Page 47 - Skills - 2024

Why I Work in Tech:
Benjamin Morris,
Senior Client Engineering Manager, IBM
Scarsdale resident Benjamin Morris is an IBM senior client engineering manager who focuses on artificial intelligence. The team he leads at IBM helps co-create innovative solutions with clients, including in AI.
He’s worked at the global technology innovator company since he graduated college, nearly 24 years ago, starting
as an IT specialist, then rising through the ranks to other positions like emerging-technologies client engagement manager and senior cloud engineer before his role now. In his current job, he works with clients who are interested in purchasing IBM software and ensures that the solutions they choose are suitable for their needs.
“I’ve had a very varied career here, always in tech,” says Morris. “I’ve seen IBM and the industry and Westchester change for the past two-and-a-half decades I’ve been here. I moved around as things got interesting, as new technologies came out.”
But over the past year, he went from very little AI to “nonstop, like an avalanche,” as he describes it.
“Every business is looking into it and everybody wants to see how AI can help,” says Morris. “They all need it.
It’s what’s going to take us into the next decade or millennium of technological advances. But the smart businesses and customers are trying to do it in a measured, safe, trustable way.”
That’s what he talks to clients about every day to ensure they are using an open, trusted, targeted, and, most importantly, safe approach that empowers them to do what they really need to do. Up until early 2023, Morris says most of his conversations with clients weren’t centered
These stories generated for GRAMMYs social media are examples of how IBM uses AI on behalf of clients.
around AI, but the switch has flipped. Now, they all ask for proofs of concept that relate to AI, like how they can use a new chatbot to ease the pain that customer support might be feeling. At least 75% of Morris’ projects are based around AI and making sure it’s giving the correct, trusted answers.
He’s excited about what’s to come and encourages more people to go down the tech route.
“You’d be making the right decision,” he says of anyone who is pursuing a tech-related degree now. “It’s clearly a huge priority. I think getting up to speed on all of these technologies and models is important, as well as focusing on the governance to make sure there’s no bias.”
What’s Hot. What’s Next. What’s Needed. 2024 SKILLS 45
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