IBM and Microsoft launch Imagine Enterprise AI agent platform
IBM and Microsoft have announced Imagine Enterprise, an agentic platform designed to help enterprises build, operate and govern AI agents for industry-specific processes. The companies are combining IBM Consulting’s more than 6,000 AI agents and assets with Microsoft’s AI, data, cloud and security technologies.
- Imagine Enterprise is designed to build, run and govern industry-specific AI agents.
- IBM Consulting contributes more than 6,000 AI agents and assets.
- Microsoft provides AI, data, cloud and security technologies.
- Initial frameworks cover financial services, insurance and retail.
- Customers can choose deployment, co-innovation or self-management options.
A platform for regulated enterprise work
Imagine Enterprise is aimed especially at organizations in regulated industries that want to combine human expertise with AI agents and connect those agents to proprietary enterprise data and daily processes. IBM and Microsoft said the platform includes controls, observability and AI-compliance support intended to help organizations secure industry-specific AI deployments.
The companies are also offering forward-deployed engineering support for qualifying engagements. Engineers from IBM Consulting and Microsoft can help customers move from experimentation to production, according to the announcement.
Pre-built agents and connections to existing systems
IBM Consulting contributes a fleet of more than 6,000 AI agents and assets built on IBM Consulting Advantage, its AI-powered delivery platform, along with experience building them and industry expertise. Microsoft supplies the technology foundation intended to support secure operation across the enterprise.
Imagine Enterprise is designed to connect with an organization’s existing data, processes, systems and technology environment. That means enterprises can start with their current setup, adapt pre-built capabilities to their business needs and scale over time, rather than starting from scratch or replacing the platforms they already use.
Microsoft and GitHub technologies including Microsoft Foundry, GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Studio help coordinate AI agents and enterprise systems. Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft 365 infrastructure, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Azure provide data, identity, AI governance, security and cloud capabilities. IBM Consulting Advantage’s Process Studio, Context Studio and Advantage Core support the design, deployment and governance of tailored AI agents.
Initial industries and customer example
Imagine Enterprise’s initial industry-specific frameworks cover financial services, insurance and retail. IBM and Microsoft said the frameworks are intended to create a repeatable blueprint for possible future use in manufacturing, energy, the public sector and mobility.
SEI, a global provider of financial technology, operations and asset management services within the financial services industry, is exploring emerging and agentic technologies with IBM Consulting and Microsoft. The work is intended to help improve how SEI operates and enhance experiences for its employees and clients.
“AI is evolving quickly, and our focus at SEI is on applying it with intention in ways that strengthen trust, enhance human decision-making, and create meaningful value across our business,” Sneha Shah, SEI’s Chief AI Strategist and Head of SEI Next, said in the announcement.
Clients can engage IBM Consulting to deploy and operate the platform on their behalf, co-innovate on enterprise-scale implementations or use self-management options. The announcement positions Imagine Enterprise as a way for organizations to apply pre-built AI capabilities within their existing environments while maintaining enterprise security, identity, governance and control.
