London, U.K. - 22 Apr 2016: During a meeting on Thursday 21 April 2016 at No.11 Downing Street, The Rt. Hon. George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO, discussed the importance of the UK market to IBM and how accelerated technological innovation and the right skills can help the UK remain a global digital leader.

IBM plans to hire more than 900 people in the UK in 2016. These positions will be for graduates, apprentices and experienced professionals who have the digital skills needed to drive business innovation in the UK. To continue building the next generation workforce, the roles will be based across the UK to harness the skills and technical expertise of talent from a range of regions including London, Leicester, Preston and the Thames Valley.

IBM’s investment in talent builds on its recent creation of six new digital locations across the UK. Four new IBM Service Centres have opened to help UK based businesses harness the benefits of the latest cloud, analytics, mobile, security, social and cognitive computing technologies. IBM also opened two new design studios to support industries such as healthcare, financial services and retail as digital transformation continues to infuse every aspect of modern business.

The UK has emerged as a leading digital economy. IBM’s commitment to the UK supports the government’s ambition to close the digital skills gap so British businesses are in the best position to adopt the very latest technologies and meet the evolving opportunities of the new digital era.