IBM’s workforce turns to digital assistants like AskIBM and AskIT when they need help with a question, a problem, or a routine task. These automated tools have been around for a while, but now, IBM has layered Box AI into the mix. Byreferencing content held in specific Box Hubs, then using Box AI to generate content-informed answers, IBM’s proprietary digital assistants are a lot stronger
and even more trustworthy for users.
To use AI, you have to trust,” says IBM Vice President and General Manager for Worldwide Data Sales Jennifer Kady. “I need to know that the data I’m leveraging is something I would consider trustworthy.”
IBM is a global technology leader with over a century of innovation so far, but the company’s content challenges are recognizable to just about every legacy organization.
Critical information lives in dozens of different systems, from apps to CRMs to ERPs, creating what amounts to an organizational memory problem. This situation leads to slow answers, inconsistent workflows, and manual processes that are both time-consuming and error-prone.
What IBM discovered was that fixing the unstructured data problem required rethinking how information flows through an organization — and how AI could serve as a bridge between human questions and institutional knowledge.
IBM’s journey offers several key insights for organizations embarking on similar transformations:
- Start with pain, not potential: IBM prioritized IT not because it was the most pressing use case, but because it could deliver immediate, measurable value
- Think in systems, not silos: The AskIT work was part of a larger transformation, building capabilities that could scale across the enterprise
- Measure what matters: The shift from hours to seconds isn't just a soundbite; it’s a quantifiable improvement that directly impacts productivity and satisfaction
- Build trust through transparency: By ensuring every AI response traces back to source content, IBM created a system people could trust
AskIBM takes IT tasks from hours to seconds
For the IT department at IBM, the real cost of so much fragmented information spread across systems wasn’t just inefficiency. It was the compound effect of hundreds of thousands of employees waiting for answers, making decisions with incomplete information, or simply working around broken systems. At that scale, even small friction points become massive drags on productivity.
Originally, AskIT was created in order to save money by bringing in some level of automation. Box was recently wrapped into the tool as a critical, governed content layer for institutional IT knowledge. This allowed IBM to apply Box AI to provide accurate, source-backed answers and summaries to frequently asked questions within AskIT based on content held in Box. If a query contains contextually relevant information related to specific information in a Box Hub, Box AI powers the response.
For instance, a query about a particular employee benefit is routed behind the scenes to a Box Hub for HR benefits. This “revamp” of AskIT can now take advantage of Box AI to surface answers more quickly based on all the existing content.
“AskIBM is the one place we go for anything that we need,” Kady says. “And it’s now powered heavily by Box Hubs. Anything I do in terms of orchestration uses that as the single pane of glass.”
When Kady describes the IT team’s content transformation journey, she doesn’t lead with tech specs. Instead, she talks about time — specifically, how the team has collapsed response times from hours to seconds. Auto-generated reports and IT responses that once took hours now arrived in seconds via AskIT, complete with clear source links. More importantly, employee satisfaction has increased as people get faster, more consistent answers to their questions.
Client Zero for better work and better products
This particular use case for AI automation wasn’t about replacing people with machines. It was about freeing IT professionals from repetitive tasks so they could focus on what humans do best: solving complex problems, building relationships, and driving strategic initiatives. The impetus for all the other IBM digital assistants is the same.
There’s a phrase used at IBM to describe the use of these internal tools: Client Zero. Much like “patient zero” is the first person to catch a virus, “Client Zero” means IBM is often the first to use their own tools. When those tools work well, they eventually become customer-facing tools.
As IBM is iterating on tools like AskIT, AskIBM, and AskHR, AI agents are becoming essential. The company has evolved from generative models to assistants and now to agents that can “learn for us, do active work proactively for us, and help us focus on other things,” as Kady explains.
IBM leverages AI agents as part of its broader strategy to enhance productivity across the 250,000 employee organization. When it comes to implementing agents from a technical perspective, Kady says, “There are all sorts of behind-the-scenes machinations taking place that the individual user doesn’t care about. As a user, I don’t want to go to 16 different agents to do my job.”
As Client Zero, the company tests all agent solutions internally before market deployment, focusing on creating a seamless experience where multiple agents work together transparently. Centralized orchestration via Box is key to this effort.
Building better tools based on trusted content in Box
When AI systems can impact everything from employee benefits to strategic decisions, knowing exactly where information comes from isn’t optional, and employees have to trust that information. “If I go to AskIBM and the answer takes too long or is wonky, I’m never going to use it again,” Kady notes. “We have 250,000 employees who won’t love to use this if they can't trust it.”
The company plans to expand Box usage with governance controls including admin roles, legal holds, and retention policies, and to pilot agentic content governance and AI-powered data extraction. IBM is exploring how these Content + AI capabilities can enhance everything from contract management to mergers and acquisitions workflows. Each new application builds on the same foundation: trusted content in Box, AI that can quickly surface relevant information, and workflows that adapt to how people actually work.
“Box is probably the tool outside of Salesforce that I use every day, all day,” Kady says. “It's a home run when it comes to how I leverage my AI capability to get the right access to places that save me not only time, but thought process and better collaboration.”
IBM pioneering what work will look like for all of us
As IBM continues to expand its use of AI-powered content intelligence, the company is pioneering what work might look like for all of us: a workplace where finding information is instant, routine tasks handle themselves, and employees can focus on creative problem-solving and strategic thinking.
Learn about other technology companies innovating on a platform of Intelligent Content Management.
