Business-Driven Automation, AI Confidence Outpaces Readiness, and more

BMC Advances Business-Driven Automation and Mainframe Transformation with AI-Powered Innovations

BMC has announced AI innovations updates across its Control-M and BMC AMI portfolios to simplify workflow creation, automate issue resolution, act on expert mainframe knowledge, and more.

New AI capabilities and innovations include:

AI Workflow Creator: Gen AI copilot for guided workflow design
AI Workflow Creator enables business users to design and manage sophisticated workflows using natural language, reducing reliance on IT and capturing domain expertise that is often undocumented. By translating user intent directly into workflows, the capability accelerates onboarding, improves productivity, and increases operational agility.

Expanded AI Integrations
Control-M continues to expand its library of out-of-the-box integrations across enterprise, cloud, and AI platforms. Recent additions, including AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, and Crew AI, allow teams to orchestrate multiple AI agents within complex, AI-centric workflows and scale AI initiatives more efficiently.

Event-Driven Workflows – Real-Time Responsiveness for Smart Operations
Control-M now supports real-time, event-driven automation by listening to signals from systems such as Kafka, Amazon SQS, and RabbitMQ. This capability enables dynamic workflow adjustments, bridging batch and real-time processing to reduce latency and improve responsiveness. Event-driven workflows are available for both self-hosted and SaaS deployments.

Mainframe Expertise On-Demand — Harnessing Intelligence to Mitigate Skills Gaps
The Knowledge Expert Chat capability in BMC AMI Assistant embeds AI-driven guidance across nine BMC AMI solutions at no additional cost to licensed users. It delivers natural-language answers grounded in BMC documentation and domain expertise, helping teams resolve issues faster and maintain system reliability.

Preserving Institutional Knowledge to Strengthen Resilience
The Knowledge Hub capability, currently in managed beta, helps organizations surface and reuse institutional knowledge through AI-driven interactions. This reduces dependency on individuals, addresses skills gaps, and supports more confident modernization decisions.

Turning DevOps Telemetry into Clear Insight for Faster Decisions
BMC AMI zAdviser Development Team Analysis uses AI to consolidate DevOps telemetry into narrative reports per application. These insights help leaders identify risks, prioritize improvements, and reduce operational exposure without relying on fragmented dashboards.

“AI is rapidly democratizing access to complex workflows and also supports the continued advancement of the mainframes that power the world’s largest organizations,” said Ram Chakravarti, chief technology officer at BMC. “Our AI innovations for the mainframe help our customers build a resilient and continuously advancing mainframe, and help them advance their digital transformations. All of the new AI innovations announced today leverage the power of AI to unlock value from data and drive business insights.”

Source: BMC

Precisely’s State of Data Integrity and AI Readiness Study: AI Confidence Outpaces Readiness 

Precisely has released results from its fourth annual State of Data Integrity and AI Readiness study, conducted with Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and based on a survey of more than 500 senior data and analytics leaders across large enterprises in the U.S. and EMEA. The findings reveal a growing gap between leaders’ confidence in their AI readiness and the underlying data and infrastructure foundations needed for success.

Disconnect Between Agentic-Ready Data Perception and Reality
AI continues to be a top priority, with 52% of survey respondents citing AI as the primary influence on their data programs, and 85% of respondents reporting adoption of Agentic AI by their organization. Agentic-Ready Data is imperative for return on investment (ROI). However, the study conducted in late 2025 identifies key areas of concern around infrastructure, skills, and data readiness as organizations look to move from AI pilots to full-scale implementation.  

Key findings include:  

• A number of leaders confidently report having the necessary infrastructure (87%), skills (86%), and data readiness (88%) for AI, but many also admit infrastructure (42%), skills (41%), and data readiness (43%) are their biggest obstacles. 
• Most organizations claim they connect AI well with business goals, yet only 31% have actual metrics tied to key performance indicators (KPIs). 
• 43% of leaders cite data readiness as the most significant barrier to AI alignment with business objectives and more than half name data quality as the most common data integrity priority.  

Data Governance Is a Key Differentiator
Over the past 18 to 24 months, the market has reached an inflection point as AI moves toward action-oriented, agentic systems. Research shows that organizations with well-defined data strategies and strong governance are significantly more confident in their ability to execute and scale AI initiatives than those without these foundations.

Skill Shortages Persist
In addition to the data readiness challenges, more than half of organizations (51%) also cite skills as a top need for AI initiatives, while only 38% feel very prepared in terms of staff skills and AI training. Key areas where AI skills are lacking include: 

• Ability to deploy AI at scale (30%) 
• Expertise in responsible AI and compliance (29%) 
• Translating business needs into AI solutions (28%) 
• AI model development and basic AI literacy (27%) 

“The skills gap isn’t about a lack of talent in one area, it’s about the need for professionals who can operate across data, business strategy, and AI governance simultaneously,” said Murugan Anandarajan, PhD, Professor and Academic Director at Drexel LeBow’s Center for Applied AI and Business Analytics. “That reality has major implications for how organizations and universities prepare those entering the workforce for the era of Agentic AI.”  

The Shift to Agentic AI Raises the Stakes for Data Integrity
Agentic AI transforms how work gets done by enabling systems that don’t just generate insights and content, but take action, interpreting signals, making decisions, and executing workflows across the enterprise. The study underscores how unprepared many are at the data foundation level. This lack of preparedness has resulted in an Agentic AI Data Integrity Gap, the gap between where enterprise data is today and what’s required to safely and effectively power Agentic AI at scale.

Organizations that successfully close the gap focus on Agentic-Ready Data strategies built on unified, easily discoverable data; trusted third-party enrichment; continuous updates; and strong governance, transparency, and automation; driving trust, control, and efficiency at scale.

Access the full report here: 2026 State of Data Integrity and AI Readiness. 

Source: Precisely

Rocket Software to Acquire Vertica Analytics Database Platform from OpenText

Rocket Software has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Vertica analytics database from OpenText. Vertica is an enterprise-grade analytics platform used by global organizations for mission-critical workloads, balancing performance with cloud innovation, regulatory compliance, data sovereignty, and cost control. The acquisition expands Rocket’s portfolio to support the modernization of high-performance analytics, data, and AI, particularly in complex IT environments.

The deal accelerates Rocket’s strategy to help customers modernize without disruption, enabling next-generation analytics and GenAI to run directly on trusted data. Vertica’s support for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid deployments, along with its AI and machine learning capabilities, complements Rocket’s long-standing experience with mission-critical platforms such as Rocket MultiValue, Model 204 for mainframe transaction processing, and ContentEdge for governance-focused content modernization.

“The surge in AI investment has heightened both the importance and the difficulty of turning data into real business value,” said Milan Shetti, President and CEO of Rocket Software. “With Vertica, we’re addressing the next wave of modernization challenges: transforming data warehouses, repatriating analytics workloads, and enabling AI-driven decision-making so customers can handle their most data-intensive workloads and accelerate modernization.” 

Rocket Software intends to fund the acquisition with cash from its balance sheet. The transaction is expected to close in the middle of calendar year 2026, subject to receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. 

Source: Rocket Software

Kyndryl establishes SAP Center of Excellence to accelerate agentic AI‑driven transformation for customers

Kyndryl has unveiled the SAP Transformations Center of Excellence (CoE), a dedicated hub where customers can co-create with Kyndryl designers and engineers to unlock the full potential of AI to fuel their SAP transformations.

Within the CoE, customers will collaborate with Kyndryl’s experts to design, develop and deliver SAP solutions at scale using:

Clean Field approach – Kyndryl is leveraging Nova Intelligence AI agents and its own Data Transformation Suite in its Clean Field approach to accelerate and simplify SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA transformations, reducing technical debt and enabling customers to achieve faster, more cost-effective SAP modernizations with a clean core that can better support the adoption of new business capabilities at scale.

Clean Core – Kyndryl is collaborating with Nova Intelligence to provide an agentic AI and data-driven modernization journey to customers already on SAP S4/HANA and seek to modernize their custom code faster and more economically to adopt new capabilities.

SAP Business Data Cloud – Kyndryl is leveraging SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) to unify enterprise data, integrate with Databricks for AI training, and provide a trusted foundation for scalable, responsible AI that delivers rapid business impact.

Journey to RISE with SAP – Kyndryl expanded its SAP partnership to deliver SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition services, helping organizations accelerate cloud migration, modernize SAP environments, and build a strong foundation for scaling AI.

“With over 500 dedicated Kyndryl professionals, our SAP Center of Excellence combines our deep SAP expertise and the power of the Kyndryl Agentic AI Framework to speed customers’ transformations,” said Michael Bradshaw, Global Practice Leader for Applications, Data, and AI at Kyndryl.

Source: Kyndryl

IBM Introduces Autonomous FlashSystem Portfolio Powered by Agentic AI

On January 10, IBM unveiled the next generation of its FlashSystem portfolio, introducing three new enterprise storage systems – IBM FlashSystem 5600, 7600, and 9600 – designed to deliver autonomous storage powered by agentic AI. The new portfolio integrates FlashSystem.ai, an AI co-administrator that automates storage management, enhances resilience, and reduces manual administrative effort by up to 90%.

The launch marks IBM’s most significant FlashSystem update in six years and positions storage as an intelligent, always-on layer that continuously optimizes performance, security, and cost.

Key updates include:

FlashSystem.ai – AI Co-Administrator for Storage
FlashSystem.ai introduces agentic AI capabilities directly into the storage layer. Trained on billions of telemetry data points, the platform automates routine operations, provides explainable recommendations, and adapts to workload behavior in hours rather than weeks. It can generate audit and compliance documentation, proactively tune workloads, and support non-disruptive data mobility across environments.

Next-Generation Systems – 5600, 7600, 9600
The IBM FlashSystem 5600 delivers enterprise capabilities in a compact 1U footprint, providing up to 2.5 PBe of effective capacity for space-constrained environments.

The FlashSystem 7600 offers high performance and scalability, with up to 7.2 PBe of effective capacity in a 2U system, supporting large virtualized and analytics workloads.

The FlashSystem 9600 is built for mission-critical operations, delivering up to 11.8 PBe of effective capacity and up to 6.3M IOPs. Designed for core banking, ERP, and AI-driven applications, it can reduce operational costs by up to 57% compared to the previous generation.

Fifth-Generation FlashCore Module – Built-In Ransomware Detection
All new models include the fifth-generation FlashCore Module, featuring hardware-accelerated ransomware detection in under 60 seconds, advanced telemetry, real-time analytics, and autonomous recovery capabilities. The module is engineered to detect anomalies with low false positives while maintaining consistent low latency at scale.

Together, the new FlashSystem portfolio signals IBM’s shift toward fully autonomous, AI-augmented storage systems that proactively protect data, optimize enterprise workloads, and reduce administrative burden across hybrid cloud environments.

“The next-generation IBM FlashSystem elevates storage to an intelligent, always-available layer, where autonomous AI agents continuously optimize performance, security, and cost without human intervention,” said Sam Werner, GM of IBM Storage.

The new FlashSystem portfolio is expected to be generally available on March 6, 2026.

Source: IBM