Senior, not scaled
A small IBM-native architecture and delivery firm. Named architects. The work is strategy through production — not a bench of generalists behind a partner logo.
IBM Partner Plus
From enterprise architecture to production control.
Built on IBM.
A small, senior, IBM-native architecture and delivery firm. Strategy through implementation, governance, and operations — particularly where AI, integration, cloud, security, and economics intersect.
- Strategy
- Architecture
- Implementation
- Operations
20+
Years of IBM-native practice
Firm composition · founded 2005
80%+
Team with IBM heritage
Firm composition
2
Primary markets
United States and Canada
11–50
Named experts
Firm composition
Why Guild
Unusually senior. Easy to bring into a difficult engagement.
Architecture before the SKU
Guild enters at the CIO, CAIO, or CTO conversation with a design the account can buy, then maps it onto watsonx, Cloud Paks, integration, security, or licensing.
Guild IP on the IBM estate
AEGIS, ControlPlane, AI FinOps, and quantum-safe inventory are how Guild implements — identity, governance, cost, and cryptography on IBM technology the client already runs.
What are you trying to solve?
Enter by problem. IBM sellers can still enter by technology.
Govern enterprise AI
Inventory, ownership, policy, and a lifecycle a CAIO can operate.
Deploy agentic AI safely
Identity, authorization, observability, and a kill switch.
Reduce AI and cloud cost
Token economics, Turbonomic, Apptio — spend that can be forecast.
Modernize integration
ACE, MQ, DataPower, API Connect — the path that still has to work Monday.
Modernize IBM infrastructure
OpenShift, Cloud Paks, and workload placement.
Improve observability
Instana and Concert on the estate, not another dashboard.
Prepare for quantum-safe migration
Crypto inventory, PQC, and IBM Quantum only where it is real.
Optimize IBM licensing
Passport Advantage, ILMT, and audit-ready entitlements.
Strategic capabilities
Three ways Guild takes a problem through to production.
Enterprise AI
Strategy through governance, agents, observability, and token economics — watsonx, IBM Bob, AEGIS, and ControlPlane as one operating model.
Open practice →Integration & automation
The bus, the gateway, and the APIs: ACE, MQ, DataPower, API Connect, and BAW, including DataPower-as-Code on financial estates.
Open practice →Security, economics, and quantum-safe
Guardium, OpenPages, FinOps, and cryptographic inventory. The controls and the cost sit on the same IBM path as the workload.
Open practice →Guild AI lifecycle
Strategy → Ground → Build → Govern → Authorize → Operate → Observe → Intervene → Optimize.
The signature operating model. AEGIS, ControlPlane, observability, FinOps, integration, and IBM technology sit on this path — not as adjacent product pages.
01
Strategy
What should we build?
Use-case intake, operating model, and a CAIO-ready roadmap
watsonx portfolio fit, IBM Bob, Expert Labs scoping
02
Ground
What data and enterprise context can it use?
Estate inventory, lineage, and lakehouse design
watsonx.data, Knowledge Catalog, DataStage
03
Build
How is the model or agent constructed?
Model, prompt, and agent construction against real workloads
watsonx.ai, Orchestrate, IBM Bob
04
Govern
Who owns it and what policies apply?
ControlPlane — inventory, ownership, lineage, evidence, retirement
watsonx.governance, OpenPages
05
Authorize
What can it actually do?
Identity, entitlements, human approval, and a tested kill switch
AEGIS on watsonx Orchestrate, Verify
06
Operate
How does it behave in production?
Runtime on the IBM estate, not a lab exhibit
OpenShift, Cloud Paks, watsonx Orchestrate
07
Observe
What happened, and why?
Who acted, on what data, with which tool, under which policy
Instana, Concert
08
Intervene
How do we stop or constrain it?
Re-risk triggers, exception paths, and a kill switch that has been tested
OpenPages, watsonx.governance, AEGIS
09
Optimize
What value and cost is it producing?
Token economics, capacity, and measurable business value
Turbonomic, Apptio / Cloudability
Guild accelerators
Proprietary assets. IBM underneath.
Problem, Guild capability, IBM technology, deliverable, outcome. These are offerings — not thought-leadership labels.
Project Guild ControlPlane
AI Governance Control Plane
Problem. Enterprises now have approved, experimental, embedded, third-party, and shadow AI. Identity, risk, policy, controls, evidence, telemetry, and enforcement have to travel with the system, or governance is theatre.
Outcome. A CIO can see every AI system that can act — who owns it, what it can do, what it costs, and whether it should still be running.
IBM · watsonx.governance · IBM OpenPages · watsonx Orchestrate
Open AI Governance Control Plane →Cost that can be forecast
AI FinOps / Token Economics
Problem. Teams can stand up an agent in a week and then fail to answer what it costs, who pays, and whether the outcome is worth the run-rate.
Outcome. AI spend is forecastable, attributable, and defensible — on Turbonomic and Apptio where the rest of the estate already lives.
IBM · IBM Turbonomic · Apptio / Cloudability · Instana
Open AI FinOps / Token Economics →Guild AEGIS
Agentic AI Framework
Problem. An agent that can call tools, change records, or spend money without identity, policy, and evidence is not an enterprise system. It is an ungoverned intern with production credentials.
Outcome. Agents that can act in production with an architecture that can stop them.
IBM · watsonx Orchestrate · watsonx.governance · OpenPages
Open Agentic AI Framework →Crypto inventory → PQC migration
Quantum Security Framework
Problem. Certificates, VPN, MQ, API gateways, code signing, and long-lived archives are already on a clock. Most estates do not have a cryptographic bill of materials, let alone a sequenced migration with owners and exceptions.
Outcome. The estate is inventoried and sequenced before Q-day — on DataPower, PKI, and Guardium, not as a qubit demo.
IBM · IBM Quantum Safe Explorer · IBM DataPower Gateway · IBM MQ / Guardium / OpenPages
Open Quantum Security Framework →Proof
Three kinds of evidence. Not one logo wall.
Sophisticated buyers will separate Guild contracts from leadership careers and IBM collaboration. So do we.
Guild engagements
Work Guild delivered: anonymized case studies with an evidence basis on every quantified result. Not a logo wall.
Selected work →Leadership experience
Organizations and platforms Guild leaders served during IBM, Meta, EY, Schwab, Lazard, and other enterprise careers — distinct from current Guild contracts.
Meet the firm →IBM collaboration
Partner Plus in the IBM directory. Joint workshops, TechCon, IBM Research papers, Expert Labs co-delivery, and the San Francisco Innovation & Strategy Workshop.
How we work with IBM →Institutions in Guild leaders’ careers and in Guild work
Names below include organizations served during IBM and enterprise careers, plus Guild engagements. They are not a claim that every name is a current Guild contractual client.
Wells Fargo Bank
Banking
Bank of America
Banking
PepsiCo
Consumer Goods
Hartford Fire Insurance
Insurance
Scotiabank
Banking
DTCC
Financial Services
Bell Canada
Telecommunications
Canadian National Railway
Transportation
Brown Brothers Harriman
Financial Services
Blue Shield of California
Healthcare
Luminaire Health
Healthcare
Canada Post
Logistics
Pacific Life
Insurance
NY Power Authority
Energy
Wells Fargo Bank
Banking
Bank of America
Banking
PepsiCo
Consumer Goods
Hartford Fire Insurance
Insurance
Scotiabank
Banking
DTCC
Financial Services
Bell Canada
Telecommunications
Canadian National Railway
Transportation
Brown Brothers Harriman
Financial Services
Blue Shield of California
Healthcare
Luminaire Health
Healthcare
Canada Post
Logistics
Pacific Life
Insurance
NY Power Authority
Energy
Guild engagements
Selected work, with an evidence basis on every result.
Financial services · United States
IBM DataPower X2 to X3 modernization for a U.S. financial gateway
A large U.S. financial institution needed to replace aging IBM DataPower X2 appliances with the next-generation X3 platform across non-production and production — without treating a mission-critical gateway as a weekend cutover.
Measured
Non-production used as a risk-discovery environment before any production window
- Measured
Production migrated incrementally through authorized monthly change windows
- Measured
Gateway operating model shifted from appliance-by-appliance admin to version-controlled execution
IBM technologies · IBM DataPower Gateway · Ansible · Git / change control · HSM / PKI
Financial services · United States
IBM Cloud Pak modernization for a multi-region banking platform
A large U.S. financial institution was running critical transaction-processing workloads on aging on-premise infrastructure, creating reliability risk and limiting peak capacity.
Measured
60% reduction in infrastructure provisioning time
- Measured
Zero-downtime migration of 14 critical workloads
- Measured
Unified monitoring across on-premise and cloud via IBM Instana
IBM technologies · Cloud Pak for Integration · Red Hat OpenShift · IBM MQ · IBM Instana
Insurance · United States & Canada
End-to-end claims automation with IBM BAW and RPA
A multi-line carrier processed claims through manual approvals, legacy systems, and disconnected document workflows — 14-day average cycle time and a high error rate.
Measured
Claims cycle time from 14 days to under 3 days
- Measured
82% of routine claims processed without human intervention
- Measured
Error rate reduced by 74% through automated validation
IBM technologies · IBM BAW · IBM RPA · IBM ODM
Healthcare · United States
watsonx for clinical data governance across 11 facilities
A regional network needed to consolidate siloed clinical and operational data, establish a governed catalog, and introduce AI-assisted analytics for care-quality reporting.
Measured
Single governed catalog spanning 11 facilities
- Measured
Readmission model at 87% accuracy
- Measured
CMS reporting preparation time reduced 65%
IBM technologies · watsonx.data · watsonx.ai · IBM Knowledge Catalog
IBM collaboration
How the operating model actually works.
Most partners say they are proud IBM partners. This is the motion an IBM seller can take into an account: Guild architecture and accelerators, IBM product depth, one client outcome.
01 · Enterprise client
The business problem, the estate, and the outcome that has to run on Monday.
02 · Guild Systems
Business context, architecture, accelerators, implementation, and day-2.
03 · IBM seller / technical team
Account coverage, product fit, and the IBM motion already in the account.
04 · IBM Expert Labs / product specialists
Product depth where the work needs IBM — without a turf war on delivery.
05 · Operational outcome
IBM technology + Guild delivery the customer can operate — licenses that match the design.
Guild-led
Guild identifies the problem with the client, designs the architecture, and attaches IBM technology and Partner Plus licensing to the design.
IBM-led
IBM brings Guild into an existing opportunity when the account needs architecture, an accelerator, or a partner who will still be there on day-2.
Co-delivery
Guild and IBM technical teams divide the work. Expert Labs where the product needs IBM. Guild where the operating model and account context need a named architect.
Guild IP + IBM platform
AEGIS, ControlPlane, AI economics, or quantum-safe inventory implemented on watsonx, OpenPages, Instana, DataPower, and the rest of the IBM estate.
Leadership
IBM heritage. Enterprise AI.
Twenty years of IBM-native practice. More than 80% of the team carries direct IBM heritage — firm composition, not a slogan. Partner Plus is the credential. The work is architecture through production.
Meet company leadership
Om Bachu
Managing Partner
Sid Bhatia
Head of Integration Practice
Selim Antoun
Head of Sales
Gregory Hearn
Enterprise Sales Leader
Marcelo Lorenzetti
East Coast Business Unit Executive, IBM Partnerships
How do you want to start?
Different buyers have different intent. Choose the conversation — the form arrives with that topic selected.