IBM Think 2025: The tech trinity of AI, hybrid cloud and quantum as the new enterprise playbook

At IBM’s flagship event Think 2025, the conversation revolved around how IBM is gearing up for the disruptive forces reshaping the enterprise IT landscape. The company calls it its “tech trinity.” Giving more context, Sandip Patel, Managing Director, India and South Asia, IBM, says, “The tech trinity defined by AI, Hybrid Cloud and Quantum Computing will enable enterprises to shape their new digital destiny for India. It’s all about translating data into action, scaling growth, and tackling some of the toughest challenges of our times.”

 “A bulk of enterprise data today remains untapped. You can imagine the value it can unlock when coupled with agentic AI - it drives not only productivity but also shapes the business models of the future.It can truly change industry paradigms in a fundamentally different way. Add the power of compute through quantum, and you can solve some of the most complex problems, from risk modelling and drug discovery to autonomous vehicles and accelerated product development,” Patel added.

Hans Dekkers, General Manager, IBM Asia Pacific, added that this combination of AI, hybrid cloud, and quantum is creating the foundation for a new generation of intelligent, workflow-driven enterprises across the region.

Airtel–IBM partnership: Cloud built for regulated industries

Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, has entered into a strategic partnership with IBM to augment its recently launched Airtel Cloud. The collaboration brings together the telco-grade reliability, high security, and data residency of Airtel Cloud with IBM’s leadership in hybrid cloud and AI infrastructure, designed to help enterprises run and scale AI workloads securely and efficiently.

Through this partnership, Airtel and IBM aim to enable enterprises in regulated industries to manage interoperability across infrastructure, on-premises, in the cloud, across multiple clouds, and at the edge.

Airtel Cloud customers will be able to deploy the IBM Power Systems portfolio as-a-Service, including the latest-generation IBM Power11 autonomous, AI-ready servers for mission-critical applications in banking, healthcare, government, and other regulated sectors. The Power11 hybrid platform will also support critical enterprise workloads such as IBM Power AIX, IBM i, Linux, and SAP Cloud ERP, helping customers accelerate their ERP transformation journeys to SAP Cloud ERP on IBM Power Virtual Server.

Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said, “Airtel Cloud is designed to be highly secure and compliant, setting new industry benchmarks as an agile and resilient cloud platform. Today, with the IBM partnership, we are adding substantial capabilities to our Cloud platform to address the unique needs of several industries that require migration from IBM Power Systems and allow for AI readiness. With this partnership, we are also extending the footprint of our availability zones in India from four to ten, hosting these on our own next-gen sustainable data centres. We will, together, also establish two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai soon.”

Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM, added, “Enterprises today need to balance modernisation with the growing regulated technology and AI requirements. Through our partnership with Bharti Airtel, clients across India can leverage IBM’s innovative cloud offerings designed for workloads that address their strategic business priorities. Together, we will help clients drive true transformation in the era of AI.”

With IBM’s watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift AI, clients will be able to run AI inference across hybrid cloud environments, accessing enterprise-grade IaaS and PaaS offerings coupled with Red Hat’s hybrid cloud solutions including OpenShift Virtualisation and Red Hat AI. IBM’s hybrid cloud architecture is also designed to support future innovations in AI and quantum computing, while Airtel’s Multi Zone Regions (MZRs) will strengthen enterprise resilience, ensure data residency compliance, and keep mission-critical workloads running seamlessly.

Patel said this partnership represents a strong example of how India can build “clouds of its own” for regulated industries, compliant with domestic laws while unlocking AI-driven growth. 

The power of partnerships

Patel emphasised that IBM’s growth in India will continue to be ecosystem-led. “We live in a world of partnerships. No single organisation can solve every client challenge,” he remarked. IBM has already launched similar initiatives in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore, combining IBM’s hybrid cloud capabilities with local infrastructure players.

Hans Dekkers explained that these collaborations give enterprises control over their data and AI models while allowing flexibility in deployment. “Enterprises want to decide where their data runs and how their models evolve. It shouldn’t be dictated by a vendor. Our approach is to co-create with clients, building open, secure, hybrid systems that work for their goals and their customers,” he said.

From product silos to workflow-centric enterprises

Dekkers observed that many enterprises were originally structured around products, geographies, and silos. The convergence of AI, hybrid cloud, and data platforms, he noted, is now giving rise to a new organisational model centred on workflows.

He elaborated that when workflows are augmented by AI, they open a new chapter of operational reinvention, helping enterprises reimagine how they go to market and how work gets done.

AI for developers, by developers

Patel highlighted IBM’s internal innovation culture. Developers within IBM are already using WatsonX and AI-assisted tools to modernise applications. “We apply what we build. Our ‘client-zero’ mindset ensures we test, refine, and adopt AI tools within IBM before bringing them to clients,” he said.

Open models and responsible AI

IBM is collaborating with India’s broader AI ecosystem, supporting open-source and indigenous AI model development. “We’re helping accelerate these efforts through our tools and governance frameworks. We fundamentally believe that the world will not run on a few large models — AI must remain democratised,” Patel said.

He stressed that the real differentiation lies in responsible governance, not model size. “The world will compete on how we manage and govern AI responsibly, not just how fast we build it,” he noted.

Quantum: The next frontier and reinventing the legacy core

Looking ahead, Patel described quantum computing as the next evolution of computing, enabling enterprises to solve complex problems traditional systems cannot. “Quantum is the next frontier that complements AI. We’re embedding responsibility, security, and governance into every layer of our AI and quantum stack,” he added.

 Gearing up for the future

From the Airtel–IBM partnership to AI-powered developer innovation, IBM’s focus remains clear: creating open, sovereign, and intelligent technology frameworks that redefine how enterprises scale and govern digital growth. As Patel summed it up, “This isn’t just about innovation — it’s about reimagining enterprise progress for a more secure, inclusive, and data-driven India.”