Company: IBM, Armonk, New York, NY
Company Description: IBM is a values-based enterprise of individuals who create & apply technology to make the world work better. Today, more than 250,000 IBM employees around the world invent and integrate hardware, software and services to help forward-thinking enterprises, institutions and people succeed on a smarter planet.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Business Technology
Nomination Sub Category: Digital Process Automation Solution
 Nomination Title: IBM's App Toolkit for IBM Intelligent Workflow (IW)
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated new or new-version product or service, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: If this is a brand-new product, state the date on which it was released. If this is a new version of an existing product, state the date on which the update was released:
App Toolkit for IBM Intelligent Workflow (IW) released in 2022.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the features, functions, and benefits of the nominated product or service (up to 350 words):
Total 320 words used.
IBM is transforming its processes and how they are executed to achieve productivity increases and operational goals. This objective being achieved by eliminating legacy applications, simplifying business processes and the way they are executed, automating repetitive tasks and standardizing process end execution criteria - while allowing the teams to focus on high value tasks.
To succeed in these challenges IBM introduced App Toolkit for IBM Intelligent Workflow (IW), which is a standard proof-tested set of configurable components that follows a composable IBM garage.
App Toolkit for IBM IW is a composable platform that can be adapted to the different client needs, by customizing and assembling a set of pre-built, standard components and services, reducing the development and deployment phases.
The App Toolkit provides out-of-the-box:
- Unified, best-of-breed user experience
- Unified Data Model with cognitive capabilities, security, and integration services to back-end solutions.
- Ability to bind data model and services of any sort with seamless integration to any back end systems.
- Ability to deploy and transform the business incrementally via App Instances, one App at a time.
Intelligent workflow scalability and business-growth features ensure that IBM can leverage the platform with external customers, proving to “sell-what-is-used”, and contributing to minimize the costs of external engagement delivery (IBM as the primary client).
For example, to support specific domains of the sales and delivery process for IBM Consulting Units, IBM introduced two applications:
- Order Management (ORM) application, that simplify and automate the contract registration activities, allowing the business to have quality contract data in a shorter timeframe, leading to a smoothest and seamless project delivery
- Billing and Invoicing (B&I) application, that automate the creation of customer invoices, directly by the project managers responsible of the contract deliverables, resulting in much improved customer satisfaction, invoicing accuracy and faster cash collection.
The applications are leading to substantial productivity increases, measured in the two-digits range: > 40% for Order Management and > 90% for Billing and invoicing.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Outline the market performance, critical reception, and customer satisfaction with the product or service to date. State monetary or unit sales figures to date, if possible, and how they compare to expectations or past performance. Provide links to laudatory product or service reviews. Include some customer testimonials, if applicable (up to 350 words):
Total 348 words used.
IBM Intelligent Workflow is providing best in class user experience, to ensure data consistency across integrated systems of records, while infused AI provides business insight to users via AI machine learning models.
Feedback is continuously received from business users expressing their appreciation for how this new approach simplified their business activities, allowing to have a hugely improved end customer relationship.
Using best in class technologies such as RedHat OpenShift infrastructure, application toolkit components and multi-tenancy approach, we completely changed the user experience of how the contract registration and billing activities are executed: from a complex scenario where different teams were involved, using several tools to engage each tier and exchanging data via legacy tools and application, we moved to an optimized user experience, where the self-service approach for the specific personas is they key: now who is responsible can do, without asking a different team.
The lead to cash domains supported by Intelligent Workflow present significant challenges in terms of business users and volumes. Considering the IBM Consulting unit only, we support more then 15,000 Partners, Associate Partners, Project managers and Commercial managers to register new contracts and contracts changes and to issue Customer invoices according to the contractual terms.
The number of contracts registered goes up to 2,000 per month, while the number of invoices issued goes up to 10,000 per month, on average (business quarter ends in March, June, September and December can easily see these numbers doubled).
Intelligent workflow led, and it is still leading, outstanding business results, across all the geographies, measured comparing the legacy scenarios and the current outcomes of the IW applications.
These are:
- Order Management application adoption: 100%, with over 4,000 users: Productivity increase: >40%
- Billing & Invoicing application Adoption: 100%, with over 7,000 users, o/w nearly 93% in self-service mode: Productivity increase: >90%
- 2022-2023 IBM global hard benefits: > $5M
The results of this project are not only well represented in terms of hard benefits for IBM organizations, but also in terms of users’ satisfaction, timeliness, quality of data, faster and more accurate cash collection.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
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