Enhancing CVE Management with IBM Concert: Smarter Application Management Through AI Insights (A Cencora/Amerisource Bergen perspective)

In the digital era, security vulnerabilities remain a constant threat. Managing these vulnerabilities efficiently requires a system capable of processing vast amounts of data and providing actionable insights. This is where IBM Concertcomes in. By leveraging AI insights, Concert simplifies and optimizes application management across data silos, ensuring IT teams can stay ahead of potential risks, including Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs).

What is IBM Concert?

IBM Concert® is a platform powered by IBM watsonx™, which uses generative AI to streamline and improve application management. It provides application owners and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) with a near real-time view of data, dependencies, and potential risks. Through its AI-driven insights, Concert helps to bridge gaps in application visibility across siloed tooling and data environments, enabling smarter decision-making.

Figure‑1: Arena View

The Role of CVE Management in Concert

One of the critical features of IBM Concert is its ability to rank and manage Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). CVEs are security vulnerabilities in software and applications that could be exploited by attackers. Managing CVEs effectively can mean the difference between a secure, well-performing application and a breach that disrupts business operations.

Figure ‑2 Insights

How IBM Concert Enhances CVE Management:

• Proactive Risk Identification: Concert ranks CVEs by their severity, helping application owners and SREs prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities.
• 360-Degree Application View: Concert provides a comprehensive view of the entire application lifecycle, making it easier to spot vulnerabilities across different environments.
• Actionable Insights: Leveraging generative AI, Concert offers prioritized recommendations for mitigating CVEs. By integrating with automation tools like Jira, GitHub, and ServiceNow, Concert ensures that teams can take immediate action on identified vulnerabilities.
• Automated Risk Mitigation: Concert’s natural language chatbot, powered by IBM watsonx™, makes it easy to delve into application data and get real-time suggestions without additional configuration work. This includes automating fixes for CVEs, helping teams reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR).

The Broader Benefits of IBM Concert

Full Application Visibility:

IBM Concert provides complete visibility into application performance across various toolsets, breaking down silos and offering insights that are crucial for identifying and mitigating risks. This is especially important for CVE management, where gaps in data could lead to undetected vulnerabilities.

Simplifying Compliance:

Concert helps maintain compliance by minimizing deviations from security standards. Its AI insights empower teams to prioritize compliance actions, reducing resource drain while maintaining high security integrity. This feature is particularly valuable in sectors where adherence to regulatory requirements is critical.

Streamlined AI-Powered Insights:

Concert works seamlessly with existing tools and datasets, generating recommendations using generative AI. It eliminates the need for manual setup or additional dashboards, allowing SREs and application owners to focus on more strategic tasks.

Why IBM Concert is a Game-Changer for CVE Management

As organizations continue to grapple with increasing amounts of application data and ever-evolving threats, IBM Concert offers a solution to simplify and optimize security management. Its ability to rank and address CVEs, combined with powerful AI-driven insights, transforms how businesses can secure their applications. By providing a 360-degree view, Concert not only predicts potential risks but also equips teams with the tools to act on those predictions swiftly.

For businesses looking to enhance their application security and risk management strategies, IBM Concert represents a powerful step forward. It enables smarter application management, reduced operational risk, and improved performance by leveraging cutting-edge AI and automation capabilities.

Usecase : Cencora / Amerisource Bergen

Unlock Proactive, AI-Powered Application Management with IBM Concert

As a global leader in pharmaceutical distribution, Cencora relies on a secure, resilient IT infrastructure to support mission-critical operations. With the ever-evolving landscape of security threats and the vast amount of data generated across applications, managing vulnerabilities like Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) is becoming more complex. What if you could streamline this entire process, gaining full visibility, reducing risk, and freeing up your teams to focus on strategic initiatives?

That’s where IBM Concert® comes in. Powered by IBM watsonx™, Concert uses generative AI to help you proactively manage application vulnerabilities, reduce operational risk, and improve application resilience—all from a single platform.

Here’s how IBM Concert can transform your application management at Cencora:

1. Full Application Visibility for Enhanced Security IBM Concert provides a 360-degree view of all your applications, breaking down data silos across on-premise and cloud environments. Imagine being able to detect security vulnerabilities and application dependencies in real-time, ensuring that no critical risk goes unnoticed.
2. AI-Driven CVE Prioritization and Remediation Concert’s generative AI ranks CVEs by their potential impact, helping your teams focus on the most critical vulnerabilities. No more manual triaging or guesswork—Concert provides actionable recommendations and automation options to remediate vulnerabilities efficiently. With automated fixes for lower-risk CVEs, your team can reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR) and focus on what matters most.
3. Seamless Integration with Existing Tools Concert works with your current systems, including ServiceNow, GitHub, and other key tools in your workflow, automating security issue tracking and remediation. This integration ensures that your team is always ahead of potential risks without adding extra work to your day-to-day operations.
4. Proactive Risk Mitigation Cencora’s operations can’t afford disruptions. IBM Concert’s predictive capabilities help you uncover risks such as expired certificates or configuration issues before they impact your business. Concert empowers your teams to take action proactively, minimizing costly downtime and protecting business continuity.
5. Maintain Compliance with Ease In the heavily regulated healthcare industry, maintaining compliance is critical. IBM Concert automates compliance checks, ensuring your applications always meet the required standards, while minimizing resource drain and reducing audit time.

The Results You Can Expect:

• 75% faster CVE resolution, significantly improving security response times and application stability.
• Seamless automation, allowing your teams to focus on strategic initiatives while the platform handles routine security tasks.
• Full compliance visibility, helping you maintain uninterrupted adherence to industry regulations.
• Fewer operational disruptions, leading to more reliable application performance and improved customer satisfaction.

With IBM Concert, Cencora can revolutionize how you manage vulnerabilities and application risk. Let us show you how to get the most out of your existing IT investments while improving security, compliance, and operational efficiency.