Middleware Consulting International

MOUNT PROSPECT, IL, and ARMONK, NY – The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^® (NABP^®) and IBM  Consulting are pleased to announce their collaboration to build Pulse by NABP™, a new digital platform that is intended to bring visibility to the drug supply chain and help protect patients from counterfeit or substandard prescription medications. Launching in late summer 2023, the platform is designed to facilitate manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies, and regulators to identify counterfeit or substandard prescription medications and connect with each other when required; provide authorized partners with capabilities to help them accurately trace prescription medications throughout the supply chain; and give patients more confidence that their prescriptions are legitimate.

Pulse can help users improve patient safety by assisting them in identifying the threats created due to the ever-increasing complexity of the supply chain, including falsified, substandard, or counterfeit drugs and “grey market” companies.

Pulse is expected to address the urgent and critical industry need for compliance with the United States Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which must be fully implemented in November 2023. NABP and IBM Consulting are incorporating solutions into the platform that will address gaps in interoperability identified during workshops and pilots conducted with stakeholders from across the supply chain. For example, trading partners are currently required to participate in “systems of systems” that are often fragmented and focused on single-solution providers. When launched, Pulse is intended to serve as a single, voluntary directory for trading partners. Through this independent platform, authorized trading partners will also have access to product tracing tools, be able to determine the legitimacy of trace requests, and communicate in a mode suited to their needs.

“Patients need to be able to trust the safety of the drugs they’re prescribed,” said NABP Executive Director/Secretary Lemrey “Al” Carter, PharmD, MS, RPh. “We’re excited to launch Pulse by NABP because we believe it can significantly improve the safety and transparency of the drug supply chain in the US, benefiting patients as well as regulators, manufacturers, wholesalers, and dispensers. We selected IBM Consulting as our implementation partner because they have the deep business and product strategy, technology, and industry expertise to help us build and maintain a digital platform that’s secure, user friendly, and can integrate seamlessly with participating organizations’ IT architectures.”

“NABP is the right organization to convene the ecosystem and establish a truly industry-changing solution to improve the safety and visibility of the pharmaceutical supply chain in the US,” said Luq Niazi, Global Managing Partner, Industries, IBM Consulting. “The more connected the pharmaceutical supply chain is, with the right technology platform, the easier it can be for drug manufacturers, drug distributors and pharmacies to improve patient safety. We’re proud to be NABP’s implementation partner to build a platform that can meet the ecosystem’s needs for data security, reliability, and scale.”

Meeting the Requirements of DSCSA

The DSCSA includes the requirement to electronically track and make available prescription drugs’ ownership transaction records. Pulse can serve as the critical tool that connects state regulators and trading partners, helping them ensure the legitimacy of prescription medications.

To support organizations navigating the complex process of DSCSA compliance, Pulse will provide access to user-friendly tools and a comprehensive network of verified relationships, enabling consistent communication with trusted trading partners of all sizes across the pharmaceutical supply chain. Pulse will also offer educational programs to help platform users prepare for DSCSA compliance.

A Digital Platform Designed to Support an Ecosystem

NABP began working on the network for the Pulse platform in fall 2021 after stakeholders from across the industry requested assistance identifying and addressing gaps in interoperability among all sectors and state regulators. The platform has been informed by collaborative input from all sectors of the supply chain, including 12 state boards of pharmacy, 22 solution providers, and over 40 trading partners (consisting of large and small dispensers, wholesalers, and manufacturers). Pilot participants included AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, CVS Health, Genentech, Johnson and Johnson, McKesson, Pfizer, Rite Aid, Sanofi, Walgreens, and other leading organizations.

Powered by automation and other technologies, such as MediLedger Product Verification System, Pulse is designed to integrate application programming interfaces (APIs) from solution providers that allow for searching trading partners, verifying authorized trading partner status, transmitting digital credentials, and electronic tracing. Manufacturers, distributors, dispensers, regulators, and solution providers will have the opportunity to benefit from the secure, efficient, and trusted communications provided by the Pulse platform. Providing options for small- to large-scale organizations across the supply chain, the intuitive user experience is designed to help reduce manual work.

Learn more about Pulse and DSCSA compliance at https://pulse.pharmacy.

For more information about IBM Consulting, visit www.ibm.com/consulting.

About NABP

NABP is the independent, international, and impartial 501(c)(3) nonprofit Association that assists its state member boards and jurisdictions for the purpose of protecting the public health. NABP was established in 1904 to assist the state boards of pharmacy in creating uniform education and licensure standards. Today, we help support patient and prescription drug safety through examinations that assess pharmacist competency, pharmacist licensure transfer and verification services, and various pharmacy accreditation and inspection programs.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

ARMONK, N.Y., July 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Today, IBM  launched a new tool to help enterprises track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across cloud services and advance their sustainability performance throughout their hybrid, multicloud journeys. Now generally available, the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator – an AI-informed dashboard – can help clients access emissions data across a variety of IBM Cloud workloads such as AI, high performance computing (HPC) and financial services.

Across industries, enterprises are embracing modernization by leveraging hybrid cloud and AI to digitally transform with resiliency, performance, security, and compliance at the forefront, all while remaining focused on delivering value and driving more sustainable business practices. According to a recent study by IBM, 42% of CEOs surveyed pinpoint environmental sustainability as their top challenge over the next three years¹. At the same time, the study reports that CEOs are facing pressure to adopt generative AI while also weighing the data management needs to make AI successful. The increase in data processing required for AI workloads can present new challenges for organizations that are looking to reduce their GHG emissions. With more than 43% of CEOs surveyed already using generative AI to inform strategic decisions, organizations should prepare to balance executing high performance workloads with sustainability.

To help clients respond to these challenges, the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator is designed to quickly spot patterns, anomalies and outliers in data that are potentially associated with higher GHG emissions. Based on technology from IBM Research and through a collaboration with Intel, the tool uses machine learning and advanced algorithms to help organizations uncover emissions hot spots in their IT workload and provide them with insights to inform their emissions mitigation strategy².

“As part of any AI transformation roadmap, businesses must consider how to manage the growth of data across cloud and on-premise environments. This is especially critical today as we see organizations face increasing pressure from investors, regulators, and clients to reduce their carbon emissions,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager, IBM Cloud. “For IBM, reducing environmental impact to help create a more sustainable future is a top priority and we are committed to helping clients achieve both sustainability and business goals. With the AI-enabled IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator, we’re helping clients better understand the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their IT workloads and giving them the insights to adjust their strategies and further their sustainability objectives.”

Clients are already using the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator to address their sustainability goals. This includes e.tres, an Argentinian ecommerce platform, who is using the dashboard to measure greenhouse gas emissions.

“The way people shop is changing, and we’re committed to helping our customers deliver frictionless online shopping experiences backed by high levels of sustainability. As we help our customers power their digital businesses with our innovative e-commerce platform, sustainability is at the center of everything we do, with our e3Eco solution. With the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator, enabled by AI, we can boost the sustainability of our clients’ operations, their technology and logistics shipments, so any ecommerce portal can become sustainable by measuring and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.” said Diego Gorischnik, CEO of e.tres.

The IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator is designed to give clients access to standards-based GHG emissions data for IBM Cloud workloads with just a few clicks. Its capabilities include:

• Track emissions across various workloads down to the cloud service level for enterprise accounts: By helping deliver access to detailed GHG emissions data for their workloads on IBM Cloud, the tool is designed for clients to visualize and track GHG emissions associated with individual cloud services and locations, in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Clients can use filters to see emissions profiles across locations and a variety of services – starting with commonly used classic and cloud native infrastructure services, with more service coverage planned quarterly.
• Identify GHG emissions hot-spots and opportunities for improvement: Clients can analyze emissions by month, quarter and year, enabling enterprises to gain a regular view of progress towards targets. Having access to emissions trends and patterns helps to uncover anomalies and hotspots, and clients can use the insights they gained to adjust their strategies in near real time to optimize workloads across locations and ultimately help reduce emissions.
• Leverage data for GHG emission reports: Clients can access the output and audit trails generated by the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator to help meet their reporting needs. Additionally, enterprises can integrate their emissions data into the IBM Envizi ESG suite³, which can help enhance their ability to conduct further analysis and reporting.

The availability of the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator is a new milestone in our commitment to helping clients turn sustainability ambition into action and create a more energy efficient future. It complements IBM’s existing portfolio of sustainability solutions and consulting expertise, including the IBM Envizi ESG Suite, IBM Turbonomic, IBM Planning Analytics  and IBM LinuxONE, that help organizations set, operationalize, and achieve their environmental sustainability goals.

Building on IBM and Intel’s deep commitment to helping enterprises solve their unique business challenges and prioritize their compute performance capabilities, IBM Cloud was among the first cloud providers to deliver Intel’s most sustainable data center processors, 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, earlier this year. With energy efficiency innovations and designed to deliver superior performance, 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors can help IBM Cloud clients reduce GHG emissions associated with computing — with the performance being tracked via the IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator dashboard.

As companies embrace hybrid cloud, IBM Cloud and IBM Research plan to continue their close collaboration and work with its partners, such as Intel, to execute programs and activities aimed at helping clients reduce compute-related GHG emissions and increase energy efficiency.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — IBM Security today released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report,¹ showing the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million in 2023 – an all-time high for the report and a 15% increase over the last 3 years. Detection and escalation costs jumped 42% over this same time frame, representing the highest portion of breach costs, and indicating a shift towards more complex breach investigations.

According to the 2023 IBM report, businesses are divided in how they plan to handle the increasing cost and frequency of data breaches. The study found that while 95% of studied organizations have experienced more than one breach, breached organizations were more likely to pass incident costs onto consumers (57%) than to increase security investments (51%).

The 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report is based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 553 organizations globally between March 2022 and March 2023. The research, sponsored and analyzed by IBM Security, was conducted by Ponemon Institute and has been published for 18 consecutive years. Some key findings in the 2023 IBM report include:

• AI Picks Up Speed – AI and automation had the biggest impact on speed of breach identification and containment for studied organizations. Organizations with extensive use of both AI and automation experienced a data breach lifecycle that was 108 days shorter compared to studied organizations that have not deployed these technologies (214 days versus 322 days).
• The Cost of Silence – Ransomware victims in the study that involved law enforcement saved $470,000 in average costs of a breach compared to those that chose not to involve law enforcement. Despite these potential savings, 37% of ransomware victims studied did not involve law enforcement in a ransomware attack.
• Detection Gaps – Only one third of studied breaches were detected by an organization’s own security team, compared to 27% that were disclosed by an attacker. Data breaches disclosed by the attacker cost nearly $1 million more on average compared to studied organizations that identified the breach themselves.

“Time is the new currency in cybersecurity both for the defenders and the attackers. As the report shows, early detection and fast response can significantly reduce the impact of a breach,” said Chris McCurdy, General Manager, Worldwide IBM Security Services. “Security teams must focus on where adversaries are the most successful and concentrate their efforts on stopping them before they achieve their goals. Investments in threat detection and response approaches that accelerate defenders speed and efficiency – such as AI and automation – are crucial to shifting this balance.”

Every Second Costs 
According to the 2023 report, studied organizations that fully deploy security AI and automation saw 108-day shorter breach lifecycles on average compared to organizations not deploying these technologies – and experienced significantly lower incident costs. In fact, studied organizations that deployed security AI and automation extensively saw, on average, nearly $1.8 million lower data breach costs than organizations that didn’t deploy these technologies – the biggest cost saver identified in the report.

At the same time, adversaries have reduced the average time to complete a ransomware attack. And with nearly 40% of studied organizations not yet deploying security AI and automation, there is still considerable opportunity for organizations to boost detection and response speeds.

Ransomware ‘Discount Code’
Some studied organizations remain apprehensive to engage law enforcement during a ransomware attack due to the perception that it will only complicate the situation. For the first time this year, the IBM report looked closer at this issue and found evidence to the contrary. Participating organizations that did not involve law enforcement experienced breach lifecycles that were 33-days longer on average than those that did involve law enforcement – and that silence came with a price. Ransomware victims studied that didn’t bring in law enforcement paid on average $470,000 higher breach costs than those that did.

Despite ongoing efforts by law enforcement to collaborate with ransomware victims, 37% of respondents still opted not to bring them in. Add to that, nearly half (47%) of studied ransomware victims reportedly paid the ransom. It’s clear that organizations should abandon these misconceptions around ransomware. Paying a ransom, and avoiding law enforcement, may only drive-up incident costs, and slow the response.

Security Teams Rarely Discover Breaches Themselves
Threat detection and response has seen some progress. According to IBM’s 2023 Threat Intelligence Index, defenders were able to halt a higher proportion of ransomware attacks last year. However, adversaries are still finding ways to slip through the cracks of defense. The report found that only one in three studied breaches were detected by the organization’s own security teams or tools, while 27% of such breaches were disclosed by an attacker, and 40% were disclosed by a neutral third party such as law enforcement.

Responding organizations that discovered the breach themselves experienced nearly $1 million less in breach costs than those disclosed by an attacker ($5.23 million vs. $4.3 million). Breaches disclosed by an attacker also had a lifecycle nearly 80 days longer (320 vs. 241) compared to those who identified the breach internally. The significant cost and time savings that come with early detection show that investing in these strategies can pay off in the long run.

Additional findings in the 2023 IBM report include:

• Breaching Data Across Environments – Nearly 40% of data breaches studied resulted in the loss of data across multiple environments including public cloud, private cloud, and on-prem—showing that attackers were able to compromise multiple environments while avoiding detection. Data breaches studied that impacted multiple environments also led to higher breach costs ($4.75 million on average).
• Costs of Healthcare Breaches Continue to Soar – The average costs of a studied breach in healthcare reached nearly $11 million in 2023 – a 53% price increase since 2020. Cybercriminals have started making stolen data more accessible to downstream victims, according to the 2023 X-Force Threat Intelligence Report. With medical records as leverage, threat actors amplify pressure on breached organizations to pay a ransom. In fact, across all industries studied, customer personally identifiable information was the most commonly breached record type and the costliest.
• The DevSecOps Advantage – Studied organizations across all industries with a high level of DevSecOps saw a global average cost of a data breach nearly $1.7 million lower than those studied with a low level/no use of a DevSecOps approach.
• Critical Infrastructure Breach Costs Break $5 Million – Critical infrastructure organizations studied experienced a 4.5% jump in the average costs of a breach compared to last year – increasing from $4.82 million to $5.04 million – $590K higher than the global average.

Additional Sources

• To download a copy of the 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach.
• Read more about the report’s top findings in this IBM Security Intelligence blog.
• Sign up for the 2023 IBM Security Cost of a Data Breach webinar on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET here.
• Connect with the IBM Security X-Force team for a personalized review of the findings: https://ibm.biz/book-a-consult.
• For a closer look at the report recommendations visit: Cost of a Data breach Action Guide.

About IBM Security

IBM Security helps secure the world’s largest enterprises and governments with an integrated portfolio of security products and services, infused with dynamic AI and automation capabilities. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM Security X-Force® research, enables organizations to predict threats, protect data as it moves, and respond with speed and precision without holding back business innovation. IBM is trusted by thousands of organizations as their partner to assess, strategize, implement, and manage security transformations. IBM operates one of the world’s broadest security research, development, and delivery organizations, monitors 150 billion+ security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 10,000 security patents worldwide.

ARMONK, N.Y., July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — IBM today announced that Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) is using the IBM Envizi ESG Suite to collect, analyze and report on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance across its portfolio of 300+ data centers across 50+ metros across 27 countries on six continents.

According to an IBM Institute for Business Value report (“The ESG data conundrum”), while 95% of organizations surveyed have developed ESG propositions, only 10% say they have made significant progress toward their goals, and 73% cited a struggle to manage an overload of manual data.

Digital Realty is one of the largest global providers of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions for major metros globally including Chicago, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, New York, Northern Virginia, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. With a commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, the company will use IBM Envizi as a centralized hub for collecting, managing, and deriving insights from its ESG data, to track progress, identify areas for improvement, report performance to stakeholders, and accommodate disclosure requirements. The software provides a comprehensive and integrated solution for managing ESG performance, environmental impact, and sustainability goals.

“By leveraging the capabilities of IBM Envizi, we will transform our ability to collect, analyze and report on our ESG performance across our global data center portfolio. It will help track and manage our environmental performance, while enabling us to better meet the sustainability needs of our customers and other stakeholders,” says Aaron Binkley, VP Sustainability, Digital Realty.

“Organizations globally are simply buried in a massive amount of ESG-related data—from operations, sensors on factory floors, and more. But it is often siloed across databases, spreadsheets, and business units,” says Christina Shim, Vice President, Global Head of Product Management and Strategy, IBM Sustainability Software. “The IBM Envizi ESG Suite helps our clients, like Digital Realty, gain insights from data to fuel smarter, more sustainable decisions every day.”

Working with IBM, Digital Realty uses Envizi to help manage and accelerate sustainability initiatives across its portfolio. For example:

• Create a single system of record for ESG data: Envizi enables Digital Realty to streamline the collection of data from a wide range of sources such as utility data, power usage efficiency (PUE), renewable energy certificates, waste data, business travel, purchased goods and services. This makes it easier for Digital Realty to provide consistent data for reporting, analysis and decision making – for example, to support Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emission calculations and to create its annual ESG report.
• Analyze data to inform sustainability decision-making: Digital Realty can apply Envizi’s advanced analytics to transform this data into insights on the performance of its portfolio, which helps drive better decisions and address sustainability goals. For example, Envizi could help Digital Realty assess its current portfolio and drive change in its three focus areas: designing and building more sustainable data centers, finding new ways to power them, and driving improvements in how it operates them.
• Streamline ESG and sustainability reporting: Digital Realty is committed to transparent ESG disclosures and reports its performance annually, including progress against its SBTi target to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68% and Scope 3 emissions by 24% by 2030. Envizi’s ESG reporting capabilities is designed to make it easier to streamline these reporting processes, with reporting questions and responses managed within a single software interface.

IBM itself is a user of Envizi for inputting, storing, and managing operational data such as energy and water consumption; planning and tracking energy and water conservation projects; and supporting external reporting and disclosures. IBM is also an important client of Digital Realty, hosting part of its portfolio of global data centers with them. The IBM Global Real Estate team is sharing insights and experience on Envizi with Digital Realty as they advance towards more sustainable operations.

The IBM Envizi ESG Suite is part of IBM’s portfolio of sustainability solutions and consulting expertise, including the IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, IBM Turbonomic, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator and IBM LinuxONE, that help organizations set, operationalize, and achieve their ESG goals.

About IBM
For more information about IBM Sustainability solutions, please visit www.ibm.com/sustainability.

About Digital Realty
Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 27 countries on six continents.

Charlotte, N.C., July 12, 2023 – Truist Financial Corp (NYSE: TFC) and IBM today announced that the bank will join the IBM Quantum Accelerator program in addition to welcoming IBM to the bank’s Innovator in Residence program. This collaboration will serve to spur technology innovation in banking while exploring opportunities for the application of quantum computing in the banking industry.

The agreement to participate in the IBM Quantum Accelerator program will focus on developing Truist’s internal expertise in quantum computing with the goal of achieving a quantum-ready state, positioning the bank to exploit the technology’s future potential. Under the agreement, Truist will gain access to IBM’s premium quantum computing systems, deep expertise and enablement resources. IBM will work with the Truist team to build quantum skills and explore how the technology could benefit their use cases in consumer banking.

“This collaboration with IBM is a reflection of our commitment to investing in new technologies to deliver on our purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities,” said Scott Case, Chief Information Officer at Truist. “Quantum computing has the potential to transform how we do banking and solve complex problems. IBM is a leader in quantum computing and their collaboration and expertise will be invaluable to ensure we are able to leverage these new technologies to the fullest potential.”

According to IBM’s Institute for Business Value report, The Quantum Decade, financial institutions around the world must be prepared for dramatic changes as a result of the exponential power of quantum computing.

“Forward-thinking financial institutions around the world are actively exploring real-world application opportunities of quantum computing. Ensuring access to quantum talent, expertise and technology must be a prominent element of any enterprise architecture strategy today,” said John Duigenan, Distinguished Engineer and General Manager Financial Services Industry at IBM Technology. “Truist’s demonstrated innovation mindset is commendable and we are excited to join Truist in exploring transformative technologies that will benefit their customers.”

Cultivating a Culture of Collaboration through Innovators in Residence

Additionally, building on more than 15 years of collaboration with the bank, IBM will become one of Truist’s Innovators in Residence. This program brings together tech giants and startups at Truist’s Innovation and Technology Center to collaborate with Truist’s resident innovators creating an environment to explore new and emerging technologies in finance. As part of this commitment, IBM will deploy dedicated teams with subject matter expertise onsite and share knowledge relating to emerging payment technologies, operational resiliency, artificial intelligence, automation, and business process and operations transformation.

“The core of our technology strategy is developing innovative solutions to complex challenges that will deliver real value for our customers,” said Ken Meyer, Divisional Chief Information and Experience Officer at Truist. “We do this by creating a working environment where we can better collaborate with our teammates, clients, and partners to co-create solutions together. We’re thrilled to welcome IBM to our Innovators in Residence Program where their deep technology and banking industry expertise will contribute to discussions and explorations about the future of banking.”

About Truist

Truist Financial Corporation is a purpose-driven financial services company committed to inspiring and building better lives and communities. Truist has leading market share in many high-growth markets in the country. The company offers a wide range of services including retail, small business and commercial banking; asset management; capital markets; commercial real estate; corporate and institutional banking; insurance; mortgage; payments; specialized lending; and wealth management. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist is a top 10 U.S. commercial bank with total assets of $574 billion as of March 31, 2023. Truist Bank, Member FDIC.  Learn more at www.truist.com.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Visit www.ibm.com for more information.