IBM positions itself as an ecosystem conductor as sovereign AI pressures mount
Partner ecosystems and hybrid AI orchestration have become essential for enterprises navigating agentic AI at scale, where governance, data sovereignty and coordination determine success in a regulated and geopolitically complex environment.
IBM Corp. has positioned its own hybrid AI strategy as the answer to that challenge, positioning open ecosystems and partner collaboration as the foundation of any durable AI operating model. The urgency for both is notable, with imperatives to keep data under sovereign control and to run AI wherever it lives colliding across the enterprise landscape, according to Jason Kelley (pictured, right), global head and managing partner for core business applications at IBM. But the sheer scale of that coordination problem is precisely where IBM Consulting sees its value.
“The challenge is in front of us to make sure that our partners are orchestrated together [for] that given client, in that given industry, in that given sovereign network,” Kelley said. “That’s where we come in — as conductors of that orchestration.”
Kelley and Javier Olaizola (left), global managing partner for hybrid cloud and data at IBM Consulting, spoke with theCUBE’s John Furrier and Dave Vellante at the Think 2026 event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed hybrid AI orchestration, sovereign AI strategy and IBM Consulting’s role in partner ecosystems. (* Disclosure below.)
