THE TECHNOLOGY INTERVIEW

in retrieval augmented generation( RAG) through vector databases. As Leon emphasises, solving fundamental data challenges unlocks the potential for return on investment.

“ Being able to harness information and get that information clean and accurate is definitely one of the bigger challenges. Getting that right does really help return on investment,” he says.

Internal transformation provides template for enterprise adoption When discussing successful AI implementation, Leon doesn’ t begin with customer case studies but with IBM’ s own transformation. The company applies what it calls a‘ Client Zero’ methodology, serving as its own test case before deploying solutions externally.

This approach has generated substantial internal benefits.“ IBM has generated around US $ 3.5bn from productivity gains, about US $ 2bn of that through AI and automation,” Leon says.

One of the most successful internal projects has been Ask HR, a natural language interface for employee queries that now handles 11 million interactions annually. The system emerged from analysis of help desk tickets that revealed inefficiencies in IBM’ s traditional HR processes.

“ We saw things like promotion cases or transferring employees taking a huge amount of time,” Leon recalls.“ We were able to analyse that through our help desk tickets.”

44 June 2025