Akram Abdouch views IBM TechXchange 2025 as the place where modernization, data, and client value come together. With his focus on product management, delivery and client success, Akram brings a pragmatic yet intuitive view to the table. His focus is on helping organizations navigate roadblocks and ensure modernization journeys result in success.
“Progress comes from planning, resilience, and trusted data.”
Akram's message is simple and founded on the foundation of building strong relationships and adapting to the changing needs of clients and global regulations. By staying adaptable to shifting business needs and evolving global regulations, he ensures modernization is a lasting path to client value and measurable outcomes.
Navigating the Modernization Journey
Modernization may sound straightforward; however, it is rarely ever without challenges. The biggest issue when modernizing is the way that companies approach the idea. Oftentimes, clients simply rush into motion without planning for possible repercussions and end up stopping as soon as they face their first obstacle.
His advice when modernizing:
-
Don’t hesitate or stop moving forward when faced with roadblocks.
-
Plan and understand the challenge first.
-
Focus on progress, not perfection.
This mindset is what allows IBM’s Expert Labs to step in and guide clients through their modernization journeys
AI, Data, and the Reality Behind the Buzz
When it comes to clients and modernizing, AI is the elephant in the room. It is on the mind of most clients and has massive potential—potential to change entire organizations! But the reactions differ.
Akram describes three types of clients he encounters:
-
Those are not ready to hear about AI at all.
-
Those open to learning, but not yet prioritizing it.
-
Those in the thick of adoption, eager to improve.
Regardless, Akram's team takes the same approach every time, starting with data integration, intelligence, and governance. Even when AI isn’t on the immediate roadmap, modernization around data gets clients a step closer to future AI use cases.
Client Expectations and the Climb Ahead
In just a few years, AI has gone from a curiosity to a necessity, reshaping client expectations in the process. Akram has seen how quickly organizations shift—skeptical one year, experimenting the next, and demanding real outcomes shortly after. That trend isn’t slowing down.
Looking five to ten years ahead, he expects client demands to only intensify. Which is why he stresses that IBM’s role isn’t just delivering technology but delivering solutions that solve business challenges. By centring all their energy and focus on value and outcomes, IBM is able to help clients ground their investments in measurable impact.
Global Perspectives and the Role of Regulation
Akram's unique perspectives also come from working across geographies. Bringing modernization and integrating AI throughout the globe means not just being able to have an efficient solution but something that can be implemented throughout different geographies with different regulations.
Compliance and governance are tricky to work with and non-negotiable. There are some markets that very quickly integrate AI, while other markets impose very strict rules that effectively block AI from being used and influence how solutions are deployed. For Akram, the key is learning from each market and sharing those lessons worldwide.
Watch Akram Abdouch at the IBM TechXchange Conference 2025, October 6 to 9 in Orlando, Florida 📅
Unlocking the Power of Data Intelligence: Modernizing IGC/IA to watsonx.data intelligence [3231]
Unlock the Power of DataStage: Modernizing Information Server DataStage to watsonx.data Integration [3230]