Inside Latin America’s ambitious plan to seize the AI opportunity

Article May 23, 2024 Read time: 1 min

Kyndryl and Microsoft are working together to help customers take advantage of key IT trends

Business leaders in Latin America are digitally transforming their organizations at an accelerated pace, driven by the need to adapt to the changing market conditions and customer expectations.

According to a report by IDC, spending on IT services and infrastructure in the region is expected to grow by 11% in 2024, reaching $81.2 billion. Cloud, data, artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI and cybersecurity are among the key technologies that can enable businesses to innovate and differentiate themselves in the competitive landscape.

However, implementing these technologies requires a deep understanding of the business context, the necessary technical capabilities, and the best practices to ensure scalability and performance.

To help customers in Latin America seize the AI opportunity in their businesses, Kyndryl and Microsoft are expanding their Center of Excellence capabilities in the region. Launched in February 2023, the Center combines Kyndryl's expertise, comprehensive services and understanding of mission-critical IT systems with the Microsoft Cloud to offer data, AI, generative AI and cybersecurity solutions.

Here, Priscyla Laham, Vice President Americas, Global Partner Solutions at Microsoft, and Carla Carvalho, Alliance Leader for Microsoft at Kyndryl Latin America, discuss the challenges and opportunities for customers in the region.

What are the main benefits that Kyndryl and Microsoft’s Center of Excellence bring to customers in Latin America?

Priscyla Laham: The Center is a unique initiative that leverages the strengths of both Kyndryl and Microsoft to deliver IT solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of each customer. We can offer a holistic approach that covers the entire cloud and AI journey spectrum to transform customers' businesses, enhance their customer experience and drive growth. It is not just a technical hub but also a platform for collaboration where Microsoft and Kyndryl teams can share best practices with customers and partners.

Carla Carvalho: The Center is a strategic initiative that reflects our commitment to empowering customers in Latin America to achieve more with Microsoft Cloud and AI. By co-creating with them, we can leverage our end-to-end services and deep knowledge in managing mission-critical IT systems.

What are some of the challenges that companies are facing?

Carvalho: One of the challenges faced by customers who want to adopt cloud and AI technologies is dealing with data. Since AI is only as strong as the data it’s fed, enterprises are realizing the need to establish strong data governance programs so they can prepare to use AI to deliver business value. This requires us to scale up our capabilities to meet the needs of each customer. Another challenge is the complexity of IT environments, which often involve legacy systems, hybrid architectures and multiple vendors. This requires us to apply our expertise to ensure the compatibility and interoperability of the solutions that we deliver. Companies also struggle to address tech skills gaps and this challenge can set them back in their digital transformation journey.

How is the Center of Excellence evolving in its second year?

Laham: For this new phase, we provide access to the latest technologies and innovations from Microsoft, such as Azure OpenAI, MS Fabric, Copilot and ContainerApps, and help customers integrate them into their existing IT environments. These tools and platforms help people be more creative, more productive and help to create new solutions to solve thorny business challenges.

Carvalho: In Latin America, we use our global Kyndryl and Microsoft alliance to accelerate customers’ responsible adoption of generative AI solutions in their enterprises on the Microsoft Cloud. We are intensifying our investment in skills using Kyndryl University for Microsoft to educate their employees on new Microsoft AI technologies.

How has the Center of Excellence been successful?

Carvalho: We have several best practices across different industries and countries. In Peru, we collaborated with Microsoft to tailor a chatbot solution for financial services and manufacturing customers. By leveraging GenAI, the chatbot can enhance natural language processing and create personalized responses to optimize customer engagement.

In Chile, we ran workshops with customers in mining and natural resources to explore the opportunities of generative AI implementation. In Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, we have held Security Lab events to co-create innovative cybersecurity and resilience solutions with customers. In Argentina, many use cases for generative AI and Copilot have been developed for customers in different industries. In all these cases, we applied a co-creation methodology that involved participation from customers throughout the process.

What is the future of IT in Latin America?

Laham: The future of IT is focused on AI. As AI gains more importance in business strategies, its impact will become significant. Organizations are just starting to understand the extent of what’s possible. In 2023, Microsoft unveiled AI’s potential to the world. We continue to innovate and build upon our decades of research to provide transformative tools. In 2024, we’ve set our sights on bringing more advanced capabilities to Copilot, including expanded multi-modal and complex task tools. This year, you’ll see in Latin America AI’s transformative power in enhancing productivity, advancing healthcare, improving cybersecurity and fueling scientific breakthroughs, all grounded in responsibility and humanity.

Carvalho: A modern IT environment can enhance business outcomes, improve customers’ experiences, expand agility and even future-proof a company’s IT infrastructure. While this process can create tremendous value, it also leads to new changes in applications and data. To harness the benefits of AI and be ahead in the cybersecurity game, companies must work with a trusted partner who understands their business to bring the best technology to meet their needs.