• e& is to use agentic AI for its policy, risk and compliance processes
• The AI solution will be based on IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate platform
• AI agents will streamline compliance activities for employees

As part of its efforts to become an AI-native telco, UAE-based digital services giant e& has teamed up with IBM to deploy an agentic AI solution to help with its policy, risk and compliance processes.

The collaboration, which was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has resulted in the development of an agentic AI solution built on IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate platform, which offers more than 500 tools and customisable, domain-specific agents from IBM and its partners.

The solution is integrated with IBM’s OpenPages, which helps enterprises manage data privacy, IT governance and risk in a single platform, as well as the broader Watson portfolio.

The solution, which will help e&’s employees and auditors quickly assess legal, regulatory and compliance information, will help the company move beyond the use of traditional natural language processing (NLP)-based chatbots, the partners noted in this announcement. 

By embedding this technology into e&’s core risk and compliance workflows, the company aims to streamline compliance activities, reduce response times, and introduce continuous self-service access for employees: e& has operations in 38 markets across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe, more than 40,000 employees, and has more than 200 million customers for its communications and digital services.   

e& group CEO Hatem Dowidar stated: “By collaborating with IBM, we are embedding intelligence directly into our risk and compliance processes, enabling faster decisions, consistent policy interpretation, and a foundation for broader agentic AI adoption across the enterprise.”

To demonstrate the joint agentic AI solution, e& and IBM partnered with Gulf Business Machines (GBM) to develop a proof of concept (PoC) in just eight weeks. The PoC showcased AI capabilities that moved beyond traditional question and answer tools, according to IBM, with reasoning and action enabled whilst aligning with e&’s governance, risk and compliance framework. GBM supported delivery through project coordination.

IBM’s SVP and chair for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Paula Assis, noted: “As organisations move from experimenting with AI to embedding it into the fabric of how they operate, governance and accountability become just as important as intelligence.

“Through our collaboration with e&, this proof of concept intends to demonstrate how agentic AI can be designed and validated for enterprise-scale use, deeply integrated into core systems, governed by design, and trusted to support human-led decisions and outcomes,” added Assis.

Telcos around the globe are trying to grasp the opportunities offered by AI, though Deloitte recently predicted that the “roar around AI will get quieter” this year, adding that “progress will come… more from fundamentals”, such as governance tools.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV