Avanade is a global professional services company providing IT consulting and services focused on the Microsoft platform with artificial intelligence, business analytics, cloud, application services, digital transformation, modern workplace, security services, technology and managed services offerings. HQ in Seattle, the company has 50,000 professionals in 26 countries. Avanade serves 34% of the Fortune 500 and 46% of the Fortune Global 500.

Like other top IT vendors, IBM has made AI and advanced analytics a cornerstone of its technology strategy, along with the data management systems that drive analytics applications. Data and AI analytics will also be at the heart of the IBM Think 2019 conference in San Francisco. AI tools in particular are getting a big push from IBM and rivals. Whether the hype matches current enterprise IT reality remains to be seen. In a recent Q&A, Babson College IT professor Tom Davenport said he thinks AI "will be revolutionary in the long run, but it's pretty evolutionary in the short run."