Prolifics (Cover Article)

Theme: 10 Leading IBM Partners To Watch in 2024

Person to Be Quoted: Greg Hodgkinson, CTO

40 Years of Turning Vision into Value—Faster

For more than 40 years, Prolifics has been at the forefront of helping businesses navigate the shifting tides of technology. What began as a systems integration firm has evolved into a global leader in digital transformation, specializing in data, AI (Artificial Intelligence), automation, and cloud solutions.

Guided by its tagline, “Vision to Value. Faster,” Prolifics has built a reputation for taking ambitious ideas and rapidly converting them into real-world outcomes.  Prolifics’ journey in harnessing AI for tangible outcomes highlights its commitment to an ‘AI for Business’ message.

Making AI Work for Business

Building on this strong foundation, Prolifics embarked on a transformative journey in September 2023, dedicating an entire month to embedding generative AI across every facet of the company. From crafting AI-driven solutions to unlocking its potential in HR (Human Resources), marketing, finance, and beyond, the initiative sought to weave AI into the very fabric of Prolifics’ operations.

Greg Hodgkinson, CTO of Prolifics, reflects, “Riding the wave of our success, we launched a follow-up in June, broadening our scope from generative AI to a comprehensive embrace of all AI technologies, centered on ‘AI for Business.’ This phase was crucial in deepening our commitment to making AI both accessible and impactful for our clients, clearly demonstrating the tangible, quantifiable value AI can bring to their businesses. These initiatives have firmly established Prolifics as a leader in AI implementation among IBM partners, empowering organizations to swiftly turn ideas into real value with AI.”

This positions Prolifics at the forefront of a key trend among IBM partners: moving organizations from pilot projects to fully integrated, AI-driven solutions in production environments.

The Shift from AI Experimentation to Real Impact

As AI moves from pilot projects to fully integrated solutions, businesses face the challenge of proving real ROI.

“The pressure is on to switch from ideation and experimentation to delivering cost savings or revenue improvements – and for many this is proving to be tougher than they thought,” says Hodgkinson.

He continues, “In conversations with top decision-makers, several key challenges in the IBM partner space have become clear. There’s significant pressure to deliver AI solutions that not only drive tangible business value but also meet rigorous IT standards for security and reliability. Additionally, concerns are growing around the unique risks that come with AI-powered solutions,” says Hodgkinson.

Helping Clients Navigate AI Complexity

Decision-makers often feel overwhelmed by the vast array of technologies and vendor choices in this still-emerging field, where no clear industry leaders have yet emerged, and many vendors are vying for attention in a congested space. This challenge is further complicated with the decision of whether to build AI use cases in-house or alternatively to purchase them “off the shelf” in the form of rapidly evolving products.

Add to this, the challenge of transforming traditional development teams to teams that are comfortable with building AI solutions.

“Our AI-powered solutions are rigorously tested to meet and exceed quality standards, with proactive risk management frameworks in place,” says Hodgkinson.

Prolifics offers expert guidance and tailored recommendations to help clients navigate the complex landscape of emerging technologies and vendor options. Prolifics also addresses the build-vs.-buy dilemma with flexible, hybrid solutions that leverage the best of both worlds.

“Don’t build what you can buy, you want to build what you can never buy. Something that will differentiate you to your customers, and transform your own unique products,” says Hodgkinson.

Breaking New Ground with AI

Prolifics is committed to upskilling its clients’ development teams, investing heavily in targeted training and mentorship. This approach empowers teams to seamlessly integrate and fully 

“In addition, our clients now expect comprehensive AI and automation in every aspect of service delivery. What was once a unique differentiator—AI-powered accelerators—has quickly become essential for staying competitive,” adds Hodgkinson.

While early generative AI applications focused on tasks like question-answering, summarization, and data extraction, Prolifics has pushed these boundaries. The team has developed autonomous agent solutions that utilize LLMs (Large Language Model) for advanced reasoning, enabling problem-solving, execution planning, and the seamless integration of traditional automation for implementation. As these technologies rapidly evolve, they are set to become the backbone of service industries.

At Prolifics, AI is not just an add-on; it’s integral to creating smarter, more efficient digital solutions. By embedding AI deeply into its service offerings, Prolifics delivers robust, scalable solutions that enhance existing systems, ensuring clients realize the full potential of AI. This commitment to innovation consistently allows Prolifics to meet and exceed client expectations, solidifying its leadership position within the IBM partner ecosystem.

Innovation as a Habit

The key has been to create a habitual and systematic approach to innovation. “In 2017, we strategically re-engineered our business model and placed an Innovation Center at the forefront, allowing us to stay ahead of rapidly evolving technology curves,” says Hodgkinson. This Innovation Center drives initiatives built around specific challenges, rapidly prototyping solutions and validating ideas that deliver real business value. 

At Prolifics’ Innovation Center, the company spearheads ‘innovation topics’—focused initiatives built around specific hypotheses that tackle problems, challenges, or opportunities. These initiatives are always framed within a business context, proposing solutions that undergo rigorous testing. Some topics may last a few weeks, while others extend over months, but the goal remains consistent: rapidly prototyping and validating solution ideas. This hands-on approach swiftly assesses technical feasibility and business impact, enabling the team to course-correct and pivot toward the most valuable outcomes.

The Prolifics’ Innovation Center empowers the team to continually explore ways to enhancements, envision improved solutions, and better serve clients. This approach isn’t a one-time transformation but a long-term commitment to excellence, ensuring no blind spots as it addresses every digital dimension—applications, data, automation, integration, and testing.

The Prolifics “Power of 1” Framework

For clients, this methodology ensures that Prolifics swiftly determines whether an idea is viable. The approach is encapsulated in the Prolifics “Power of One” framework:

• Idea in a Day: Generate valuable ideas swiftly.

• Proof of Concept in a Week: Validate the idea’s feasibility.

• MVP in a Month: Deliver a minimum viable product rapidly.

• 10x ROI in a Year: Target substantial returns on investment.

“From day one, we set clear expectations with our clients about the pace and direction of our activities. This approach keeps us focused on delivering immediate impact while aligning efforts for long-term success. Clients value this as it minimizes distractions from their core activities, ensures efficient use of their time, and helps them transition smoothly from unstructured ideation to focused value delivery,” says Hodgkinson.

By continually innovating and refining its methods, Prolifics remains at the forefront, consistently delivering solutions that transform digital visions into reality with both immediate impact and long-term success. Hodgkinson highlights that many of Prolifics’ most exciting solutions are fueled by innovation and AI, leveraging the latest in cutting-edge technologies.

#WeDidThat.WithAI

 “We've made significant investments in our ‘emerging tech’ capabilities, leading to several customer success stories that showcase our innovation expertise at its best,” adds Hodgkinson. Prolifics’ innovative solutions have led to significant wins for clients. One notable example is Prolifics’ work with a large petrochemical company that faced challenges in creating digital twins of its older facilities. Many of these facilities were built before high-fidelity 3D plans became the norm, making it difficult to leverage the benefits of a digital twin. Using AI-powered computer vision and machine learning, Prolifics developed a system that generates accurate digital twins from low-quality images—enabling better operational efficiency, safety, and predictive maintenance.

“We delivered an innovative AI-powered solution that allowed the company to overcome these challenges. By harnessing advanced AI algorithms and machine learning techniques, we created a system capable of generating accurate digital twins from low-fidelity photogrammetry, utilizing computer vision models trained on synthetic yet realistic images—techniques inspired by advanced computer gaming graphics. This solution broadened the company’s options for operational efficiency programs while enhancing safety and predictive maintenance capabilities,” adds Hodgkinson. 

In another example Prolifics developed AI automation for a major supplier of plumbing, kitchen, and HVAC products. This solution leverages computer vision to analyze building plans and automatically identify the necessary supplies, streamlining the quoting process, and boosting business capacity.

These capabilities were developed from the ground up under the leadership of Konrad Konarski, Vice President of Emerging Tech, in close collaboration with the Innovation Center. Together, they created the tools, frameworks, and intellectual property necessary to deliver these cutting-edge solutions. This partnership enabled rapid prototyping and iteration, leading to robust and scalable solutions for our clients.

A Commitment to Excellence and Innovation

Prolifics’ relentless drive to push boundaries keeps its teams energized and motivated.

“We’re always injecting fresh ideas, new perspectives, and cutting-edge technologies, pushing us beyond our comfort zone to deliver even greater value to our clients,” Hodgkinson says. “It keeps the job exciting and ensures our teams stay motivated to learn and grow.” 

Strategically positioned as an industry leader, Prolifics has fully embraced AI and automation across its operations. The company is more than just a consulting firm—it’s a comprehensive partner focused on driving digital transformation into the future. Unlike traditional methods that depend heavily on manual labor, Prolifics prioritizes automation, resulting in faster transitions, cost savings, and minimized risks for clients.

Hodgkinson shares, “One of the most exciting recent innovations emerged from our Quality Engineering (QE) team. They’ve developed AI tooling that’s truly groundbreaking. Imagine a tool that can be pointed at a screen to automatically generate test cases, script those tests, run them autonomously, and report back the results—all without human intervention. I saw a demo of this just last week. This level of automation is a game-changer and really underscores our commitment to leveraging the latest technologies to solve complex problems with greater efficiency.”

Taking Vision to Value—Faster and Beyond

Clients trust Prolifics for consistently delivering results. From onboarding to project completion, they can expect a seamless and professional experience.  Prolifics blends global expertise with cutting-edge technology, ensuring every step of the transformation journey is smooth, precise, and confidently executed.

Reflecting on this vision, Hodgkinson concludes, ‘Every new prospect is a challenge we embrace. It’s an opportunity to partner with them, harness our cutting-edge technologies, and completely reinvent their business—redefining their products, revolutionizing their productivity, and transforming their customer experiences. That’s the power we bring to every challenge, and it’s what makes our work truly impactful.” 

Through a relentless commitment to innovation and a long-standing partnership with IBM and industry leaders, Prolifics has consistently delivered solutions that help businesses keep up with change and stay ahead of it.