IBM Unveils New Predictive Analytics Lab in China

IBM (News - Alert) has launched a new predictive analytics software lab in Xi’an China. Officials with IBM said that the lab will help the company’s clients see patterns in vast amounts of data and forecast trends before they occur for improved decision making and competitive advantage. 

Company officials said that the new lab will serve as a global hub for analytics development helping clients adopt predictive analytics capabilities tailored for their industry-specific requirements including banking, telecommunications, power grid, railroads, health care and urban management.

According to company officials, the lab will include a dedicated team of more than 200 software engineers and IT architects focused on helping clients bring new predictive analytics solutions to market.

This move, company officials said highlights IBM’s focus on business analytics to meet growing client needs to cut costs, reduce risk, combat fraud and increase profitability through predictive analytics capabilities.

These capabilities help organizations analyze trends and patterns found in historical and current data to drive new forms of competitive advantage by predicting potential future outcomes and transforming all elements of their business, including product and service offerings for customers.

Xi’an City Commercial Bank is the first foreign invested commercial bank in western China, and with 113 branches with 2,000 employees, it is becoming one of the most profitable domestic commercial banks in the region.

The bank is working with experts at IBM’s new predictive analytics lab in Xi’an to explore how it can transform its operations through improved insight on their business information and predict new outcomes for improved customer service.

“We appreciate and welcome that IBM is enhancing investment in Xi’an. We hope more vendors will come to Xi’an to help make our city better and the western region more developed,” said Jing Junhai, vice governor of Shaanxi Province, in a statement.

Steve Mills, senior vice present and group executive of IBM Software Group said that IBM is focused on helping clients gain faster intelligence on their information to improve their businesses operations and predict trends before they occur.

“IBM is uniquely positioned with an unmatched portfolio to help organizations not only cope with the data deluge, but gain actionable insight into their most strategic asset - their business information,” Mills said.

The new lab will become part of IBM’s China Development Laboratory, IBM’s largest network of labs with more than 5,000 software engineers.