IBM Explores Agentic AI Through Updated Partnership

Technological and research company IBM looks to dive deeper into the innerworkings of Agentic AI through its broadened relationship with AI software company ServiceNow.

IBM is sourcing ServiceNow’s platform to address gaps in both AI-ready data and the outdated processes behind applying the information to current business practices.

Experts weigh in

Raj Datta, General Manager of ISV and AI partnerships at IBM says: “AI adoption at scale requires more than access to models. It requires rethinking the systems, data and governance that support them.

“Together with ServiceNow, we’re building an open, flexible foundation for AI that helps enterprises move faster while maintaining control and trust.”

Both IBM and ServiceNow are working to help companies revitalise aging systems, extend ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric with IBM’s enterprise data capabilities and power autonomous IT operations so agentic AI can be used at scale.

John Aisien, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Central Product Management at ServiceNow adds: “Most enterprises have the ambition to deploy agentic AI, but lack the foundation to run it at scale.

“IBM brings the tooling to modernise the systems and extend ServiceNow’s data capabilities; ServiceNow provides the platform to put that data to work across every workflow in the business. Together, we’re helping enterprises move from AI ambition to real, scalable outcomes.”

Core strategic pillars

IBM and ServiceNow are concentrating their AI-related initiatives on three primary areas:

Application modernisation: Scans and refactors legacy systems using tools like IBM Bob, Enterprise Application runtime (Java) and IBM watsonx.data so enterprises will be able to bring aging applications into the AI era without starting from scratch. 

Enterprise data governance: Extends ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric with IBM watsonx.data to unlock key capabilities like Data Quality, Observability, Master Data Management – leveraging ServiceNow Data Catalog so that mutual customers can keep their data AI-ready. 

Autonomous infrastructure operations: Integrates Red Hat Ansible, IBM Bob, Instana, Hashicorp Terraform and Hashicorp Vault into ServiceNow IT workflows to detect, remediate and resolve issues before they affect the business.

Other areas of focus for IBM

In 2025, both IBM and AWS released a number of tools to offset the difficulties associated with utilising agentic AI in their business processes. The tools allow companies to streamline approvals, supplier management and contract workflows for procurement teams.

In a comparable move during 2024, IBM teamed up with Dun & Bradstreet to launch the 'Ask Procurement' solution. This AI-driven assistant is designed to support procurement specialists in identifying potential risks and successes within supply chain operations.

“Enterprises need partners who can help them scale responsible AI adoption, which starts with trusted data,” explains Gary Kotovets, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Dun & Bradstreet.

“We’re bringing together Dun & Bradstreet and IBM’s nearly 300 years of combined experience to create generative AI solutions that harness Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud and IBM watsonx Orchestrate to fuel responsible generative AI adoption, starting with Ask Procurement. 

“By leveraging IBM watsonx, D&B Ask Procurement simplifies, accelerates and reduces the cost of certain essential procurement decisions. Ask Procurement is just one of many examples of how, together, we can help clients drive savings, optimise business processes and improve risk management with generative AI and reliable data.”