DevOps is a widely recognised and adopted methodology today, boosting agility, innovation and resilience. This year, IBM decided to sponsore Computing's DevOps Excellence Awards to support the entire community.
Paul Briscoe is CTO for hybrid cloud transformation, UK&I at IBM, who considers it "incredibly important" to reward the hard work of people in the DevOps industry
While the engineers working for IBM today might go to a competitor later on, lifting them up will bring benefits to the whole community
This, Paul says, is part of the reason why IBM decided to sponsor this year's DevOps Excellence Awards, which took place last month.
Computing: Please provide some background on IBM for our readers.
Paul Briscoe: IBM's greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organisations in the world, we're also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on IBM to run their business.
What makes IBM stand out?
In a world where technology never stands still, I understand that dedication to our clients' success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers, as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better. In my 30+ years, I have had to re-invent myself every 18-24 months. Uniquely sitting as a distinguished engineer and senior partner in IBM, I bring to our clients a technical lens with business acumen.
Why did you decide to sponsor the DevOps Excellence Awards this year?
I think it is incredibly important to reward the hard work of the individuals within the industry. The UK today is full of a rich and growing community of engineers. Those engineers might work for IBM today; a competitor tomorrow. It is important that the community rewards itself and grows. The DevOps Excellence Awards is a fantastic way of rewarding all that hard work, be it at IBM or somewhere else.
What was your proudest company achievement in the last 12 months?
IBM has had many achievements that we can be proud of over the last 12 months, but I think the main one has to be the next generation work in quantum, culminating in the IBM Quantum Summit. IBM is leading the way in the theory and production of quantum computers; now it is time for adoption.
What are you working on this year?
I am in the middle of creating an asset-based practice, driven by IBM's acquisition of Nordcloud, as well as existing capabilities in migration, modernisation and DevSecOps. IBM has created platform engineering services (PES) as the fundamental and integral base for all phases of every cloud transformation journey. It delivers end-to-end design, build, transition and management across AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle, IBM Cloud, hybrid and private cloud.
The DevOps Excellence Awards will return next year. Click here for a list of 2023's winners.
