IBM New Zealand has appointed Donald Long as a Senior Cloud Advisory Consultant and practice lead of its newly established Cloud Advisory Practice, which provides access to global resources and advice to clients undergoing digital transformation.

A recent IBM study of global executives found that nearly six in ten responding organisations have accelerated their digital transformations due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has disrupted critical workflows and processes. Study participants reported that technologies like AI, automation and cybersecurity that could help make workflows more intelligent, responsive and secure are increasing in priority.

Donald brings to IBM more than 30 years of IT experience in New Zealand and South Africa, in cloud consulting and architecture, and client service roles.

“Donald’s appointment to the New Zealand Cloud Advisory Practice will help clients adopt an open, hybrid multi cloud environment that lays the foundation to increase automation or create new products using AI and data,” said Steve O’Donnell, Managing Partner, IBM New Zealand Global Business Services.

IBM’s Cloud Advisory Practice makes available design methodologies and global experience so New Zealand clients and business partners can evaluate their operational and cultural readiness for transformation.

These resources include an AI-powered cloud advisory tool to help clients define their multi-cloud strategy, identifying opportunities to optimise infrastructure costs and which applications to move to which cloud platform, based on workload.

Prior to joining IBM, Donald worked on contract to Carter Holt Harvey as IT Operations Manager, Australia and New Zealand for two years, the first of which while on secondment from Datacom. Donald worked at Datacom for almost eight years where his consulting roles included Principal Advisory Architect and Senior Solution Advisor.

Donald also previously worked at Spark Digital, Axon Computer Systems and Citrix Systems, cementing his strong industry relationships throughout the New Zealand IT and business partner community.