I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Business Development, FS APAC at Worldline Financial Services, APAC.
Manish is a newly minted IBM Champion 👏🏻, who shared his inspiring journey and insights into the world of IBM technology advocacy. With less than a year under his belt as an IBM Champion, he’s already made a significant impact, driven by both his passion for technology and a desire to give back to the community.
Manish’s favorite IBM products are Z/OS Connect and watsonx code assistant for Z (WCA for Z). Z/OS Connect enables their solutions to seamlessly integrate with the outside world, while WCA for Z enhances developer productivity as they modernize their solutions. Both tools have been instrumental in helping them serve their customers better.
When it comes to advocacy, this IBM Champion finds speaking engagements to be the most impactful, followed closely by blogging. There’s something about sharing your passion and experiences firsthand that resonates deeply with people. Blogs, especially those written from personal experience and with heart, can inspire and educate in a unique way. If you want to catch Manish in action, you can check out the replay from Manish’s session at IBM Z Day SE on April 8
How AI on IBM Z is changing the payments landscape
This session will reveal how Worldline, an international payments company, has partnered with IBM to exploit new innovation to enhance credit card fraud detection. You will hear how they are embedding AI/Machine Learning model serving within CICS transactions on the same z/OS instance and leveraging the AI accelerator of Telum I and II processor, as well as potentially an advanced transformer model running on Spyre Accelerator cards to detect fraud and further improve predictions.
When asked what drives him to give back to the technology community and led to their becoming an IBM Champion? He shared that he’s been fortunate to receive amazing mentoring from ex-IBMers like Charlie Ill and Mike Clayville. They’re also a big fan of IBM’s commitment to the community, as evidenced by their resilience and customer advocacy. IBM’s salespeople are highly respected, and they’ve always admired their consultative selling approach and empathy for the situation.
If Manish wasn’t in technology, he’d love to be an airline pilot. There’s something about the freedom of the skies and the precision required in that job that appeals to him.
Recently, he attended the Z17 Launch and Money 2020 events. Both were fantastic, offering insights into the latest trends and innovations in technology.
His advice for those beginning their mainframe career; Mainframe offers unprecedented resiliency, security, and economy, especially for scale. It works with the speed of thought. If you bring imagination and are ready to challenge business as usual, then Mainframe will offer one of the best platforms. Mainframe users are banks, insurance companies, governments, telecom sectors, healthcare, airlines, and large manufacturing. They are all witnessing disruption every day. Your ability to develop AI-infused processes and applications will find a very good use. If you want to build healthcare solutions, do it on Mainframe as the large hospitals and therefore a large community will be able to adopt your solutions. When you build something on Mainframe, you are certain that the adoption will be widespread.
Manish’s journey as an IBM Champion is a testament to his passion for technology and advocacy. He’s excited to continue contributing to the community and learning from others in the process.
This IBM Champion’s story is a shining example of the impact that passionate, dedicated individuals can have on the technology landscape. Their commitment to advocacy, combined with their expertise in IBM products, makes them a valuable asset to the IBM community and a source of inspiration for those just starting their mainframe careers
If you are interest in growing your advocacy journey, the IBM Z Advocacy Hub can help you find opportunities, resources, and claim your badges in recognition of your advocacy contributions.
Get to know a bit more about Manish in the ⚡lightning round:
· What would be your superpower and why? Flying an Airplane 😊
· Bucket list trip? Kenya 🇰🇪
· Ice cream or cake? Ice cream 🍦
· Cats or dogs? Dogs 🐶
· Summer or winter? Winter ❄️
· Morning or evening? Morning. 🌅
· eBook or paper book? Paper Books 📖
· TV shows or movies? Movies (good ones stick – The Guardian – Kevin Costner and Ashton Kucher)
· A night out or a night in? In 🏠
· Cannonball into the pool or dip a toe in first? Dip a toe 😊
· Go-to karaoke song? Play It again by Luke Bryan
· Drive or fly? Fly ✈️
Connect with Manish on linked in.
#IBMChampion-Spotlight
#IBMChampions