IBM appoints new UK and Ireland ecosystem boss

Alison Say has been appointed to the VP role by big blue after holding previous leadership positions at IBM UKI

IBM's new vice president of ecosystem in the UK and Ireland has said she will work "more closely" with partners to accelerate growth in the region.

Alison Say has been appointed to the VP role by Big Blue after holding previous leadership positions at IBM UK&I.

These include director of customer success manager architects, chief digital officer and the partner ecosystem director.

She has also held senior sales roles at The Channel Company in the US before joining IBM.

As a result, IBM believes she will bring a "wealth" of channel experience to the role.

Say said she is "looking forward" to working with the IBM team and partners "to continue elevating the importance and value of our ecosystem go-to-market model".

She added: "I'm thrilled to take on this new role and work more closely with our partners in the IBM Ecosystem to accelerate innovation and growth for clients in the UK and Ireland.

"Clients need to be able to modernise and innovate at speed by tapping into key technologies such as data, AI and automation, hybrid cloud and security."

In IBM's latest Q2 results, hybrid cloud revenue over the last 12 months hit $21.7bn, up 16 percent.

Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman and chief executive officer, said revenue performance with balanced growth across geographies was "driven by client demand for our hybrid cloud and AI offerings".

Say said that Ecosystem partnerships is "fundamental to success" as the company pursues its hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

She added: "Our research shows that when clients co-create with a broad ecosystem of partners they can bring these new solutions to market four times faster.

"IBM's Hybrid Cloud and AI strategy uniquely positions us to solve our clients' challenges; multiply that with the power of our Sell, Service and Build partners and we have a hugely compelling set of offerings to realise client value and help them thrive in this digital economy."