Artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability are the two buzzwords ruling the roost across the world at the moment. As companies race to cement an image of being tech forward and eco-conscious, partnerships have become crucial.

IT service provider NEXION Group Ltd (ASX: NNG) has strengthened its partnership with IBM Australia Ltd (IBM) by entering into an IBM Silver Business Partner Agreement. Through this agreement, NEXION will offer IBM’s software solutions, including the AI platform, Watson, and their Sustainability Suite, which encompasses Asset Management and ESG reporting capabilities.

As part of this collaboration, NEXION has formed a strategic alliance with Fuseforward Cloud Services Ltd, based in Vancouver. NEXION will actively promote IBM Software services throughout Australia under the brand, Fuseforward Australia.

Executive Chairman and Interim Group CEO, Peter Christie, said, “NEXION values the close relationship developed with IBM over the past few years and this new addition to our relationship builds on that foundation. Delivering enterprise-scale software and related services opens new opportunities for NEXION to win larger projects with higher gross margins than our traditional infrastructure product suite delivers.”

IBM’s AI platform, Watson, has been proven effective in solving complex problems for businesses over the years. NEXION aims to use Watson’s AI and ML capabilities to bid for new projects in Western Australia’s mining and energy sectors, optimising business operations with techniques, including natural language interfaces and Large Language Models (LLM). 

Christie added, “Software for Enterprise Asset Management is an area of expertise that’s highly sought after in Western Australian, given the concentration of large-scale mining and energy operations in our region. IBM’s software is embedded in the operations of our largest asset operators, presenting an immediate opportunity for NEXION to engage in new projects, especially related to ESG.”

NEXION will place a significant emphasis on the ESG sector, with a particular focus on environmental monitoring solutions that form the foundation of enterprise assets. Factors such as investor demands, reputational risks, government regulations (as Australia aims for net zero emissions by 2050), and the introduction of ESG reporting frameworks have collectively encouraged organisations to prioritise sustainability initiatives and establish targets for reducing carbon emissions.

As per a study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), more than half of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), accounting for 51%, currently consider sustainability as the most significant organisational challenge. So, NEXION wants to provide systems that effectively collect, store, analyse, and present the crucial data required for enterprises to meet the increasingly rigorous ESG reporting standards.

The combination of IBM’s foundational enterprise asset management software, the Watson AI platform, Fuseforward’s data orchestration tools and NEXION’s management of complex hybrid cloud hosting environments, is geared to help industries in Western Australia.

This is a timely contract, as at the end of the March quarter, the Company had just over $1 million in cash equivalents. It undertook a restructure comprising cost-cutting initiatives and focused on acquisitions to expand its geographical base and subsequently profitability. 

Though both IBM and AI are promising affiliations, NEXION does not mention their financial impact.