Agentic Ecosystems 2026 — Fireside Chat with Raj Datta & Jessica Baker

Julia Nimchinski:
And we are transitioning to our next session, Agentech Ecosystems 2026. Welcome to the show, Jessica Baker, Chief Innovation Officer at Achieve Unite. And Raj Datta, Global VM and VP for ISV and AI Partnership. That’s a mouthful, at IBM. Stoked to have you here. How are you doing? And, to kick things off. What is your top prediction for GTM and AI in 2026?
Jessica Baker:
What’s the top prediction that I have? Yeah. I definitely think that you’re going to see some new processes that are AI-native, and the workflows will sort of get reimagined inside of all companies, from you know, enterprise right on down to SMBs. I think this is… the 2026 is going to be the year I think of the AIGENTIC, powered workflow. Raj, what about you?
Raj Datta:
Yeah, you know, something we were also talking about last week is we’re seeing a really big transition from where AI was an afterthought, right? And with a lot of the investment that’s going on, etc, AI was essentially, okay, we built this application, we’re gonna put AI on top of it, where now we’re starting with it’s going to be AI, it’s going to be the foundation, and then the application and the additional assets are going to be built on top of it, right? And, you know, I had told you the corny line of, you know, before it was, you know, plus AI, but now it’s AI plus, right? Because that’s where it’s headed towards. And so, you know, I think we saw some… immense scale this year with regards to AI, where, you know, companies were… everyone was saying that they want to do AI, and the buzz was there. Agentic became the real buzzword of this year. I think next year we’re going to see it go, like, more than 10x, right? Just because people are getting the… capabilities to do so. There’s companies that are supporting them to allow them to scale. I mean, that’s what we’ve been doing at IBM, is we’re allowing a foundation to build on top of, and keeping it very open. Because we saw a lot of closed models, which were getting companies in trouble, slowing them down. I think the… along with AI, you’ll see a pretty big open source movement as well.
Jessica Baker:
I think the last, like, 3 months, this has really exploded. Like, you can’t turn anywhere on any social media, or any printed anything, any conference, any business call that I have. Somebody’s always talking about this. It’s like the… it’s like a big… force energy that’s gonna push us into 2026. So, maybe let’s set the stage right now, because you’re sitting in that center of ISVs and AI partnerships globally. Let’s talk about the signals that you’re seeing, that we’re finally making that switch to AI+, moving from hype to actual execution.
Raj Datta:
Yeah, I mean… one of the areas that I saw many ISVs struggle in, and they still are today, and this is one of the main discussions I’ll have with, like, a chief product officer or whatnot, is, you know, A, getting the right use cases down. Because what ends up happening is, you know, the board will tell them, or the CEO will say, we must have an AI strategy, so all of a sudden, everything becomes AI, everything stays in, you know, pilot purgatory, right? And instead of actually being able to take it to production. And the whole The whole area is the way you’re gonna really profit especially in 2026, is how do you get and adopt the AI as fast as possible? But the key is, to me at least, is picking the right use cases and what’s really going to benefit your company. not everything’s going to be AI, well, at least not next year, I don’t think, right? But eventually, probably it will, right? But I’ll hopefully be retired by then. But at that, you know, but we do, like, that’s where the areas that companies are getting a lot more hyper-focused on, because I think a lot I saw this year was, like, trying to do everything. with AI, instead of picking the right niche use cases to really scale.
Jessica Baker:
Yeah, I have lots of conversations with channel leaders, and we’ll be having a great conversation, and I’ll start talking about the art of the possible, right? But inevitably, there’s a point in the conversation where, you know, you’re intense, and you’re talking about it, and you’re grooving, and then that person sort of detaches from the screen, and they sort of look off into space. And you know, that’s when they’re, like, multiplexing in their head, like, all of the things that you could do with this technology. And I think bringing it back to one use case and solving for that. think is the right place for them to start, right? I think you get overwhelmed with pilots, pilot purgatory, whatever. There have been lots of studies out there about how effective these things are in actually moving from pilot to production and giving us an ROI, and so I think that starting with just that one use case, I think, is a really important first step.
Raj Datta:
I agree, and I mean, like, you know, in dealing with ISVs, too, there’s also what we’re seeing, and, you know, we did a really good job of this with IBM, like, over the past couple years, is actually using those AI capabilities internally as well. So now, all of our employees are fairly well-versed on it, because everywhere from HR, to, you know, IT support, you’re essentially talking to an agent, you know? And we didn’t call it agent back then, but it truly is, you know, agents that you’re working with, so I don’t have to go into the back end of. a, you know, SAP success factor, or a Workday, or anything like that, you know, or nor be an expert in it. I just want to move an employee, I’m able to do that. we’re seeing a lot of cost-benefit internally. So, you know, the exciting stuff for me within the AI space is you can, A, you can save money, which is great, but B, you can make money, right? Because as you add on new features, and the features come up much faster, we’re seeing a lot of revenue growth happen from these companies.
Jessica Baker:
And I think IBM has a great use case, or a great case study for using AI in your workflows, right? You had some really great numbers there about what you saved and earned in productivity, right?
Raj Datta:
Oh yeah, I think from 2023, and I think our CEO released an updated number, but then one of the ones that I did see from last time was, like, $20 billion plus that we’ve saved since 2023. That’s pretty.
Jessica Baker:
Huge! Huge. You know, I think we’ve been, we’ve been promised that, you know? Like, when AI first came out, everybody said, oh, this is going to save everybody so much time, you’re going to be able to do things so much faster, you’ll be super productive, and things like that. But I think that that message is probably not the right message going into 2026. I think that there’s a difference in deployments of the past into how we’re moving into 2026. It feels different for me, anyway. Have you sort of thought the same thing?
Raj Datta:
That’s right.
Jessica Baker:
sense out there.
Raj Datta:
100%. I mean, But it goes back to, like, we were just discussing, is actually finding those specific use cases and the realization. But I think now is, you know, I mean, look, we… from a consumer standpoint, you can use AI for a lot of fun things, right? Like, I mean, I’ll… be transparent, I used it for Black Friday shopping, you know, like, to find out, because I got so tired of going out to so many use cases, so there’s a… there’s a… there’s a huge consumer benefit, and that’s the buzz that we typically hear, but the key benefits that we’re seeing with these ISVs, and the interesting part is anywhere from a, you know, I joined the call a little bit earlier, and I was hearing what the gentlemen were talking about, but, like, even the smaller stage companies are able to accelerate a lot faster, and what we’re also going to see is an evolution of a lot of larger companies that didn’t adopt fast enough, right? And if they don’t start adopting fast enough. you know, these more junior companies are going to accelerate, right? We’ve seen this in the CRM space, we’re seeing it in a lot of different interesting areas where that’s where I… I think this is probably what’s keeping most chief product officers up at night, right? So, yeah.
Jessica Baker:
is how you’re gonna scale, and how could we scale, and have we already missed the curve? Are we ahead of it? Are we behind it? Like, I think 25 was that year when Especially at the board level, people really started talking about this as something that was really imperative for a business to use, because you could see evidence all around the industry of people that were saving money, or having productivity gains, or saying, you know, we’ve… we’ve uncovered $12 billion in this or that, or whatever. You know, it’s hard not to want to lean that way, but how do you actually do it. I think that’s where we’re moving now, as people were sort of moving into the more, You know, more finite way of doing this, not just… not just theory. But if we… if we think about… you know, going into a partnering ecosystem with AI, have you thought about that, or do you have any examples of how that has happened within your ISV community? Like, what are some of the examples of how people are using it with IBM?

Raj Datta:
I mean… we’re… we’re… the reason why we’ve seen such large growth with regards to AI and with regards to agents is because the way that IBM’s built it is twofold. It’s, A, it’s a… it’s a platform, essentially. So you can build on top of it, versus having to build all your own AI, hire thousands of AI engineers, etc. So if we think of it from that standpoint, that’s our AI platform. Then you start looking at the fact that, you know, open to models, meaning that, you know, we have our own model in granite, but you can use just about everything out there, even up to DeepSeek, if you wanted to, as a model area. We announced a huge partnership with Anthropic. About a month or so ago, where we’re going to start taking Claude, and that’s going to be part of our core offerings that we sell out there. So that’s already embedding that in there, right? So, if we think about companies that just want to start with the basics of AI, you have our WatsonX capabilities. Now we’re going into what we call the agentic era. And many companies are already making agents, right? My biggest concern is there’s gonna be so many agents that are out there, and you know, there’s a lot of really cool companies that have built really cool agents. What’s gonna end up happening is we’re gonna be sitting at, you know. companies are going to have hundreds, if not thousands, of agents. How do you keep that under one umbrella, ensure you have the right governance aspects to it, and ensure that, you know, you’re meeting regulatory needs, you’re not exposing any data, et cetera, like that, is going to be critical, and that’s where we’ve heavily invested in. We never… you know, obviously AI models and things like that are important, but our focus has been, from the beginning, is ensuring that we have the right security and governance in place, but then also allowing you to scale from an open architecture standpoint, right? And I think that’s what’s helping companies also save money, too, right? So…
Jessica Baker:
I think, agent fatigue, right? Like, having too many agents and too many choices is often just as bad as having no choices, right? So, but there’s a balance that you have to strike. Like, there have been numerous reports and research that’s done about how people are adopting this inside. So not… not from an IT perspective, but like, how the individual workers are relating to this and starting to use it. And I think it’s a balance between corporate governance, and here are the three agents that you use, versus the ability for me to create my own agents, or something that my little department might use, but not… might not be applicable to the rest of the company, you know, you have to balance that a little bit. Any thoughts about that? I can see you smiling.
Raj Datta:
Well, no, no, because you’re hitting it on the head. I mean, like, you know, another pretty big initiative that we just announced is what we call, you know. It’s called Project Bob, we probably gotta work on the marketing a little bit, but what it’s really doing is helping developers accelerate like, AI code generation, etc. And that’s gonna be critical, and you’re right, like, can you start doing, you know, things just for your internal team, where everyone, you know, you’re using AI, you guys are able to Work a lot smarter and faster, right, than maybe your other competing departments, or whatever it may be. But then, you know, how are you going to expand it across the enterprise? And, you know, I mean, that’s how we started years ago, is it started with departments, and now we’re moving to the whole other layer of just, like, contracting, everything like that. It’s going to be AI-focused, right? And there’s… obviously, we’re going to have a need for people, and this is one thing that everyone has concerns about. It’s like, oh, you’re going to replace all these employees with AI, which is not true. We’re actually reinvesting into that, into employees that are AI… I guess AI plus, right? That are starting off with AI and have that skill set.
Jessica Baker:
I do a lot of prompting training and certification with clients, and I hear that, like, people are really concerned that, you know, I don’t embrace this because I’m going to be replaced by an agent, and one thing that I really stress Is that you are more valuable as an employee, as a human. And the qualities that you bring to work are you, how creative you are, how you can build trust with people, how you approach different things, how you show up. as a person, and having those AI skills is another thing that you’ll need to use to navigate that, but the value becomes how I can apply those using my human brain, being the human in the loop, I know that’s, like, a thing that we say quite a lot, but AI doesn’t replace your brain, and so you have to still bring that to work. You still have to show up. You can just use AI as a tool to really propel you.
Raj Datta:
Yep, it’s an accelerant, right? And, I mean, look, even… kids nowadays are also, you know, they’re on different AI areas where they’re doing their learning, etc, but, like, at the end of the day, you still need the human brain power, and it’s an interesting discussion we have because, like, a lot of industries are being disrupted. Right? You look at legal, for example, right? And you also, even look at medicine, like, I’ve, you know, I’ve spoken to a lot of doctors who are like, oh, this AI stuff. But there’s some really savvy doctors that are actually adopting AI, because now they’re able to make their recommendations and guidance much faster, versus having to go through, you know, books, or whatever it may be. But you’re always going to need the human element, right? At least as long as I think I’m alive, we’ll see that, right? So…
Jessica Baker:
it’s like the people that blindly follow the GPS and they turn into a lake, you know, like, you gotta still bring your brain to work when you’re doing these types of things. I know I have been impressed, just personally in the medical field, seeing some of these advances. Like, you go to a doctor’s appointment now, and they say, would you be alright if we transcribed this, you know, live and recorded this session from… with my AI client? And I think that is some of the, you know, an example of such a positive use, and I know in biopharma, they’re doing amazing things with analyzing the protein strains and all these kinds of things with AI, but that is such a human you know, accelerator to be able to think about what we can do with medicine. Huge one there. Personally, I think that affects everybody, and I think that’s got to leave a promising taste in everybody’s mouth, and if we bring that back to the workplace, like, how can we get that same positive energy? And I think it starts with that one use case that we finally get, and we can prove the ROI and get everybody excited about it, and then I think that breeds more and more excitement and more positive, sort of. sentiments going forward.
Raj Datta:
And then it just… it just starts steamrolling after that. But you… you have to dip your toe in the water first, and then you gotta… that’s how you accelerate it.
Jessica Baker:
Yeah, yeah. I think about, like, the past 3 years. So, November was the 3-year anniversary of ChatGPT coming onto the World Wide Web, right? And I think a lot of us saw that for the first time, or really had access to it for the first time that way, and we’ve just kind of grown since then. And if you look at the evolution, I think people started thinking about AI is, like, a shiny icon on their desktop or something like that. But… more and more, it is, it’s a strategic thought partner that can sit beside you, that can be embedded into your workflows, and I think that’s just a maturity that we’re on right now, and So the impact really isn’t… or it’s not just a technical thing, but it’s impact-driven. Like, why are we doing this? Not just because we can, but why? What is the business outcome behind that? So, as we sort of shift from the hype to the execution. What does that look like as we move, you know, from that theory to implementation? Any thoughts on that?
Raj Datta:
Yeah, I mean, it kind of touches on the fact that, you know, it being a novel concept, right, 3 years ago. to, you know, a lot of consumer usage, etc. But now, you know, it’s turning into real money, right? We’re seeing companies increase their profitability just by taking this to market and being able to take it faster. We’re also seeing the competition pick up a lot more. So, if you don’t have, you know, your AI game on point, right, what’s gonna end up happening is you’re gonna look over your shoulder, and even, you know, the interesting part is also. software companies that had their own niche that they were focused in on are now moving into different spaces as well, and different verticals, because they have the ability to accelerate if they were able to adopt AI properly. So now, you know, if I’m a marketing tech company or something like that, and I want to go into, let’s say, you know, sales revenue generation, you can do that. But the other interesting phenomenon we’ve seen, especially over the past couple years, is Companies that are complementary. that are leveraging AI are actually starting to partner together, use each other’s technology, but then also take that type of package and take that to clients, right? So they’re jointly accelerating their revenue together in the space, too, which to me, I find really cool, because I host a… you know, an executive user group once a quarter, and one of the most fun things was, is, like, you know, multiple companies talking to each other, saying, hey, I use you. And, you know, they have all… they’re all based off of our capabilities, but it’s really cool to see that, you know, they’re… they’re essentially selling to each other and leveraging each other’s technologies, which is… I’m hoping they’re giving each other discounts, but we’ll see, right? But at least from that standpoint, it’s a very cool phenomenon to see, is AI-first companies are going to other AI-focused companies and AI-first companies, wanting to, hey, you guys are already going lightning speed, we don’t need to build that, we’ll leverage your tech, and we’re going to be complementary to us. So I think, you know, this space is moving so… it’s the fastest transition we’ve seen ever, right? I mean, you look at how it was, you know, from the industrial transition a long time ago, to where we went with, you know. the web and e-commerce to where we went with the cloud, right? That adoption was still happening, but with AI, it’s not even a question. You know, it’s not if, it’s when, and you better do when sooner than later, otherwise you’re gonna be behind very fast.
Jessica Baker:
Absolutely. I’ve had the same conversation with my 81-year-old father. Like, you need to get into this. Like, you need to… because it can be so helpful for you for so many different reasons, and so I think… the more that we get into it, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when and where, and how, because it’s going to touch everybody’s life. Consumer, personal.
Raj Datta:
and business.
Jessica Baker:
It is definitely the biggest shift, and I probably would say today that it’s the biggest shift that I will see in my lifetime. You know, it’s beyond cell phones, it’s beyond cloud, it’s beyond the personal computer, like, this is just so significant, because it’s going to be everywhere, and it’s going to touch everything, everywhere. Yeah, so, let’s, let’s think about, If we were advising ISVs or OEM partners today? Like, what do we tell them to… so that they’re ready for 26, they’re not left behind? Like, what are some of the conversations that we should be having with them right now?

Raj Datta:
I think one of the interesting ones is, like, you know, ensuring that competitors are also becoming very complementary, right? So, it’s also as you’re building out agents, because if you want to be part of this larger agent ecosystem. Right? One day, what was your competitor, or probably has a portion of competing technologies, now may become your best friend, because they may be leveraging your agents And you’re able to monetize off of that, so it’s become a very interesting industry where it’s moving really fast, right? And it also means, like, you know, it doesn’t mean that you have to… you know, everyone’s gonna have their own secret sauce, but how does that secret sauce plug into, you know. other areas where we want to… you know, the goal eventually, right, with agents is to make people’s lives very much simpler. And you were talking about, you know. about your father and how explaining AI would work, you know, like, the easiest way that I am able to explain agents, you know, to individuals is, like, you think about if you want to travel somewhere, right? What’s going to be the back end? You’re going to connect… I’m a Marriott guy. You connect to Marriott, you connect to United, connect to all these. you know, now, you know, my admin may not have to go into every single booking area to do so, or, you know, like, right now we use travel agents, but you imagine if you’re just on a chat, and say, we gotta send Raj to New York, right? And it automatically knows on the back end, Raj likes Marriott’s, Raj likes United, Raj likes nice dinners, right? So it’s like… Dude, a reservation. I was just tossing that out there. But in general, like, that’s how fast it’s moving. And the reason I say that is because, you know, who would have thought that, like, these type of companies in the back end will have to partner together? And eventually, that’s what’s going to happen, right? And it’s happening sooner than later. So I think, you know, and being able to expose that with simple APIs has been out there. One of the key areas that we gotta really… companies have to really think through as they’re building all of these agents, and we’re gonna see a, you know, the agents sprawl, right, is twofold, is one. how are you gonna govern everything, right? Because at one point, with all these agents. there’s risk for exposure, data exposure, right? Because you’re… you have a lot of personal information of either that individual or that company that will eventually… could get exposed. And one of the foundations that, you know, I talk to ISVs about is. you gotta get this portion right first, right? Making sure you have the right guardrails. you know, what I’ve seen, especially in countries… specific countries in Europe, like Sweden, Germany, and then you go into, like, APAC with Singapore, is, you know, they’re very, very diligent on their governance, right? I think we’re a little bit more laxed here in the States at times.
Jessica Baker:
Yeah.
Raj Datta:
governance aspect is going to be so critical for every company building agents, right? You build that, then you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to manage these hundreds of agents, and it talks about that whole orchestration capabilities, right? And I think it’s a really… I love this space, obviously, right? But, I think it’s just such… we’re going to see so much more transitions. I mean, we saw the Agentix stuff come just about a year ago, like, around this time is when everyone was buzzing agents. releasing agents, it’s like, alright, now how are you going to make sure you’re not exposed and you’re… you’re having it covered properly?
Jessica Baker:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that the possibilities are endless, and it’s, again, that balance between corporate governance and bringing a little creativity to your role. Like, how do we make that happen? Because AI in any way, shape, or form is going to be very much right in front of you, and you’re going to have to learn how to use it, For sure. It can’t just be something on your side. I love how you said, you know, it’s not plus AI, it’s AI plus, and I think that’s the mind shift that we have to do.
Raj Datta:
Yeah. I mean, you see where all the investments are going, too, now, right? Like, you look at the BC community, that’s critical, right? Like, everyone’s gotta have… some kind of AI nomenclature in their offering and whatnot, right? It’s not… no longer, I’m a cybersecurity company and that’s it. It’s also… I’m a cybersecurity company that has AI infused into my offering, right? And then you go to the other end of the spectrum, you look at private equity firms, and how are you going to get the best multiple by selling a company? you’ll see all these companies that didn’t know how to spell AI at the beginning of this year. Everyone’s talking AI right now, and you know, and I know a lot of the folks out there, and I’m just like, well, what kind of AI are you using, really? You know, like, you dive into some of the details of what the true AI is, but I think those capabilities are going to be required, especially, you know, if you want to build do an exit, or whatever it may be. That’s very, very important. You know, we just made an acquisition, where the focus is going to be more on, now, enterprise data, and how are you going to take a look at the enterprise data and be able to do true analysis, because right now, companies are only using about 1% of their enterprise data and doing analysis on that. Imagine, like, once you’re able to really dig into your own in-house data and leverage that towards offerings. That’s get a… Be another big shift that we’ll see.
Jessica Baker:
Yeah, I remember a few years ago when it was, you know, data is the new oil. Yeah, I think AI is the engine that that data all has to go into, so I start that conversation pretty early. I don’t think that I know of a single company that would say, our data is perfect.
Raj Datta:
Oh, yeah.
Jessica Baker:
it doesn’t happen, right? So, you know, cleaning up houses is definitely, like, the first order of business before you start building things on top of it. So, I love this conversation. I know we’re getting to the end of our time here, so let’s think. What is, like, the one thing every ecosystem leader needs to do in the next 90 days. If they want to participate in this AI-native, agentic future. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, how do we make sure that they are part of that curve? What’s the one thing that you would say?
Raj Datta:
Just call me.
Jessica Baker:
And your phone.
Raj Datta:
I’ll solve all your problems. It really goes back to what we talked about at the beginning, is just picking that simple use case. That you, you know, you can develop confidence in, be successful in, your organization’s gonna be successful with it. And then you’ll be able to accelerate, and then you see the ball really rolling fast on that. Pick that use case, ensure you have the governance piece of it, right? Leverage that aspect, and make sure that, you know, you have a go-forward plan of, like, okay, this could be our next stage once we’re successful with this first one. And not to really confuse yourself and the entire environment with regards to, okay, we’re gonna… everything’s gonna be AI, because at the end of the day, it’s not, right? Like, you should go focus on areas that you can really accelerate your business, accelerate revenue, and save some costs, right?
Jessica Baker:
Yeah, I think that’s the one message that I leave with everybody, is just pick one. Pick one to start with, and that might take you 3 months to figure it out, but the next time you do that, it’ll be 3 weeks, or 3 days, or 3 hours, or 3 minutes, right? But just take one, and bring everybody along in that journey, give them the training, let them understand how this is a trusted platform, and they, you know, we want you to adopt it, so… you know, lots of incentives and goodwill all around it, I think, are important, but it’s, like, definitely the rule of one to get started, and I see Julia has joined the chat, so we must…
Raj Datta:
Checking us out, Jessica. I mean, we’ll probably stay here for another two hours, right?
Jessica Baker:
We probably could, Raj, we probably could.
Julia Nimchinski:
Thank you so much, Jessica, thank you so much, Raj, love being a fly on the wall here. Before you go, how can our community best support you? Raj, we can call you.
Raj Datta:
Sure, yeah, of course. You know where to find me, Julia.
Julia Nimchinski:
Thanks for IBM, seriously.
Raj Datta:
No, seriously, I mean, we… I’ve built out an entire organization to support ISVs and software companies, and we’ve also invested pretty heavily in engineering, right? Because we want to help companies accelerate as fast as possible. So, I mean, this has been an area that I’ve been extremely passionate about since coming back to IBM, is how can we help broader you know, ISV community, but broader world, essentially adopt AI as fast as possible, so…
Julia Nimchinski:
Super impressed by your work. 20 years or so, right?
Raj Datta:
What? Are you aging me right now?
Julia Nimchinski:
Oh, that’s cool.
Raj Datta:
A little bit longer than 20 years, but yeah.
Julia Nimchinski:
Thank you. Jessica.
Jessica Baker:
How can we support you? Yeah, absolutely. Reach out to me. You can find me on LinkedIn, Jessica Baker at Achieve Unite. We are really passionate about helping partnership leaders understand how they can leverage this, so they’re part of that community going forward, they’re not left behind. So definitely reach out to me. I’d love to chat with everybody there. And it’s been a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me, Julie.
Raj Datta:
Thank you.
Julia Nimchinski:
Huge honor and pleasure, thank you so much, and we are transitioning to our next session. Welcome to the show, Sydney Sloan, CMO at G2, and Eric Charles, fractional CMO and CRO at Ohana Operators. We’re going to be talking about how AI is rewriting intent, evaluation, and trust.