As hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence continue to reshape the corporate world, companies are discovering new ways to streamline their operations and stay ahead of the curve.

By integrating generative AI with legacy systems such as mainframes and cloud platforms, businesses are unlocking unprecedented access to data, transforming how they function and innovate in an increasingly competitive environment, explained Nick Otto (pictured), head of global strategic partnerships at IBM Corp.

IBM’s Nick Otto talks to theCUBE about hybrid cloud and AI.

“We’ve been very consistent around this, is that the priorities around hybrid cloud and AI, that’s what our clients need to transform…There’s lots of data, lots of different places, and I think when you look at any generative AI continuum, it starts with the data,” Otto said. “How do we make sure that as you’re drawing insights, you have access to all of the relevant data? We announced back at IBM Think earlier this year, a collaboration around zero-copy data network with Salesforce that was bringing watsonx.”

Otto spoke with theCUBE Research’s Christophe Bertrand at Dreamforce, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed IBM’s collaboration with Salesforce Inc., particularly around integrating AI, hybrid cloud and data governance to drive business transformation and automation.

How hybrid cloud and AI are reshaping enterprise systems

IBM’s partnership with Salesforce goes beyond data integration; it is also focused on using AI to drive automation and streamline business workflows. By leveraging watsonx Orchestrate in conjunction with Salesforce’s agent-based AI, businesses can automate routine tasks and generate insights that drive more strategic decision-making, Otto explained.

“[We’re] now driving autonomous activity off of those insights. And that’s where our collaboration just continues with watsonx Orchestrate and Agentforce coming together,” he said. “Our watsonx Orchestrate skills and actions coming into the portfolio of Agentforce actions and then finally delivering all of that through a medium. And that medium in many of our internal use cases is Slack. So you really see all of these different Salesforce and IBM and other partner assets all coming together into a single continuum.”

As companies increasingly adopt AI to transform their workflows, data governance remains a critical factor. Ensuring that AI-driven insights are based on reliable, compliant data is essential, especially in industries with strict regulatory requirements, Otto concluded.

“If it’s not properly governed, if you’re not accessing the right data with the right controls, if you’re not controlling for all of the things … around bias and being able to ensure that you have trustworthy AI data, that outcome that comes out the back end really doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s the first question all of our customers are asking us today. So anytime we engage with a customer on this entire space, where we start the discussion is usually around governance.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of Dreamforce 2024:

Photo: SiliconANGLE