KnowBe4, the world’s largest provider of security awareness training and phishing prevention platforms (Headquarters: Florida, USA; Founder and CEO: Stu Sjouwerman), is pleased to announce that Kazhiro Chikara has been appointed as Country Manager of KnowBe4 Japan G.K. Chikara has led sales divisions in global companies for over 20 years, including Accenture, Akamai Technologies, and Dell Technologies. Most recently, he served as the Head of Manufacturing and Services at Red Hat, where he played a crucial role in driving digital transformation for enterprises.

KnowBe4 is used by more than 65,000 organizations worldwide and has been implemented by over 500 companies in Japan, including top manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

Stu Sjouwerman, Founder and CEO of KnowBe4 stated, “We are thrilled to welcome Kazhiro Chikara, who brings extensive experience in the IT industry and exceptional management skills, to our team. Under his leadership, we are confident that our growth strategy will accelerate, leading to significant advancements in our business in Japan. For KnowBe4, the Japanese market is of critical importance, and we believe that strengthening our relationships with customers and partners is vital. Under Mr. Chikara’s leadership, we will continue to deliver value to our customers, helping to protect their organizations securely.”

“As cybersecurity threats continue to escalate, the sophistication of attacks targeting individuals and organizations is increasing. KnowBe4 supports companies in defending against security threats that target the ‘human’ element of cybersecurity. By leveraging KnowBe4’s global expertise and extensive resources, and enhancing content and support tailored to the Japanese market, we are fully committed to creating a secure and safe digital society,” said Kazhiro Chikara, Country Manager of KnowBe4 Japan G.K.

Kazhiro Chikara began his career in 2002 at Itochu Techno-Solutions, handling major corporate accounts in the telecommunications industry. He then moved to Accenture, managing major corporate accounts in manufacturing and distribution services sectors. At Akamai Technologies, he served as the Director of Manufacturing Sales and the Western Japan Sales Director. In 2020, he joined Dell Technologies, where he led IT transformation initiatives for major clients. Later, as Head of Manufacturing and Services at Red Hat, he supported and managed DX initiatives across manufacturing, distribution services, and energy sectors.

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“I am pleased to present our annual ESG report showcasing our commitment to evolving responsibly within the technology industry,” said Paul Bay, CEO of Ingram Micro. “With the ability to reach nearly 90% of the global population, we are deeply aware of our accountability to stakeholders throughout the world. The Tenets of Our Success—Results, Courage, Integrity, Responsibility, Imagination, and Talent—provide the foundation for our long-time industry leadership and compel us to maintain high standards across a broad set of ESG issues.”

Highlights from the Ingram Micro 2023 ESG Report include:

• Earning a Platinum Medal from EcoVadis for strong ESG performance (top 1%)
• Reducing year-over-year absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 19%
• Reducing overall recordable incident injuries by 29%, from 1.24 in 2022 to 0.99 in 2023
• Scoring 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index
• Launching IngramMicroPlanetary Earthling Network to engage with associates around sustainability

The report, which is published in accordance with several common reporting frameworks, including GRI, SASB, TCFD, and the UN SDGs, reflects the dedicated efforts of Ingram Micro associates throughout the world to enhance ESG impact. The company also discloses through EcoVadis and CDP on specific topics and is an active member of the UN Global Compact.

Ingram Micro remains committed to fostering long-term, sustainable, and inclusive growth by advancing employee resource groups (ERGs), investing in anything-as-a-service offerings, and expanding IT asset disposition services to promote a circular economy, among many other actions. Looking ahead, the company is also focused on enhancing ESG data management and reporting capabilities as part of an expansive digital transformation and in support of the 10 to Zero initiative, through which the company intends to achieve three major operational milestones—zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), zero waste, and zero days away injuries—by 2030.

The full report is available for download here, in addition to other 2023 ESG Report materials linked on this page. To learn more about IngramMicroESG, please visit our website: https://www.ingrammicro.com/en-us/discover/esg.

Ingram Micro values stakeholder feedback. Please send any questions or comments to ESG@ingrammicro.com.

Participate in the social conversation using #IngramMicroESG.

Editors: For current and historical images, visit our Press Releases page: https://www.ingrammicro.com/en-us/company/press-releases.

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“These are exciting times for us as we’ve seen steep growth over the past three years. We have built deeper capabilities across CPG, retail, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, despite the market condition not being favorable in the US. So far, we have gained strong traction in the US and plan to expand our presence in the coming months. Our focus remains on building a world-class team based in the U.S., being close to our clients and further strengthening our capabilities. We are committed to laying a robust foundation across all business functions, with continued investments in research and development (R&D) and talent development,” said Chetan Alsisaria — CEO & Co-Founder, Polestar.  

Its ongoing investments in R&D and business development in the US market underscores its dedication towards innovation and transformative digital solutions in analytics and AI globally. Polestar harnesses cutting-edge data science, AI, and Generative AI to tackle industry-specific functional challenges. The aim is to deliver innovative solutions, augmented by Generative AI to extend decision intelligence beyond IT, empowering business leaders with intuitive tools for smarter, data-driven operations. 

The company is committed to talent development and plans to increase its headcount by three times in the US by the end of this year. Currently, Polestar has a team of over 600 employees globally and is committed to a 60 percent growth over the next year, taking its employee strength to 1000 employees. 

“Polestar has consistently attracted world-class data scientists, engineers and consultants to strategically meet the growing needs of our clients. We are focused on adding value to our clients spread across the globe and aim to hire across job roles such as data science, data engineering, data analytics as well as Generative AI among others over the next year,” said Asim Jamil, Head — Human Resources at Polestar.  

While it has built a strong leadership team in the US, and in recent months hired senior leaders to enable its growth, over the past year, senior executives, including the CEO have relocated from India to the US to strategically drive its expansion plans. 

The 12-year-old company has offices globally across Dallas, New York, London, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Noida and Kolkata. 

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The alliance between Mannai InfoTech and BUSINESSNEXT marks a significant blend of modern technology, domain expertise, business consultation and implementation services to deliver high-impact customer experience and relationship management solutions for the banks in Qatar.

Recognized as a leader in Forrester Wave Financial Services CRM, 2023, with a user base of over a million bankers globally servicing more than a billion banking customers on its platform. BUSINESSNEXT offers cutting edge suite of solutions, including CRMNEXT, CUSTOMERNEXT, DATANEXT, and WORKNEXT, empowering the bank with specialized AI-powered and cloud-agnostic customer engagement platform, delivering easier, faster, and more personalized modern banking experiences. The alliance will bring unparalleled benefits to the Qatar banking sector with its specialized AI capabilities like personalized customer intelligence, onboarding journeys, risk rating models, accelerated back-office operations, product recommendations, smart bots, next-best actions, and much more. It has specialized offerings covering all lines of business for banks including retail banking, corporate banking, and Islamic banking. In addition, it specializes in delivering modern lending experiences with new-age UI/UX, an automated parameterized smart credit engine, and ready ecosystem integrations.

Mr. Vishal Khurana, Region Head – Middle East and Africa, BUSINESSNEXT, stated, “We are thrilled to partner with Mannai InfoTech to further accelerate the delivery of our innovative solutions to the Qatar Banking Sector. This alliance will empower banks in Qatar to navigate the complexities of digital transformation and achieve remarkable growth and efficiency.”

Mannai InfoTech’s extensive regional expertise and robust market presence in Qatar banking industry will be instrumental in the successful deployment of BUSINESSNEXT’s solutions. This collaboration ensures that financial institutions can integrate these cutting-edge technologies seamlessly, resulting in enhanced customer engagement, improved service delivery, and greater operational agility.

Mannai InfoTech’s Senior Vice President, Binu M R, said, “The synergy between BUSINESSNEXT’s technological prowess and Mannai InfoTech’s domain expertise is expected to drive significant advancements in technology, improving customer loyalty and business growth across the banking industry. Together, we aim to set new benchmarks in customer engagement, operational efficiency, and business growth, reinforcing our commitment to driving the future of banking in Qatar.”

This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in banking solutions, introducing unprecedented innovation and a profound focus on customer needs, resulting in increased cross-selling opportunities, enhanced Net Promoter Scores (NPS), massive reduction in customer servicing costs, faster go-to-market, and much more.

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Vultr, the world’s largest privately held cloud computing platform, today announced that SQream, a leading data and analytics acceleration platform, has joined the Vultr Cloud Alliance, a partnership program consisting of industry-leading solutions enabling composable cloud services. By combining Vultr’s high-performance cloud compute, accelerated by NVIDIA GPUs, with SQream’s next generation, patented GPU-powered data processing, AI-driven enterprises can fast-track their data analysis and machine learning projects without the burden of traditional data processing limitations.

As organizations deploy AI, they face challenges with existing infrastructure and processes. According to a recent report commissioned by Vultr from 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, the vast majority (89%) of organizations – from those at the highest levels of AI maturity to those at more aspirational stages – expect to achieve advanced AI use in two years. However, they do list technical infrastructure as the second biggest challenge (after governance) to meeting their goals.

The cutting-edge data analytics solution that Vultr and SQream deliver addresses the challenges of processing large-scale, complex datasets crucial for driving advanced AI innovation. This powerful solution solves critical problems such as slow data processing, high operational costs, and the inability to derive timely insights from massive datasets. By leveraging advanced GPU acceleration, organizations can perform complex queries and analytics at unprecedented speeds, reduce infrastructure costs, and gain deeper insights for faster, data-driven decision-making. The integration supports seamless scalability, robust data ingestion, and efficient data transformation.

“Our partnership with Vultr through its Cloud Alliance will revolutionize how enterprises approach data analysis and machine learning projects,” said Ittai Bareket, Chief Alliance Officer of SQream. “With multi-layer parallel processing, comprehensive big-data lifecycle support, and enhanced data processing capabilities, Vultr and SQream enable organizations to achieve faster time-to-insight, seamless scalability for complex and large-scale analytics, and unparalleled flexibility and control. These advancements empower organizations to deliver sophisticated AI solutions more rapidly while pushing the boundaries of AI innovation.”

With the Vultr Cloud Alliance, organizations can customize their infrastructure stack with a composable approach, seamlessly assembling and scaling their modern cloud and AI operations on demand without worrying about vendor lock-in. SQream joins other alliance members, including Qdrant, a high-performance vector database with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) capabilities; Console Connect, which facilitates private, high-speed networking for secure, low-latency data transfer; DDN for sophisticated AI storage infrastructure; and Run:ai, an advanced AI workload orchestration platform.

“Vultr continues to grow its Cloud Alliance to give customers easy access to all the best-in-class technology and tools they need to build and scale their cloud- and AI-native operations,” said Kevin Cochrane, CMO of Vultr. “This latest partnership between SQream and Vultr marks a significant step forward. By making it easier, faster, and less costly to analyze large and complex data sets, SQream and Vultr are clearing the way for a new wave of AI-driven innovation and transformation across industries.”

The partnership between SQream and Vultr opens up a world of possibilities for enterprises across financial services, telecom, healthcare & life sciences, retail, manufacturing, and other sectors. Such industry applications and use cases include:

• Data processing and big data analytics: Process and analyze data as it comes in – ideal for time-sensitive applications – and tackle vast datasets easily to enable comprehensive analysis and reporting.
• Cost-effective data management: Optimize data management processes to reduce costs while maintaining performance. With SQream’s GPU-powered architecture minimizing hardware requirements and Vultr’s predictable and affordable pricing model, organizations can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership compared to traditional solutions, allowing them to budget for other initiatives.
• High-performance computing and efficient data prep: Leverage the power of GPUs to accelerate complex analytics tasks and streamline data preparation and transformation to set the stage for more accurate analysis.
• Secure and compliant data processing: Ensure all data processing meets industry standards and regulatory requirements worldwide with Vultr’s secure cloud infrastructure – SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and PCI compliant – combined with SQream’s compliance features.

The Vultr-SQream partnership follows a steady stream of industry innovations delivered by Vultr within the half year to enable modern AI enterprise, including industry-specific cloud computing solutions that help companies meet industry-specific needs and regulatory requirements, Sovereign Cloud and Private Cloud to bring digital autonomy to nations and enterprises worldwide, and Cloud Inference for serverless Inference-as-a-Service across Vultr’s 32 locations around the globe.

To learn more about the SQream and Vultr partnership, visit us here.

For more information on the Vultr Cloud Alliance, visit here.

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Global supply chain solutions leader, AIT Worldwide Logistics, is pleased to announce the launch of its new artificial intelligence (AI) and data science team, a corporate-level department created to amplify the organization’s investment in data. The team will set the stage for the future implementation of next-generation AI tools to further enhance the company’s robust customer interface. To lead the new group, AIT’s Patrick Chew has been appointed to vice president, AI and data science.

“AIT is continually looking towards the future,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vaughn Moore. “With the establishment of the AI and data science team, the company is prepared to capitalize on generative AI, natural language processing, machine learning, large language models, and other advancing technologies.”

Over the course of 25 years, Chew has helped numerous Fortune 500 companies improve their business intelligence, analytics, and data enablement. He most recently served as the head of Caterpillar’s enterprise data governance office. Since joining the company in January 2024, Chew has been responsible for directing data enablement efforts. He reports to AIT’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Keith Tholan.

“AIT leadership has made a significant commitment to transform our data, and we are delighted to have Patrick in a role where he can leverage his vast experience to guide our ongoing data journey for the primary benefit of our customers and teammates,” Tholan said.

“Data is a common denominator that informs and impacts every aspect of the business,” he added. “And at AIT, our investment in taking data enablement to the next level clearly signals that data is an integral pillar of the organization, with the new AI and data science team working to enable a new era of dramatic growth for the company.”

The AI and data science group is comprised of three key teams:

• Data enablement – leading a disciplined, firmwide process to reorganize existing data strongholds into next-gen-compatible assets that will build new levels of trust with stakeholders through increased efficiency and ever-improving solutions
• AI governance and data science – developing new AI business features with an emphasis on heightened accuracy and privacy protections for customers and teammates as the technology continues to mature and evolve
• Business intelligence and analytics – providing dedicated, centralized reporting and visualization needs across the organization

The AI and data science team is implementing a regimented approach to transform data across AIT’s global network, including steps to redefine core domains and enhance time-tested workflows. Data management based on a newly configured single version of truth will be well-positioned to support powerful new key performance indicators.

“Treating data as an asset involves rigorous efforts to reorganize and harness millions of inputs, which will be applied in meaningful ways to enhance business intelligence, boost efficiency and spur innovation,” Chew said.

“Ambitiously raising the bar to loftier heights for data quality and governance ultimately improves outcomes for stakeholders as we continue to earn our customers’ trust,” he added. “Our AI and data science initiative will further differentiate AIT with shippers and investors when compared to others in the freight forwarding industry.”

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HGC’s DCI solution spans across data centers in Bangkok, interconnecting 7 major data centers initially to facilitate swift interconnections for rapid and consistent data transfer across locations. By minimizing the number of nodes in-between, this network topology ensures ultra-low latency. This model enables telco customers to accelerate digital transformation and drive technological innovation. Additionally, it simplifies network implementation complexities and offers flexibility for enterprise, service providers and OTTs to interconnect with diverse data centers.

Thailand is rapidly developing into a pivotal Asia Internet hub, with Bangkok emerging as a key location for data traffic. With its strategic location and expanding digital infrastructure, more enterprises are looking to establish a presence  in the country. HGC is dedicated to extending its footprint, fostering growth and enhancing its service there. As a result of expanding its reach, HGC is driving an inclusive and diverse ecosystem for DCI.

Cliff Tam, Senior Vice President of Global Data Strategy & Operations, International Business of  HGC said, “Building upon our established success in Hong Kong, we are excited to extend our commitment to excellence in connectivity services to Thailand. Our goal is to provide comprehensive and premium connectivity solutions, creating an ecosystem that serves as a one-stop-shop for enterprises, service providers and OTTs seeking accessible and high-quality connectivity services.”

Chirawat Mahawat, Vice President of GMS & SEA, International Business of HGC said,  “We express our sincere appreciation to our valued customers for their trust and support. Their continued partnership with HGC inspires us to refine our expertise and deliver leading DCI solutions. With other connectivity solutions, HGC is dedicated to driving economic growth and technological advancement in Thailand.”

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Orby has now joined Databricks’ Built On Partner Program and is leveraging Databricks Mosaic AI to pretrain, build, deploy and monitor its innovative Large Action Model, ActIO, a deep learning model able to interpret actions and perform complex tasks based on user inputs.

“As the demand for data intelligence increases, Orby’s AI innovations are a real game changer in enabling enterprise automations that require truly cognizant reasoning,” said Naveen Rao, VP of Generative AI at Databricks.

“Orby’s unique LAM approach gives organizations the ability to complete tasks with increasing complexity and variability, easily automating complex tasks that, until now, just hasn’t been possible or practical,” Rao concluded.

LARGE ACTION MODEL TAKING CENTER STAGE

Unlike conventional Large Language Model (LLMs) approaches, which focus on interpreting language and generating responses, Orby’s unique Large Action Model (LAM), observes actions to automate tasks and make decisions.

Orby’s LAM simply observes a user at work, learns what can be automated, and creates the actions to implement it. Users then approve the process and can modify the actions at any time, this allows continuous improvement as Orby learns more.

Making generative AI truly useful for the enterprise requires incredible amounts of variable inputs to enable rapid contextual reasoning. Today’s open source and proprietary LLMs are trained on massive amounts of data, but of only one modality: language. Other multimodal models may allow for variable inputs but lack the complex planning and visual grounding capabilities necessary to translate these inputs into enterprise-ready actions that reason, adjust, continuously learn and improve. Large Action Models are uniquely suited to empower enterprise efficiency, but first must be trained on massive amounts of data across multiple modalities.

“Databricks Mosaic AI makes it possible to build a multimodal training pipeline at a scale that is essential for delivering unrivaled performance, accuracy and stability,” said Will Lu, Co-Founder and CTO of Orby.

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Sapio Sciences, the science-aware lab informatics platform, today announced that EPAM, a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services, has joined the Sapio Sciences Partner Program as a services partner, delivering consulting and implementation services to the complex health and medical ecosystem.

EPAM’s presence in more than 55 countries will add global scale to the Sapio partner ecosystem, driving forward the use of technology in life sciences and providing EPAM’s multinational customer base with access to Sapio’s flexible and highly configurable lab informatics solution, including LIMS, Electronic Lab Notebook, and Scientific Data Solutions.

As a Sapio Services Partner, EPAM will provide advisory and implementation services that guide customers through the digital transformation process of lab operations and the deployment of the Sapio Platform.

George Litos, Managing Principal, Life Sciences Consulting at EPAM, commented: “Our global team of over 52,000 professionals is focused on helping customers digitally transform their businesses. In the healthcare and life sciences sector, our consultants and engineers blend physical, digital, and data platforms to drive the future of healthcare and MedTech. Joining the Sapio Partner Program further adds to the range of cutting-edge technologies that our customers can access.”

Andrew Wyatt, Chief Growth Officer at Sapio Sciences, added: “EPAM joins a growing number of consultants, resellers, and technology providers in the Sapio Partner Program, delivering solutions to the life science, pharma, and drug discovery industries based on Sapio’s highly configurable lab informatics platform.”

For more information about the Sapio Partner Program, visit https://www.sapiosciences.com/sspp-partner-program-sapio-sciences/

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The do-it-yourself (DIY) retail sector contends with unique challenges and constraints, as value-conscious consumers, shifting season patterns and intense competition persist. That’s why Maxeda DIY Group, a leading Benelux retailer in the DIY sector, digitally transformed its strategic supply chain processes by deploying Blue Yonder Demand and Fulfillment solutions. The project was led by Blue Yonder Global Professional Services.

Maxeda DIY Group is a market-leading DIY retailer that operates 334 stores across the Benelux region with over 6,500 employees. It operates under three brands: Praxis in the Netherlands, Brico in Belgium and Luxembourg, and BricoPlanit in Belgium. Maxeda DIY Group’s “Make it Sustainable” strategy aims to make the company and the life of its customers more sustainable.

To achieve their strategic goals, Maxeda DIY Group successfully deployed Blue Yonder Demand and Fulfillment solutions in a SaaS environment, providing a single end-to-end demand and supply planning environment for all three company brands. This transformation significantly improved agility and informed decision-making by integrating processes, resulting in enhanced service levels, optimized stock levels, and reduced manual work that have boosted team motivation and freed up working capital for strategic and high-value tasks.

“For years, Maxeda DIY Group has trusted Blue Yonder as a reliable supply chain solutions vendor, so they were a natural choice when it came to deploying our digital transformation journey. The collaboration with Blue Yonder Global Professional Services was exceptional; they helped us prioritize the right business actions, focusing on end-to-end category profitability, and refreshing our view of our supply chain strategy, sustainability and proposition. The teamwork and joint effort between our organizations were instrumental in driving this success. As a result, we successfully achieved both technical and business goals,” said Erik Cuypers, Group CDO and CIO, Maxeda DIY Group.

Thanks to Blue Yonder, Maxeda DIY Group has been able to:

• Develop an end-to-end view of products and categories for all three of its brands.
• Improve service levels and reduce stock-outs.
• Create short- and long-term stock visibility to suppliers.
• Drive change management, including from distribution center to store, as well as in supplier ordering activities.

“We are proud of our longstanding collaboration with Maxeda DIY Group and thrilled with the results achieved by their digital transformation thanks to deploying our Blue Yonder Demand and Fulfillment solutions,” said Rudi Boeye, senior vice president, Global Professional Services EMEA, Blue Yonder. “Maxeda DIY Group has gained the necessary supply chain agility to keep pace with the constant changes in the market and business landscape, futureproofing their adoption of technological advancements.”

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