e& and IBM Launch Agentic AI to Automate Corporate Governance at Davos

AI Agents Beyond Chatbots

Global technology group e& and IBM announced a strategic leap into enterprise-grade agentic AI during the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 19, 2026. This deployment marks a shift from passive chatbots to active AI agents designed to autonomously manage governance, risk, and compliance. The initiative aims to embed reasoning and action-oriented intelligence directly into the core mission-critical systems of the organization.

Integrating with Enterprise Ecosystems

The solution utilizes IBM watsonx Orchestrate and integrates with the IBM OpenPages platform to interpret legal and regulatory information. These agents can reason through complex scenarios and connect to hundreds of enterprise tools to execute tasks with minimal human intervention. By using the watsonx portfolio, the system ensures that all AI-driven decisions remain traceable and aligned with strict enterprise requirements.

Validating Scalability and Speed

A successful eight-week proof of concept led by IBM and Gulf Business Machines demonstrated the technology's scalability under real-world conditions. This rapid implementation showcases the maturity of the platform and its ability to handle high-stakes corporate data. The project moves beyond simple question-and-answer interactions toward sophisticated multi-step reasoning that supports human-led decision-making processes.

A Strategic Move for Global Governance

Group CEO of e& Hatem Dowidar emphasized that the collaboration embeds intelligence directly into policy interpretation and risk management. By scaling agentic AI, the company hopes to achieve faster decisions and a more consistent application of corporate rules. This move reinforces the commitment of e& to responsible innovation while setting a regional benchmark for trusted digital transformation. The deployment also leverages watsonx.governance to provide transparency and monitor for potential issues like bias or hallucinations. This "governed by design" approach allows the AI to operate within customer-managed infrastructure while maintaining full enterprise control. As e& continues its global expansion, this foundation will likely scale across other business units like procurement and customer service.