IBM has announced the opening of a service innovation centre that will enable companies to access  next generation services development environments, helping them to quickly develop, test and deploy next generation services for businesses and consumers.

Speaking at the launch of “The Innovation Place” on 27 April 2010, RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said such Next Generation Innovation Centres play a pivotal role in bringing end users from private, people and public sectors to work together with technology and service providers to create next generation services that meet end user needs.

Mr Anthony Steel, Managing Partner, IBM Global Business Services, ASEAN, speaking at the official opening of The Innovation Place.

“More importantly, MNCs like IBM will work with local companies, sharing their technology expertise and business experience in developing and delivering innovative products and services not only locally but also overseas,” he added.

The Innovation Place will leverage IBM’s expertise in technology, global best practices and consulting capabilities to create innovative business models, products and services for organisations. It will be supported by a dedicated team of business and technical professionals including business concept consultants and solution architects.

Retail Service Providers (RSPs) of Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network are one of the Centre’s key target users. The Centre’s initiatives aim to foster the creation of Singapore-based RSPs with business strategies capable of providing creative next generation service offerings that can fully exploit the potential of Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network. It will help RSPs use advanced analytics, business intelligence and information strategy to solve business problems and create business advantage.

The Centre will partner RSPs throughout the project life cycle. Starting at the early development stages, RSPs will be able to explore opportunities which arise from providing their services on the broadband network. This will be supported through a series of conceptual discussions, business planning and development, and technology proof of concepts.

Singapore-based enterprises will also benefit from the Centre by drawing on IBM’s expertise in vertical industries, research and information management to help their organisations both improve the speed and quality of business decisions while better understanding the consequences and business outcomes of those decisions. The emergence of new smarter systems, which are interconnected and capable of streaming real-time information, can help enterprises transform decision-making, opening up new opportunities to use this data to predict business outcomes, optimise old systems and spot trends before they happen.

Ms Teresa Lim, Managing Director of IBM Singapore, said, “With the recovery from the global crisis, the time is right for Singapore companies to aggressively drive forward plans for productivity and growth to capture new opportunities. Companies need to uncover new ways of delivering value to their customers, constituents and employees and establish themselves as leaders in their industries.”