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Despite sitting on a goldmine of information, including customer records, financial transactions, operational insights and decades of historical data, most organizations continue to underutilize the data. According to Seagate and D&B, 68% of enterprise data remains under-analyzed in most organizations and up to 82% of enterprises are constrained by data silos. The success of generative AI initiatives hinges on how well businesses can access, manage, and leverage their enterprise data for AI models and deep analytics.

These barriers not only limit innovation but also reduce the ROI of AI initiatives. In fact, enterprises that effectively monetize trusted, high-quality data see nearly double the ROI from AI, 9% compared to 4.8%. The message is clear: unlocking the value of enterprise data is no longer optional; it’s essential for competitive advantage in the AI era.

That’s why we’re bringing the power of IBM watsonx, the IBM Z Mainframe, IBM Data Gate for watsonx, and Salesforce Zero Copy technology to the forefront of enterprise innovation. This integration between IBM watsonx.data and Salesforce Data Cloud represents a major leap forward in how organizations can activate their data securely, efficiently and without the need for complex data movement.

For years, enterprises have relied on IBM Z to power mission-critical operations across industries, from banking and insurance to healthcare and government. Businesses around the world leverage the mainframe to house their most valuable transactional data. But accessing that data for modern AI applications has traditionally required Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) processes that are costly, slow and prone to duplication.

With Zero Copy File Federation, that paradigm shifts: IBM Data Gate for watsonx enables organizations to bring their valuable IBM Z data into IBM watsonx.data, the open, hybrid data lakehouse for AI.

The seamless zero copy integration of watsonx.data with Salesforce Data Cloud, enabled by the open Apache Iceberg, will further allow both platforms to virtually access and interpret enterprise data in real time. The result is a powerful foundation for data from Z and Salesforce that can be used for innovative agentic AI use cases, unlocking new possibilities for intelligent automation and personalized customer engagement.

This isn’t just about data access; it’s about enabling intelligent action. By combining the essential mainframe data with Salesforce’s rich customer interaction data, businesses can build real-time, AI-fueled insights for more personalized, proactive engagement with customers and optimized workflows.

With this integration, Salesforce’s Agentforce can securely tap into data stores on the mainframe and structured data in IBM Db2 for z/OS or other mainframe databases to instantly understand a customer’s history, preferences, and sentiment. The result? Faster resolutions, smarter recommendations and more meaningful conversations.

This integration between IBM and Salesforce is already unlocking powerful use cases across industries. By federating mainframe data into Salesforce Data Cloud, enterprises can activate insights that were previously trapped in silos. Here are 4 transformative use cases:

1. Personalized customer 360 profiles: By bringing transactional, usage, and billing data from the mainframe into Data Cloud, businesses can build hyper-personalized marketing campaigns, tailored sales outreach and proactive service strategies.
2. Customer service and issue resolution: Payment issues, service outages and shipment delays stored on the mainframe can now be surfaced in real time. This drives faster resolutions and improved customer satisfaction through intelligent, AI-driven support.
3. Sales and lifecycle management: Data on product entitlements, contract renewals, and warranties can be leveraged to identify up-sell, cross-sell, upgrade or refresh opportunities.
4. Fraud detection and compliance monitoring: Real-time transaction, risk and compliance data from IBM Z can be used to detect suspicious activity instantly. This helps prevent fraud and ensures regulatory compliance, all without moving sensitive data.

One of the most powerful aspects of this partnership is that it doesn’t require replacing existing infrastructure. IBM clients can continue to rely on the resilience and security of IBM Z while gaining new activation capabilities through Salesforce. It’s a win-win: preserving the integrity of hybrid systems while embracing the agility of modern AI.

"This partnership with Salesforce and the power of Zero Copy is a huge benefit for our joint customers," said Edward Calvesbert, Vice President, Product Management at watsonx Platform. "It's about empowering businesses to finally break down data silos and unleash the full potential of all their data for AI, without the burden of complex data migrations. We're enabling a future where new insights are seamlessly unlocked and critical business processes are automated."

At IBM, we’re committed to building an open, connected data ecosystem; one where data flows freely and securely across platforms, and where AI is grounded in trust and transparency. This partnership with Salesforce is a testament to that vision.

Together, we’re helping enterprises move beyond data silos and into a future where data works harder, smarter and faster. The goal has always been the same: driving innovation, enhancing customer experiences and unlocking new business value.

Contact us to learn more