Microsoft and IBM launch AI agent platform with prebuilt tools and deployment help

Microsoft and IBM are combining ready-made AI agents with engineers who will help businesses put them to work. The companies announced Imagine Enterprise on November 10, 2026, a platform intended to let businesses build and govern agents across their data and daily processes.

A division of labor behind the platform

• Agent library: IBM Consulting says it will contribute more than 6,000 prebuilt AI agents, alongside its expertise in changing business operations.
• Technical foundation: Microsoft will supply the AI and cloud infrastructure intended to support secure agent operation.
• Deployment support: Forward-deployed engineers from Microsoft and IBM will help enterprises adopt the platform, providing hands-on technical support.

The platform initially includes industry-specific frameworks for financial services, insurance and retail. The companies say the prebuilt agents are intended to carry out industry-specific processes. Those sectors define the offering’s starting audience, with business workflows—not just general questions—as its stated focus.

Clients are no longer looking for AI that simply helps people do the same work a little faster

Mohamad Ali, head of IBM Consulting, in the announcement quoted by CIO Dive

According to Gartner findings cited by CIO Dive, only 4% of CIOs had implemented plans to adjust roles for a workforce of people and agents. That finding concerns changes to jobs—not simply whether an organization has acquired AI tools. It highlights a different task from getting agents technically deployed.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna outlined the company’s thinking during its October 2026 earnings call. He argued that AI’s effectiveness depends on the surrounding system: data that supplies context, workflows that coordinate action, and infrastructure that secures and optimizes operations. His emphasis was on how those systems work together, rather than on an agent’s capabilities alone.