IBM says company is investing in products it can use: We drink our own… – The Times of India

IBM’s venture capital chief, Emily Fontaine, has revealed the types of startups that the company is actively investing in. The software giant’s investment division, IBM Ventures, which has a $500 million fund, is placing its bets on products and technologies it plans to use internally. Fontaine explained that IBM acts as the first customer for some of these investments. In an interview with Fortune, she said, “At IBM, we are client zero. We drink our own champagne and what I mean by that is we use our own capabilities internally to drive a ridiculous amount of value.” Fontaine gave the example of “AskHR,” which is IBM’s AI-driven internal HR app.“I have a ton of amazing, young employees who all need an apartment. I need a mortgage rate! I need all these things!’ So, before it used to be, Zach would come to me, ask me for this. I’d go to HR. HR would make the request. They’d come back to me. And it would take time. Now, we can go to AskHR, and he can get it…