IBM and Microsoft announced Imagine Enterprise on November 10, 2026, a platform for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) agents in processes for specific industries, starting with financial services, insurance, and retail. IBM Consulting contributes more than 6,000 pre-built agents and assets plus implementation teams, while Microsoft provides the infrastructure: Azure, Fabric, Entra, Purview, Defender, and its agent-building tools.
Imagine Enterprise in 20 seconds
- IBM Consulting adds more than 6,000 agents and assets plus its project experience.
- Microsoft contributes the cloud, data, identity, and security.
- Launches in banking, insurance, and retail, with no pricing published.
From an infrastructure standpoint, the deal matters because it places IBM Consulting’s agent catalog on Microsoft’s cloud, rather than on IBM’s own cloud or on Red Hat OpenShift, which IBM typically puts at the center of its hybrid cloud proposals. The announcement does not mention OpenShift or IBM Cloud. IBM has previously made a similar move with another hyperscaler — see IBM and Google Cloud Partner to Bring AI Agents to Enterprise Production — and Microsoft has separately been staffing up for this kind of enterprise AI delivery work, as in Microsoft Frontier Company: 6,000 Engineers to Bring AI to Real Business.
Microsoft’s stack underneath the agents
According to both companies, Microsoft Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and Copilot Studio are used to coordinate the agents with enterprise systems. Underneath, Microsoft Fabric manages the data, Entra handles identity, Purview covers governance and information protection, Defender handles security, and Azure is the cloud layer, alongside Microsoft 365 infrastructure. On top, IBM Consulting Advantage’s tools (Process Studio, Context Studio, and Advantage Core) are used to design, deploy, and govern custom agents.
It’s a familiar division of labor: the integrator provides industry knowledge and delivery teams, and the hyperscaler provides the platform. What’s new is packaging it as a product with reusable industry templates and engineers from both companies embedded with the client on projects that meet certain criteria. For organizations that already have their identity in Entra and their data in Microsoft 365, integration should be more direct. For those seeking independence from a single cloud provider, it’s one more dependency to weigh.
Governance and regulated industries
The platform targets regulated industries above all, and promises controls, observability, and support for AI regulatory compliance. In Europe, that runs into two realities: the EU AI Act and data sovereignty requirements in banking and insurance, which in many cases require controlling where data is processed. The announcement gives no details on deployment regions or sovereign offerings.
Imagine Enterprise is contracted through IBM Consulting, which can deploy and operate it for the client or build it together with them, and self-managed options also exist. IBM and Microsoft plan to extend it to manufacturing, energy, the public sector, and mobility, though they caution that those plans are goals subject to change.
Frequently asked questions
What cloud does Imagine Enterprise run on?
On Microsoft’s technology, with Azure as the cloud foundation and Fabric, Entra, Purview, and Defender handling data, identity, and security.
What does IBM bring to the deal?
More than 6,000 agents and assets from IBM Consulting, IBM Consulting Advantage tools, and teams to implement the projects.
How much does it cost?
IBM and Microsoft have not published pricing. It is contracted through IBM Consulting.
Sources:
- Microsoft: IBM and Microsoft announce a new AI agent platform designed for industry-specific transformation (11/10/2026)
- IBM: Imagine Enterprise
This article is also available in Spanish: «IBM y Microsoft llevan los agentes de IA sectoriales a Azure», on revistacloud.com.
