Seth Dobrin wrapped things up to discuss some go to market strategies and client successes. The IBM Data Science Elite Team is a team of experts that IBM offers to customers to help jump start data science and AI initiatives. Specifically they focus on helping new data scientists make the transition from college to corporate. Also combined with some basic lab services offerings.
The team is free but it has to be a real business case, the customer has to be willing to put its own team on the project to learn and the customer has to be a reference. Team is growing, now about 50 people. Mostly experienced people but also growing new staff too. Data science engineers, Machine Learning engineers, decision optimization engineers, data visualization engineers. Client has to provide an SME/product owner. Everything is done in sprints for rapid iteration. Often help clients hire later and focus on helping clients develop new skills in IBM’s toolset.
Have about 104 active engagements with about 70 completed. For instance, connecting ML and optimization – predicting renewable energy to optimize energy sources, predictive turnover to optimize store locations or predict cash outs in ATMs to optimize replenishment.
In addition, IBM is working with The Open Group for professional certification in data science. They are also investing in university classes and supporting on the job training (including a new data science apprenticeships and job re-entry programs). Finally they are investing in a new AI Academy for creating and applying AI – reskilling internally and making this available to clients. These are based on IBM’s methodology for data science involving courses and work.
