Brenda Harvey, the Managing Director of IBM Industrial Technology, is also an Independent Outside Director on the Board of Nissan Motor Company. In her present role at IBM, she is responsible for IBM business results through Enterprise AI, Engineering Lifecycle, Asset Management, Hybrid Cloud and digital transformation empowering industrial, energy, manufacturing, and controls companies with i4.0 speed, agility, accuracy, and efficiency.
Brenda is dedicated to upholding the core values of IBM, which aim to inspire positive change in the world. These values include trust and responsibility in every relationship, innovation that makes a difference for the company and society, and dedication to every client’s success.
In a recent interview with Aspioneer, Brenda sheds light on her work and philosophy, offering a comprehensive exploration of her valuable insights. From her innovative approaches to work to the underlying philosophy shaping her decisions, this article captures the essence of Brenda’s interview, offering readers a compelling glimpse into her world.
Aspioneer (AP): Could you share the unique value propositions that IBM offers to customers?
Brenda Harvey (BH): IBM Corporation is a 112-year-old multinational company that operates in over 170 countries. IBM’s strategy is to be the leader in hybrid cloud and AI. This shift is driven by the changing needs of our clients, who find that choosing an open hybrid cloud approach is 2.5 times more valuable than relying on the public cloud alone. The core competitiveness of every company will be its ability to use AI to unlock real-time value from its data wherever that data resides. IBM brings together all the necessary technology and services to help our clients solve their business problems by integrating technology and expertise, providing infrastructure, software, and consulting services for our clients as they pursue the digital transformation of the world’s mission-critical businesses.
AP: Please share how IBM has responsibly integrated AI into their business and tell us about watsonx, the IBM AI Platform.
BH: AI for business must be ethical, unbiased, and accurate. Manufacturers need to see this as table stakes for their AI-driven transformation. IBM’s AI technology provides value to manufacturers by being open, operating across hybrid cloud environments, and extending workforce transformation into roles at the Industrial Edge. Tailored for manufacturing enterprises, IBM’s array of AI foundation models is strategically designed to facilitate workforce transformation, enabling versatility across roles in design, manufacturing, supply chain, and maintenance services
IBM’s enterprise AI platform, WatsonX, instills trust through robust governance, ensuring risk management and safeguarding reputation during workforce transformation. WatsonX is equipped with a data store, a foundation model studio for creating, training, fine-tuning, and deploying AI models, along with a governance toolkit for proactive risk management, transparency, and adherence to privacy regulations. WatsonX governance enables businesses to automate AI lifecycle governance, proactively address risks, and ensure compliance with policies, standards, and evolving regulations in the AI domain.
AP: Where do you see your company expanding or focusing its efforts over the next few years?
BH: Generative AI use in Manufacturing will drive efficiency, productivity, faster time to market and quality in maintenance and customer services. Speeding manufacturing transformation through complex process optimization is accomplished as generative AI aids to interrogate time series data and other process data to fine-tune the process for specific tasks or efficiency to speed production or reduce cost or product waste. Further cases in manufacturing are related to time sequence models to act on sensor-based data in factory operations.
Conversational AI uses synthetic train/test data and knowledge management for field tech/customer service/operators/maintenance whereas Generative AI can create summaries from ingested documents and data inputs. Teams gain a new ability to query and create meaningful responses based on ingested and learned information with the ability to access real-time information feeds. Quality engineers can automate and increase the quality of technical documentation.
Quantum-safe cryptography is another focus area for manufacturing and all industries and boards to be aware of and ready. Quantum-safe cryptography secures sensitive data, access, and communications for the era of quantum computing. IBM is focused on helping clients build crypto agility, through discovering, observing, and remediating their cryptographic landscape.
AP: How is IBM discharging social responsibility and incorporating ESGs in its roadmap and business plan?
BH: IBM has a strong heritage of aligning business goals to broader societal and environmental issues. IBM Impact is our framework that comprises three pillars. Ethical Impact is achieved through creating innovations, policies, and practices that prioritize ethics, trust, transparency, and accountability. Equitable Impact is achieved by creating spaces and opportunities for everyone by focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusivity within IBM and the communities we serve and Environmental Impact is achieved by commitments to conserve natural resources, reduce pollution, and minimize climate-related risks.
IBM has transparent and measurable outcomes in ESG. Within our net zero commitment by 2030, we also focus on how IBM’s solutions and platforms make a difference for those vulnerable communities most impacted by environmental threats. We have committed to skill 30 million people by 2030. The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is a free social impact program platform that applies IBM technologies, such as hybrid cloud and AI and an ecosystem of experts to enhance and scale nonprofit and government organization initiatives helping populations especially vulnerable to environmental threats.
"AI for business must be ethical, unbiased, and accurate. Manufacturers need to see this as table stakes for their AI-driven transformation."
AP: What have your significant career milestones been?
BH: I have always been very curious about how things worked and enjoyed learning, experimenting, researching, testing, failing, and persevering. I had great teachers and my father, a metallurgical engineer was my role model. I had hands-on corporate experience as an IBM co-op student in memory component engineering while graduating with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. I continued to work across multiple areas in IBM for the last three decades and am an advisor at the Lehigh Engineering College of Computer and Electrical Engineering.
At IBM, I have worked across product technologies, services, industries, and geographies. I’ve been General Manager for IBM Public Sector, Healthcare, Education, Federal, and Financial Services Markets, serving many of the world’s largest enterprises, governments, and Federal Agencies. As Chairman of IBM Asia Pacific, living in Singapore, IBM returned to growth and profitability. As General Manager, of Integrated Technology Services, Growth Markets, living in Shanghai, China, I was responsible for the sales and delivery of infrastructure services to over 120 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and APAC.
My global experience, working with multinational clients, living in China, Singapore, and working across the Middle East and Africa, and now working with Nissan in Japan have developed my global business strategy and operational execution acumen, diversity, cross-cultural competence, collaboration, and communication skills. Diversity of experience thought, and culture enables better decision-making and client understanding that creates more value.
AP: How do you stay ahead of emerging trends and ensure your company remains adaptable in the face of industry disruption?
BH: I listen, read, and look across industries, companies, and countries for new perspectives, best practices, and insights to better understand potential disruptors and opportunities. A great book that I have put into practice is “Seeing Around Corners” by Rita McGrath, which prescribes how to spot inflection points in business before they happen. IBM also values research and through our Institute for Business Value (IBV) we have surveyed more than 50,000 CEOs and other C-suite executives around the world over the last 20 years to find out what is top of mind for them.
AP: What would be your key piece of career advice for individuals in leadership roles?
BH: I focus on what I can control and be adaptable through practicing situational leadership. You can’t always lead from the front. Sometimes, you need to take the time to coach and empower your team to deliver the results. You can demand accountability but can also be vulnerable. Being decisive is critical but you also need to be inclusive and patient to take time to listen and ask questions to make the best decision. In a challenging situation, I put myself in our client’s position and rely on guidance for reframing conversations to drive better transformational outcomes.
