2 min read October 2022 — In an interview with Invest:, Timothy Humphrey, senior site executive of IBM’s Raleigh office, discussed the technological and socioeconomic breakthroughs being achieved through regional partnerships. Instead of rejecting competitors entering the market, he is encouraged. “I believe the future is partnerships, and companies embracing partnerships will have advantages,” he said.
Why has IBM chosen to invest in the Triangle over the last 50 years?
IBM was the first large enterprise to set up shop in Research Triangle Park more than 50 years ago. At the time, my predecessors were looking at our education system’s value. In the Triangle, we are fortunate to be surrounded by so many incredible K-12 schools, community colleges, universities and HBCUs. They were visionaries and saw the potential of what industry and academia could do together in this region. North Carolina has more HBCUs than any other state, and that gives us a very diverse pool to recruit from. IBM has always embraced diversity, equity and inclusion, and creating an environment where you can recruit diverse talent right in your backyard is an advantage for us. I believe the future is partnerships, and companies embracing partnerships will have advantages over companies that choose to stay closed off. Companies that build ecosystems of mutually beneficial strategic partnerships ultimately will have the opportunity to serve their clients and stakeholders better than if they were going at it alone. With all the companies in and coming to the RTP region, it’s a perfect place for IBM to have a significant presence. Some may say, doesn’t RTP’s growth also bring competition? IBM has presence in over 170 countries, with varying levels of competitors also in the same marketplaces. Competition from near and far is constant, it’s a good thing. Competition keeps us on our toes and also fuels innovation. To demonstrate how much we really like and value the region, IBM’s RTP location is IBM’s second-largest global site and our largest North American site. We have representation here from all business units and functions. We love this region, and I don’t say this just because I was born and raised in the area.
How has your approach to data and cybersecurity shifted over the years?
This is a passion of mine. Cybersecurity is one of the most pressing issues for companies, governments and individuals right now – it impacts everyone. It’s an area where the bad guys are generally ahead of the good guys, and we have had several wake-up calls over the years. It seems every few weeks we hear about another major breach for a company holding a lot of individuals’ personal data and that is scary. In all global aspects, we have woken up to the threat of cybersecurity. It’s a huge focus for IBM and we have robust cybersecurity services and products that can help enterprises and governments secure their infrastructure and data. Security is not just about products; it’s about layers of security. I believe the most important layer of security is the individual, and as the bad guys have become more sophisticated, the individual has to be more alert. We help clients design their best security practices through our security consulting businesses. It is paramount that we all be more conscious about the threats to security and knowledgeable about the latest methods of attacking an individual, government or business.
Data from the Smithsonian Science Education Center shows 2.5 million unfilled jobs are in STEM, and according to Cyber Seek, a database from the U.S. Commerce Department, 500,000 of those are in cybersecurity. So we must focus on building cybersecurity skills. To do that, we have to be creative. The traditional methods of thinking about the workforce need to be expanded, and we have to embrace what we call “new collar” with a focus on skills versus degrees. This can happen through community college partnerships and apprenticeship programs. In the IT industry, the shelf life for skills used to be five or so years before becoming outdated. Now, that shelf life has decreased to about a year. In the world of cybersecurity, things advance quickly, so the focus needs to be on continual education. When you apply that to your workforce, that means continuous training.
Data is the new natural resource. The ability to harness and interpret data is something most enterprises and institutions are just starting to recognize is mission critical to their success. We are at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the insights gleaned from data that will allow people to make better decisions, drive more revenue and have better client sets. With the explosion of connected devices and information, data will exponentially grow. So we need to be there to help businesses harness the power of that data and digest it. Enterprises need data standards so their data is on the same page, and we will need good governance practices that will enable a good posture and compliance to the changing regulatory landscape globally. There will be an increasing focus on artificial intelligence and its regulation. To me, that all starts with data. Secondarily to that, it’s people. You have to have proper training in place and have good diversity postures. Bad input, bad output – you have to make sure those creating these models for AI and other capabilities are diverse, understand diversity and prioritize ethical practices. All of this is creating a fascinating landscape. Every day there are new discoveries in this space. With our team, I stress constant education and flexibility in approaching these topics.
What are IBM’s priorities over the next two to three years?
Recently, the CHIPS Act legislation was passed. I believe that was needed; we were behind, and the pandemic exacerbated that. Cars, dishwashers, fighter jets, the operations and controls for sanitation services – once it hit the consumer, we realized how crucial this legislation was. We see how political outcomes and Mother Nature can affect the supply chain, and the CHIPS Act was needed for our country to bring semiconductor research and manufacturing into our borders. It’s a large national security problem and a massive consumer convenience issue. At IBM, while we don’t manufacture and fabricate chips, we do a lot of work in the semiconductor research and development space. It’s an opportunity for us to collaborate with chip manufacturers.
One thing we’re starting in RTP for IBM is the OneTen project. We are helping Black Americans get family-sustaining jobs that they otherwise would not have gotten. How do we open doors and make sure they can compete for these jobs? It’s called OneTen because the goal is to upskill and hire one million Black Americans, not those that are already on track to graduate with degrees, but those from nontraditional methods. We are partnering with multiple large companies to accomplish this over the next 10 years. We are rethinking our talent acquisition private practices and transitioning from requiring degrees to requiring skills. Around 50% of our job openings on average have no degree required but focus on skills. It’s a cultural mindset shift and I believe it is the future.
A third key initiative for us is our work with quantum computing. Locally, we have partnered with my alma mater North Carolina State University to develop The IBM Quantum Hub. Quantum computing is a game changing technology breakthrough for the IT industry because instead of only being able to represent something in binary ones and zeros, we can fill in the gaps in between. This will allow us to do things like model occurrences in nature and allow for stronger cybersecurity algorithms which gives us the opportunity to get ahead of the bad guys. Simply put, it creates the potential for a safer computing environment for all of us.
These are three examples of the exciting and meaningful work we are doing day in and day out in RTP.
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