ARMONK, N.Y., July 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced major updates to IBM Bob, its agentic software development platform, including new multi-agent capabilities, built-in AI cost and use analytics, and pre-built, specialized workflows for modernizing enterprise systems.
Now that organizations are using AI to write massive amounts of code, their software development challenges have moved to other parts of the process with 85% of DevSecOps professionals surveyed agreeing that AI has shifted the bottleneck from writing code to reviewing and validating it. IBM Bob is architected to bring AI capabilities wherever software engineering work happens.
Customer results
Engineers at Jack Henry, a leading financial services and banking technology provider, used IBM Bob to accelerate RPG development workflows, improve code quality, and gain deeper insights into decades of accumulated system knowledge.
Blue Pearl completed a legacy modernization program originally projected to take nine months with 14 engineers in just three days using IBM Bob. “The most powerful outcome wasn’t the speed – it was the combination of operational efficiency, cost optimization, and real-world results we could trust and build on,” said Saireshan Govender, Group CEO of Blue Pearl.
What’s new in IBM Bob
- Bobalytics: Built-in usage visibility and cost optimization — monitor consumption, allocate resources, and maintain oversight to scale AI according to internal mandates.
- Parallel, model-native tool calling: Bob now allows models to request several tools in one turn and run them together.
- Subagents manage context at scale: Bob subagents handle complex work in an isolated context to deliver fast responses while managing cost.
Bob matches models to tasks, coordinates AI execution across agents, and provides organizations with visibility into productivity, quality, performance, and cost.
“The bar for enterprise AI is no longer a better coding assistant. It’s an end-to-end agentic development partner that works inside any system development teams already use, with the governance, security, and cost controls enterprises require,” said Neel Sundaresan, GM, Automation and AI, IBM.
IBM Bob Premium Packages
IBM Bob Premium Packages for IBM Z, IBM i, and Java Modernization are opinionated workflows built on decades of IBM’s domain experience:
- IBM Z: AI-native application modernization for mainframes with COBOL and PL/I modernization and JCL analysis.
- IBM i: Remote file system integration, IBM i-specific modes and tools, and workflows built around operational patterns of IBM i shops.
- Java Modernization: AI-guided workflows for Java modernization, including migration to Java 25, large-scale refactoring and dependency analysis at scale.
The latest version of IBM Bob is available for download at bob.ibm.com/download.
Survey source: GitLab. (2026). The 2026 AI Accountability Report.