At SAKO 2026, IFS showed that AI is becoming part of IFS Cloud itself, with digital workers that handle routine work. As an IFS customer, you choose which process a digital worker gets and where a person approves. Your data and permissions have to hold up first.
At the beginning of January, we boarded a plane to Dallas, Texas, for the annual IFS Partner Summit (SAKO). For an IFS Specialized Partner, this is the moment to hear first-hand where IFS is heading. More important still is what that direction means for organisations in the Dutch market that rely on IFS Cloud.
We returned with a suitcase full of insights. Not vague long-term visions, but concrete plans and figures that form the foundation for the continued development of the platform. As an IT or application manager, you tell management what digital workers mean, and who is accountable when one gets an order wrong.
What did IFS show in Dallas about agentic AI?
Agentic AI with IFS should empower people and not replace them. Artificial intelligence in IFS Cloud is not an abstract concept. It’s changing how you work with the system every day. In Dallas, IFS showed users would soon ask questions about their own data and get instant answers.
Think of questions such as which assets cause the most issues, or at which locations failures occur most often. A technician would be able to scan a problem on site. Suggested causes and solutions would follow instantly, based on your own history and configuration.
New within IFS Cloud is IFS Loops, the IFS platform for digital workers, or digital workforce. They automate repetitive, manual tasks on their own, such as processing purchase orders or checking invoices. The goal is to free up people in the organisation for work that creates more value.
Embedded AI was also discussed at SAKO 2026, including recommendations, predictive maintenance and scheduling. Availability and commercial terms depend on the capability, release and your agreement. Before budgeting or enabling a feature, confirm its licence and usage conditions with IFS or your Eqeep contact, and map what your licence covers.
Today, AI is no longer an expensive, standalone project. More and more, it’s becoming an integrated part of the existing IFS environment.
Van Oord as a success story, together with Eqeep
During SAKO, Van Oord was presented as a success story as part of the partner success programme. We’re proud of that. IFS provides the platform; we bring the domain knowledge and expertise to make it successful. It’s a great example of how success works in practice.
IFS announced in October 2023 that Van Oord would use IFS Cloud as a cornerstone of its ‘Founding the Future’ business transformation programme.
What has IFS announced since January?
In April 2026 IFS launched Agent Studio for IFS Loops, and on 13 October 2026 it brought its Industrial AI together in IFS Intelligence.
According to IFS, Agent Studio lets customers configure, govern and expand their own digital workers without coding. The IFS Loops knowledge base says every change starts in a test environment and reaches production only after testing. New field service digital workers arrived too. The Dispatcher Assistant escalates an exception to a supervisor only when human judgement is required.
IFS Intelligence, launched at IFS Unleashed in Orlando, brings together three ways of working: Cowork, Loops and Runway. In Cowork, users ask questions in plain language and the AI prepares actions that run only after approval. Loops, in IFS’s words, runs defined workflows in the background and escalates when judgement or approval is needed. The questions on your own data shown in Dallas now sit in Cowork, the digital workers in Loops.
According to IFS, all three run on the Industrial AI Harness, which applies your organisation’s rules, permissions and approvals. See what IFS Intelligence does and how Eqeep starts with it.
Which processes suit a digital worker?
Work that recurs often, follows fixed rules and has exceptions you can recognise. IFS describes digital workers as software that handles high-volume tasks on its own, within set limits, with a person in the loop for exceptions. The first five digital workers in IFS Cloud, in 25R2 (November 2025), cover customer and supplier orders, inventory and material replenishment, and operations analysis.
A process is a good candidate if you can answer yes to these questions:
- Does the work come back daily or weekly, in volumes that now take manual effort?
- Can you write down the rules an experienced colleague applies today?
- Is the data for the decision in IFS Cloud or in a connected system?
- Is it clear when something is an exception, and who picks it up?
If you are unsure which process has the most volume and the least variation, measure it first. Process Intelligence shows how work actually moves through IFS, based on your transaction data.
Work that rarely occurs, or where each case needs its own judgement, is better left with your people.
How do you handle exceptions and approvals?
You decide in advance what the digital worker completes on its own, what it puts to a person, and to whom. The IFS Loops knowledge base shows this with the Supplier Order Manager, which processes order confirmations from suppliers.
If a confirmation matches the purchase order line by line, the digital worker confirms the order in IFS Cloud. If the supplier proposes a different delivery date, it flags an exception. Purchasing gets a Microsoft Teams message with the original date, the proposed date and the order details. The purchase order is updated only after approval.
You set when a person must approve, for example for a price change above a certain percentage. If a supplier does not respond, the digital worker sends reminders and, after a set period, hands the case to a colleague.
People decide: you set the thresholds, who receives an exception and how fast it is picked up. Agree this with the process owner before the digital worker goes into production. For who may act on AI advice, see our article on becoming AI-ready.
What data and permissions does AI in IFS Cloud need?
The data your people already work with, and permissions you grant as carefully as you would to a new colleague. A digital worker works from what is in IFS Cloud. If a purchase order or delivery date is wrong there, it compares against the wrong value, or raises needless exceptions.
With the FNDGPT component installed, the IFS.ai Copilot Chat system parameter is on by default, according to the IFS Cloud 26R1 documentation. So in practice, the FNDGPT_RUNTIME permission set is the switch that turns IFS.ai Copilot on for each user. Read which permissions to tidy up before you switch AI on.
Where do you start as an IT manager or application manager?
With one process that has high volume and recognisable exceptions, such as supplier order confirmations.
- Choose that process together with the process owner.
- For each type of exception, agree who decides, within what time and through which channel.
- Check the master data and the permissions of the roles the process touches.
- Test with your key users in a test environment. Then you decide what goes into production.
Embedded AI arrives with release updates, and IFS ships two a year. To review each release for features you do not use yet, read the IFS Cloud features hiding in plain sight.
Questions about SAKO 2026 and IFS Loops
What was SAKO 2026?
The annual IFS Partner Summit, held in early January 2026 in Dallas, Texas. Eqeep attended as an IFS Specialized Partner. Topics included agentic AI in IFS Cloud, the IFS Loops digital workforce and Embedded AI.
What is IFS Loops?
IFS Loops is the IFS platform for digital workers, and since October 2026 one of the three ways of working in IFS Intelligence. These digital workers run defined workflows on their own and bring in a person for exceptions or approvals. The first five digital workers in IFS Cloud came with 25R2 in November 2025, including the Customer Order Manager and the Supplier Order Manager.
Will a digital worker replace your staff?
No. IFS describes digital workers as software that works alongside your teams and puts exceptions to people. Your people keep the judgement and the approvals.
Where do you stand with AI in IFS Cloud?
Tell us where you stand with IFS. After one conversation you will have a clear next step. Bring the process you would hand to a digital worker first. Discuss your IFS question.
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