IBM has announced that it plans to create approximately 1,800 jobs in France over a period of two years to support the new investments and initiatives it will be undertaking in the country. The announcement was made during a meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and the top administrators of IBM and Microsoft.
The hiring will be made in the area of blockchain, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cognitive business, and cybersecurity. IBM’s chairman, president, and CEO, Ginni Rometty, termed these skills as “new collar,” and the company would be hiring fresh graduates and experienced technical professionals to fill these positions. Before this announcement, IBM had stated that it would be hiring close to 400 people in the field of artificial intelligence in France.
This news comes following the Tech for Good summit which was hosted by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris. During the summit, President Macron met the top administrators of the top tech companies, like IBM’s Rometty, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Along with this, the company also announced a partnership with the French government with regards to its P-TECH (Pathways to Technology Early College High School) education model. This project works towards the empowerment of young people in securing skilled jobs. In addition to this, the tech company is also planning to start IBM France Academy, which will be “supported by online courses” to train their French employees, partners, and clients to develop their skills at the level of the Artificial Intelligence era.
IBM’s customer base in France includes companies like Orange Bank, Crédit Mutuel, national state-owned railway company, SNCF, and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, LVMH. A lot of these clients take advantage of IBM’s Watson to speed up their business processes.
IBM is also planning to build additional “local competitiveness hubs” in France. To achieve this task, they would be taking help from both public and local private partners. As of now, the company has two operative hubs in Lille and Strasbourg.
There seems to be a gradual change, but IBM is gaining ground in blockchain technology. So far, the company has gotten deals in various sectors like multi-line insurance, bank guarantee, the automobile industry, and the global food supplying sector, among others.
