In the ever-growing landscape of artificial intelligence, organizations and businesses strive for reliable technology capable of modernizing their applications, safeguarding data and streamlining workflows. Recognizing this need, IBM has taken a unique approach to ensure efficiency and trust in their solutions by becoming its own first use case through an approach the company calls “Client Zero.”
Through this strategic approach, IBM transformed its own processes and systems into test cases before offering these technologies to external clients. This self-experimentation allows IBM to rigorously validate the efficacy, reliability, and security of its AI solutions under enterprise-scale real-world conditions. By doing so, IBM instills confidence in potential customers about the robustness and practicality of its technology, thereby setting a benchmark for industry standards.
By reimagining its operations with AI, the company set itself a clear goal, in the words of CEO Arvind Krishna: to become the world’s most productive enterprise.
IBM’s Client Zero approach transformed its business using their own portfolio of hybrid cloud, AI, and automation tools. Playing a key role in the company’s Client Zero story is IBM watsonx Orchestrate, a solution that helps create, deploy and manage AI agents to automate processes and workflows.
“We are transforming our enterprise operations using technology and embedding AI across more than 70 workflows, leveraging our own IBM software solutions across hybrid cloud automation and AI to drive competitive advantage. What differentiates IBM is the breadth of our AI offerings, with an innovative technology stack and consulting business at scale and our ‘client zero’ lens,” said Krishna.
watsonx Orchestrate: the engine of transformation
Functioning as a single hub, watsonx Orchestrate brings together AI agents, digital assistants, and low-code to no-code tools to help organizations build, deploy, and scale automation quickly.
The solution integrates with more than 100 enterprise applications and comes preloaded with a catalog of AI agents for HR, sales, procurement, IT support, and more. It reduces manual work, accelerates decisions, and boosts efficiency across functions.
For IBM itself, the results have been striking:
- $4.5 billion in productivity gains by year-end 2025
- 3.9 million employee hours saved in 2024 alone
- 40 percent cut in operational budgets through tools like AskHR
- $18 million in IT cost savings while maintaining round-the-clock support
Orchestrating efficiency: AskHR and AskIT in action
In the dynamic world of business, efficient management and seamless operations are paramount. IBM’s innovative solutions, AskHR and AskIT, are redefining these areas by leveraging the power of AI. AskHR leverages watsonx Orchestrate’s AI capabilities to provide expeditious and precise responses to a wide array of HR-related queries. By doing so, it simplifies the HR management process, saves time, and fosters a more positive and responsive work environment.
Since its introduction, AskHR has showcased significant achievements. In 2024, AskHR handled more than 11.5 million interactions; 94 percent of those were contained within the platform. That means out of all the questions that were asked, only six percent needed to be routed outside of AskHR to a specialized HR partner for assistance.
Also built with watsonx Orchestrate, AskIT delivers immediate solutions to complex IT issues. This not only reduces system downtime but also ensures optimal performance of your technological infrastructure, thereby enhancing overall productivity.
AskIT is trained on 80 percent of the IT issues the company faces most frequently and covers more than 200 common support topics in more than 40 languages.
Moreover, the integration with watsonx Orchestrate enables both AskHR and AskIT to learn and adapt over time, improving their responsiveness and accuracy.
Looking forward, IBM plans to introduce finance agents to this ecosystem to further extend these benefits to financial management, positioning the company at the forefront of AI-driven enterprise solutions.
Testing innovation from within
IBM’s transformation was not confined to technology. It actively engaged employees by launching company-wide innovation challenges, encouraging staff to propose ideas to simplify daily tasks. Nearly 170,000 employees participated in the 2025 “IBMer watsonx Challenge,” designed to give employees hands-on experience with the company’s AI technology.
Another distinctive aspect of IBM’s approach is its reliance on smaller, specialized language models trained on enterprise data rather than generic large models. This ensures higher accuracy, reduced risk of AI “hallucinations,” and outputs that are tailored to business needs.
The broader outlook
An IBM Institute for Business Value study, “Orchestrating agentic AI for intelligent business operations,” highlights the urgency executives are placing on AI-driven automation:
- 80 percent cite automating global business services as a strategic priority
- 86 percent say AI agents will make process automation and workflow reinvention more effective by 2027
- 75 percent say AI agents will execute transactional processes and workflows autonomously in the next two years
Based on the same study, executives who were surveyed forecast measurable improvements across global industries by 2026:
- A 24 percent rise in financial forecasting accuracy
- A 35 percent boost in HR productivity
- Over 40 percent improvements in procurement efficiency
- Up to a 50 percent increase in customer satisfaction metrics
A blueprint for AI-powered growth
IBM’s Client Zero approach shows that AI transformation is not just about deploying new technologies — it is about reshaping how organizations operate and how employees engage with their work. The company’s success provides a roadmap for businesses and governments seeking to capture AI’s full potential.
For Saudi Arabia, already accelerating its digital agenda, IBM’s model offers both proof of concept and a practical framework. By combining global expertise with local partnerships, IBM can support the Kingdom’s journey into an era of AI-driven growth and innovation.
