IBM and Ejada Systems use AI agent Bob to accelerate enterprise modernization in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — In a move that highlights the growing practical application of artificial intelligence in software engineering, IBM and Ejada Systems have announced a joint modernization initiative leveraging IBM Bob. The agentic software engineering platform is being deployed to accelerate enterprise modernization across Saudi Arabia, aligning with the digital transformation goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. The collaboration focuses on addressing the complexities of legacy systems, offering a measured approach to enterprise transformation. The announcement, made in the context of the broader technological advancements discussed at events like DeepFest 2026, underscores a shift toward AI-assisted engineering in the region. The initiative has demonstrated tangible outcomes in its initial evaluations across key sectors in the region, including government, financial services, and telecommunications. By deploying IBM Bob, the organizations have reported significant efficiency gains, particularly in the labor-intensive phases of software engineering and legacy system modernization. This deployment is a practical application aimed at solving entrenched challenges in enterprise IT environments. The focus on specific, measurable outcomes sets this initiative apart from broader AI deployments. The deployment of IBM Bob has yielded substantial improvements in operational efficiency, according to the companies. The joint initiative achieved up to a 40% reduction in discovery effort , a critical phase in understanding and mapping existing enterprise architectures. This reduction in effort translates directly to accelerated project timelines, allowing organizations to move more swiftly from planning to execution. Furthermore, the analysis timelines, which typically span several weeks for complex legacy environments, were compressed to just a few days. This acceleration is particularly relevant for organizations relying on older, entrenched systems such as COBOL applications, where understanding the existing codebase is a prerequisite for any modernization effort. The ability to rapidly analyze and document these systems reduces the time-to-value for enterprise transformation projects. For many government and financial institutions in Saudi Arabia, these legacy systems form the backbone of their operations. Modernizing them without disrupting critical services is a significant challenge, and the efficiency gains reported by IBM and Ejada Systems suggest a viable path forward. The compression of analysis timelines also allows engineering teams to focus their efforts on higher-value tasks, such as architectural design and strategic planning, rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of code discovery. Beyond discovery and analysis, the initiative evaluated IBM Bob's performance across specific software engineering tasks. The platform demonstrated up to 95% effectiveness in reverse engineering , allowing teams to accurately reconstruct system designs from existing code. This capability is crucial for organizations that have lost or outdated documentation for their legacy systems, providing a reliable baseline for modernization efforts. In terms of architecture documentation, the AI agent achieved a 90% effectiveness rate, providing clear and reliable blueprints of complex enterprise environments. The platform also showed strong capabilities in code translation, achieving 80% effectiveness in Java modernization . These metrics indicate a robust capacity to handle the nuanced requirements of enterprise-grade software development and modernization, reducing the manual burden on engineering teams and minimizing the risk of human error during complex migrations. The ability to accurately translate legacy code to modern languages like Java is particularly significant. It allows organizations to move away from proprietary or outdated technologies, reducing their reliance on specialized skill sets that are becoming increasingly scarce. This transition not only modernizes the technology stack but also future-proofs the organization's IT infrastructure. The external deployment of IBM Bob by Ejada Systems in Saudi Arabia is supported by extensive internal validation at IBM. Over 80,000 IBM employees currently utilize the platform internally, reporting a 45% productivity gain in their software engineering workflows. This widespread internal adoption provides a foundation of reliability for the platform's external application in the Saudi market. The collaboration between IBM and Ejada Systems represents a significant step in the regional adoption of AI-assisted engineering. As organizations in Saudi Arabia pursue the digital transformation objectives outlined in Vision 2030, the ability to rapidly and accurately modernize legacy infrastructure becomes increasingly critical. The measured outcomes of this initiative suggest that AI agents like IBM Bob can play a material role in facilitating these complex enterprise trans