytics at IBM, said during a discussion on how AI is amplifying human potential in the workplace. Emphasizing that the goal is “liberating human capability,” Finch described the new way of working as a “seamless interaction between digital workers and human workers.”

The COVID pandemic created immediate use-case examples for AI assistants, highlighting the positives of robotic helpmates in the workplace.

“A lot of the more routine mundane tasks can be done by AI and robotics. All of the really hard complex cases that only a human being can adjudicate, that’s what the folks that were doing the more mundane work can go focus on,” Finch stated.

With companies seeing the benefits of collaboration between humans and machines, AI assistants are becoming welcomed into the workplace. And no one is losing their job.

Well, almost no one.

“AI won’t replace managers, but managers that use AI will replace the managers that do not,” Rob Thomas told the CUBE during an exclusive IBM Think interview.

Discover more insights from IBM Think 2021 on SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s dedicated channel.  (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Think. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: IBM