IBM Bob helped developers reduce discovery effort by up to 40% and cut analysis timelines from weeks to days
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – July 7, 2026: IBM and Saudi-based digital transformation company Ejada Systems have announced the results of a joint initiative exploring how AI-assisted software engineering can accelerate enterprise modernization across complex, live technology environments.
The collaboration applied IBM Bob, IBM’s agentic software engineering platform, across enterprise use cases in government, financial services and telecommunications. The initiative focused on helping organizations modernize critical systems faster while maintaining the governance, oversight and delivery standards required in highly regulated industries.
According to the findings, IBM Bob helped reduce discovery effort by up to 40% and shortened analysis timelines from weeks to days. The platform also achieved up to 95% effectiveness in reverse engineering, 90% in architecture documentation and 80% in Java modernization.
The initiative also demonstrated the potential to accelerate code and test generation workflows, with developers continuing to validate outputs and maintain control throughout the process.
By reducing manual effort during early-stage discovery and documentation, the platform helped engineering teams create more standardized outputs and improve delivery predictability. This also allowed teams to focus more of their time on higher-value work such as validation, integration and design.
Addressing the Challenge of Legacy Systems
Many organizations in Saudi Arabia continue to depend on established technologies, including Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL)-based applications and tightly integrated systems that support critical operations.
Modernizing these systems can be a complex and time-consuming process. Before transformation work can begin, teams often need to manually analyse large volumes of legacy code, identify business rules, map data flows and understand how different systems interact.
This process can take weeks, increase costs and create dependence on limited specialist expertise.
As part of the joint initiative, IBM Bob was applied to COBOL applications, embedded SQL and related system assets. The platform helped teams identify business rules, map data flows, document system interactions and generate structured outputs for analyst review.
The findings showed that tasks traditionally requiring weeks of manual analysis could be completed much faster, with the generated outputs requiring only light review and limited refinement before use.
“These findings demonstrate that AI is a practical capability for enterprise transformation,” said Ayman AlRashed, Regional Vice President, IBM. “Through our collaboration with Ejada Systems and the application of IBM Bob, organizations can modernize critical systems faster while maintaining the rigor required in regulated industries.”
Combining AI with Local Enterprise Expertise
Ejada Systems worked with IBM to evaluate how AI-assisted engineering could be introduced into live enterprise environments without compromising governance or delivery standards.
The Saudi company brings extensive experience in large-scale transformation projects across government, financial services, telecommunications and other critical sectors.
“Our collaboration with IBM combines advanced AI capabilities with deep expertise in delivering large-scale enterprise transformation initiatives,” said Mohamed Abd Al Moneim, Chief Enterprise, Cloud & Cybersecurity, Ejada Systems.
“Through Ejada’s extensive experience supporting government entities, financial institutions, and other critical sectors, we help organizations modernize mission-critical systems more efficiently, accelerate transformation journeys, maintain strong governance, and achieve measurable business outcomes.”
The collaboration also explored how AI can support multiple stages of the software development lifecycle, from understanding and documenting existing systems to architecture documentation, code modernization and developer-validated engineering workflows.
“The opportunity is not only in applying AI to software engineering, but in enabling organizations to modernize complex enterprise environments with greater speed, consistency, and confidence,” said Amr Mourad, Senior Solution Architect at Ejada Systems.
“Our experience shows that organizations can accelerate modernization efforts, improve productivity, and maintain governance when AI is embedded within structured engineering and delivery models.”
IBM Expands the Use of Bob Across Its Own Workforce
IBM is also using Bob internally across its global organization. More than 80,000 IBM employees are currently using the platform, with surveyed users reporting an average productivity gain of 45% across software tasks including modernization, security and new development.
IBM teams have also reported significant time savings in areas such as code generation, refactoring and selected development tasks.
The collaboration between IBM and Ejada Systems comes as organizations across Saudi Arabia continue to advance large-scale digital transformation programmes aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
As businesses and public sector organizations modernize critical infrastructure, the ability to understand and transform legacy systems more efficiently is becoming increasingly important.
By reducing the time and manual effort involved in discovery, documentation and modernization, AI-assisted engineering could help organizations improve operational efficiency, reduce complexity and transition more effectively towards modern, cloud-enabled technology environments.
