IBM Build Partner Inspire for Solutions Development is a regional consulting firm that provides enterprise IT solutions across the Middle East. Jad Haddad, Head of AI at Inspire for Solutions Development has embraced the IBM watsonx™ AI and data platform to enhance the HR experience for its 450 employees.

By Bretty Rawson, IBM Corporation

Next-gen HR for a next-gen workforce

As a new generation of digital natives enters the workforce, we are seeing new expectations around the employee experience. Gen Z employees prefer an HR experience that mirrors the speed and convenience of the social and e-commerce channels they grew up with.

Like many businesses, our approach to HR used to depend heavily on manual, time-consuming processes. To attract and retain talent in the long term, we need to make routine HR activities quick and seamless. These activities include booking vacations, submitting expenses or requesting health insurance forms quick and seamless for our employees.

Building an innovative AI assistant

We saw an opportunity to transform our approach to HR by embracing the latest in generative AI technology.

Our new solution is conversational AI powered by IBM® watsonx Assistant™. It’s built on large language models from Meta Llama 3, which we trained by using IBM® watsonx.ai. We’ve seamlessly integrated the assistant into our internal company portal, putting it right at our employees’ fingertips. Now, our people can ask HR-related questions in natural language and get instant support.

Consider the following example. An employee says to the assistant: “I want to take tomorrow off as annual leave.” Behind the scenes, the conversational AI receives the request, accesses the necessary HR systems via APIs and makes the booking in real time.

This not only saves time for our employees, but also helps our HR professionals focus on value-added activities. And crucially, we can provide a high-quality experience that helps make Inspire for Solutions Development a more desirable place to work.

Selecting an open, trusted platform

The IBM watsonx platform is the perfect fit for our AI ambitions. We can choose the open models that are right for us, and then fine-tune them as much as we need with watsonx.ai. The platform offers tailored solutions for HR, which helped us get our virtual assistant into production quickly and efficiently. 

With the API integration, the agent can complete HR-related tasks for employees, rather than just providing assistance. Our employees are delighted with our new AI assistant, and we plan to build on the strong results we’ve already achieved.

For example, we are working on making the chatbot available in Arabic and improving its overall accuracy and performance. In addition, we are considering switching from Meta Llama 3 to IBM Granite™ models.

Working closely with trusted, familiar partners

IBM assigned a dedicated Build seller, Levent Kaygusuz, to guide us through the onboarding process and help us develop a partnership roadmap focused on co-creation, co-selling and reaching new markets. In addition, IBM appointed a customer success manager, Amine Anouja, to support us throughout this journey.

We collaborated closely with the IBM Build Lab to start our first on-premises watsonx™ platform in our data center. IBM also used their highly skilled resources to expedite innovation and reduce time to market for our solution.

Driving internal and external confidence

We’ve deployed IBM solutions for many clients across the Middle East, and we’ve found them to be nothing but robust, secure and reliable. We get direct assistance from IBM whenever we need it, and the team regularly checks in with us to make sure we’re getting the most out of the IBM solution portfolio. If I had to sum up why we’ve chosen to be an IBM Build Partner in one word, it would be trust.

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