McKinsey acquired Iguazio, a company specializing in AI and machine learning, in 2023. Iguazio has since been integrated into QuantumBlack Horizon, McKinsey’s AI division, which helps companies develop, implement and manage generative AI (GenAI) solutions.

Iguazio’s AI platform is a key component of QuantumBlack Horizon, McKinsey’s AI tool suite. This platform provides solutions to two major challenges in implementing Gen AI in enterprise environments: scalability and governance. Gen AI operations ensure efficient and effective implementation and scaling of Gen AI applications. At the same time, Gen AI security measures help manage risk by governing essential monitoring, privacy and compliance activities.

“GenAI has made it easier to build proof-of-concepts (POCs) but much harder to put them into production, widening the gap between potential and actual business value,” said Asaf Somekh, co-founder and CEO of Iguazio. “With the Iguazio AI Platform, we are bridging this gap and enabling companies to efficiently integrate GenAI into their business processes and applications.”

Benefits of the Iguazio AI Platform

The Iguazio AI platform helps enterprises adopt Gen AI by promoting efficient use of infrastructure such as cloud services and compute capacity, among other things. AI hardware such as Nvidia GPUs can be shared across projects, helping to control costs and optimize resources. Code written for data extraction can be transformed into managed microservices and reusable components, supporting a variety of data extraction processes across the enterprise.

As more companies use Iguazio, additional benefits become apparent, such as the ability to coordinate, centrally integrate, and manage the data science process across teams. Iguazio’s AI platform is versatile and can be deployed on-premises as well as in public, private, and hybrid configurations. It includes advanced data lineage, tracking, and privacy features required in highly regulated industries such as financial services and telecommunications. The platform can also be used with multiple large language models.

Future of Gene AI at McKinsey

Ben Ellencweig, Senior Partner at McKinsey, emphasized the importance of the Iguazio acquisition. “When McKinsey acquired Iguazio last year, we knew we could quickly integrate their offering with our core QuantumBlack technology, benefitting companies looking to develop robust and secure Gen AI capabilities. The combination of Iguazio’s platform, McKinsey’s strategy and consulting expertise, and our Gen AI ecosystem of technology partners provides our clients with a full suite of solutions to leverage the power of Gen AI.”

To ensure responsible use of GenAI, the Iguazio platform has built-in security measures at every stage of development. This helps prevent risks such as data breaches, biased results, AI hallucinations, and intellectual property violations. The platform also supports a governance framework.