S&P Global and IBM Bring Agentic AI to Enterprise Operations
S&P Global and IBM are partnering to embed IBM's watsonx Orchestrate agentic framework into S&P Global's offerings, starting with supply chain management. The goal: give operations leaders AI agents that turn trusted data into actions across procurement, vendor selection, and risk management.
What's new
- Agentic AI embedded into S&P Global's supply chain suite to improve visibility, vendor evaluation, and decision speed.
- New agents built for IBM's watsonx Orchestrate Agent Catalog using S&P Global's proprietary data, research, and analytics.
- Planned expansion into finance, procurement, and insurance within S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Why this matters for Operations
- Connect data to action: AI agents pull from procurement, trade, country, and supplier risk domains to recommend next steps, not just reports.
- Faster decision cycles: automate screening, monitoring, and exception handling so teams focus on approvals and strategy.
- Fewer blind spots: unified insight across suppliers, logistics, and risk signals improves resilience and continuity planning.
How it works
- Data foundation: S&P Global's Enterprise Data Organization provides AI-ready data built for model development and deployment.
- Agent orchestration: IBM watsonx Orchestrate coordinates agents, assistants, and workflows across business systems.
- Agent ecosystem: IBM's Agent Catalog features 500+ pre-built agents and tools; S&P Global will add domain-specific agents for supply chain and risk.
Immediate use cases for supply chain leaders
- Vendor selection: Score suppliers using combined financial, country, ESG, and operational signals; auto-generate shortlists.
- Risk monitoring: Always-on tracking of supplier health, sanctions, and geopolitical exposure with routed alerts and playbooks.
- Exception handling: Detect late shipments, shortages, or quality flags and trigger remediation workflows.
- Scenario planning: Stress test suppliers and lanes; recommend alternates and inventory buffers.
- Procurement ops: Auto-compile due diligence packs, validate compliance docs, and summarize contract variances.
- Finance alignment: Flag working-capital impacts from supply disruptions; surface payment term opportunities and exposure by counterparty.
Beyond supply chain
The companies plan to extend agentic AI to finance, procurement, and insurance workflows within S&P Global Market Intelligence's Risk & Valuation Services. Expect agents that reduce manual steps, unify risk views, and streamline approvals.
What leaders should do now
- Map two or three high-friction workflows (e.g., supplier onboarding, risk escalations, PO exceptions) to pilot with agents.
- Confirm data access and permissions across ERP, P2P, TMS, and risk data sources.
- Define decision rights: what agents recommend vs. what humans approve.
- Set measurable outcomes: cycle time, exception rate, cost-to-serve, and supplier risk exposure.
About the collaborators
S&P Global Market Intelligence's Risk & Valuation Services brings differentiated data, valuations, analytics, and expertise to help organizations pinpoint risk exposures and price assets. Through Kensho-its AI innovation hub-S&P Global is building trusted AI agents for enterprise workflows.
IBM provides hybrid cloud, AI, and consulting across 175+ countries. IBM watsonx Orchestrate is a single solution to coordinate AI agents and workflows across business functions and integrates with an expanding Agent Catalog.
Further reading
Upskilling your operations team
If you're standing up AI-driven operations, structured training helps. Explore role-based AI paths for ops and procurement leaders here: AI courses by job.
Note: Statements about future direction are goals and may change without notice.
