IBM launches Enterprise Advantage to help companies build governed internal AI platforms

IBM announced on January 19, 2026 that it is launching Enterprise Advantage, a consulting service intended to help organizations build their own internal AI platforms and scale agentic applications in a controlled way. Rather than asking customers to standardize on one cloud provider or one model family, IBM says the service is designed to work with the infrastructure and model choices that enterprises already have in place.

According to IBM, Enterprise Advantage can connect AI to existing systems, redesign workflows, and support the operation of agentic applications without requiring customers to switch away from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, IBM watsonx, or the mix of open and closed models they already use. That flexibility matters because many large organizations now have fragmented AI estates and are trying to avoid rebuilding them from scratch.

Built from IBM’s internal delivery platform

IBM says Enterprise Advantage draws on IBM Consulting Advantage, the company’s own internal AI-powered delivery platform. IBM describes that platform as a marketplace of industry-specific AI agents and applications that has already supported more than 150 client engagements. In the announcement, IBM also says Consulting Advantage has helped boost consultant productivity by up to 50%, which it is now using as part of the case for bringing the same operating model to clients.

The company’s positioning is notable because it moves beyond model access and into platform governance. The service is meant to help clients build, govern, and operate a tailored internal AI environment rather than consume isolated point solutions. In practice, that means IBM is packaging reusable assets, workflow redesign, and consulting expertise together with a multi-model, multi-cloud operating approach.

Early examples and enterprise implications

IBM points to Pearson as one example, saying the education company is using the service to build a custom AI-powered platform that combines human expertise with agentic assistants for everyday work and decisions. IBM also describes a manufacturing client that used Enterprise Advantage to identify high-value use cases, test prototypes, align leadership around a platform-first strategy, and deploy assistants in a secured and governed environment.

The launch matters because it targets a problem many enterprises now face: pilots are easy, but durable AI operations are hard. Internal platforms need standards, security, governance, and reusable assets before AI can spread across multiple departments. IBM is betting that consulting services shaped around a reusable internal platform will be more valuable than one-off deployments. If that thesis is right, Enterprise Advantage gives IBM a way to sell not only models or software, but the operating system enterprises need to scale agentic AI without losing architectural control.