IBM Corp. is expanding its Client Innovation Centre (CIC) in Montreal with plans to increase its work in artificial intelligence (AI) and grow its partnership with Salesforce.
The company announced today that it plans to create 100 high-skilled jobs in 2019 at the CIC focused around growing its AI research and its partnership with Salesforce.
“It is no secret Montreal has established itself as a global hub in AI. The city is a magnet for talent and investments, research in AI is quickly expanding worldwide, and particularly in Montreal, but AI is far from having reached its full potential in delivering concrete results for businesses,” said Claude Guay, general manager of IBM Services Canada in the press release. “IBM’s CIC in Montréal will focus on delivering value to its clients through applied AI and bringing real solutions to real problems.”
According to the press release IBM is looking to fill roles in machine learning engineers, data scientists, full stack developers, and data scientists.
Additionally, IBM announced that it will be partnering with data scientists from Montreal-based IVADO, the Institute for Data Valorization, which includes affiliated scientists from the Université de Montréal, HEC Montréal, and Polytechnique Montréal. This will bring a “depth of expertise in AI to the IBM-IVADO collaboration and ultimately deliver better value to clients,” the release stated.
The Montreal-based CIC was first opened in 2016 as an IBM Services hub to fast-track the digital transformation of both public and private Canadian organizations. It is the second IBM Services location in Canada.
The multinational information technology company also started partnering with Salesforce last year, which saw an integration with Salesforce’s Einstein and IBM’s Watson to combine the AI platforms’ capabilities for enterprise customers.
Today’s announcement will see that partnership grow in Canada, focused around the Montreal hub. “IBM serves a number of North American clients through Salesforce certified talent in the Montreal CIC. In the next year, IBM will continue to significantly increase its talent in Montreal and hire more Salesforce consultants, developers, and architects,” the release said.
With the new IVADO partnership, expansion of its Salesforce collaboration and an increased focus on AI, IBM’s CIC will help train new professionals in AI and Salesforce’s platform, and offer “high-quality services in both English and French at competitive rates, and ultimately offer all the benefits of a global centre with the close proximity to our clients in Quebec and across Canada.”
