AI automation, B2B expansion and enterprise technology dominated several major company announcements on 3 November.
Tuesday's corporate announcements highlighted an important shift in how businesses are adopting technology: AI is increasingly being integrated into everyday operations, while established companies are finding new ways to scale through platforms, partnerships and automation.
Here are five developments worth watching.
1. Snowflake moves towards autonomous AI coworkers
Snowflake announced significant updates to its CoCo and CoWork products at Snowflake Expedition 2026.
The new capabilities introduce always-on AI bots designed to work in the background, complete recurring tasks and interact with tools such as Slack and Excel. Rather than requiring employees to initiate every task, these agents can continue working and request human approval when necessary.
Snowflake also highlighted the importance of business context, governance and permissions when deploying autonomous AI.
Why it matters: The market is moving from AI assistants that generate answers towards AI systems that execute business processes. This could reshape how companies approach reporting, operations and internal productivity.
Source: Snowflake official announcement
2. Zalando reports almost 28% growth in B2B revenue
European technology platform Zalando reported B2B revenue of €354 million for Q3 2026, representing almost 28% year-on-year growth.
Its B2B operations include SCAYLE, its e-commerce software platform, and ZEOS, its fulfilment and logistics offering.
The company also introduced Zalando Extended, which will allow products from other online retailers to be discovered and purchased through its platform. AI-assisted purchasing is planned from 2027.
Why it matters: Zalando demonstrates how a company can evolve from a consumer-facing retailer into a broader technology and infrastructure provider. Its B2B operations are becoming an increasingly important growth engine.
Source: Zalando Q3 2026 results
3. AtScale connects Grok with trusted enterprise business data
AtScale announced that developers and business teams can build AI applications using Grok with access to approved business definitions and metrics.
The integration connects Grok Build with AtScale's semantic layer through its Model Context Protocol server.
This addresses a common enterprise AI challenge: different departments may use the same business terms but calculate them differently. For example, revenue can refer to bookings, recognised revenue or annual recurring revenue.
AtScale aims to ensure AI applications use the same approved definitions as the organisation.
Why it matters: Reliable AI requires reliable business data. Companies implementing AI need to consider data quality, governance and internal business logic alongside model selection.
Source: AtScale official announcement
4. NTT DATA expands AI infrastructure in Indonesia
NTT DATA announced the opening of its Jakarta 2 Annex Data Center, expanding its data centre capacity in Indonesia.
The development is part of the growing demand for infrastructure capable of supporting AI, digital business and enterprise technology services.
Why it matters: AI investment is not limited to software development. It also creates demand for data centres, computing infrastructure, connectivity and specialised technology services.
5. EXL recognised as a Leader in customer experience management
Global data and AI company EXL announced that it had been recognised as both a Leader and Star Performer in Everest Group's Customer Experience Management PEAK Matrix Assessment 2026 for the Americas.
The assessment covered 63 providers and considered their capabilities in AI-enabled operations, domain expertise, operational resilience and execution.
EXL moved up from Major Contender in the previous year's assessment.
Why it matters: Businesses are increasingly combining customer service, analytics, automation and AI rather than treating them as separate functions.
Source: EXL investor relations
The bigger picture
Three business trends stand out from these announcements:
1. AI is becoming operational. Companies are moving beyond experimentation and integrating AI into recurring workflows and everyday business activities.
2. B2B infrastructure is a growth opportunity. Platforms, software, logistics and specialised business services can become substantial revenue streams alongside traditional consumer-facing operations.
3. Business context is becoming essential. AI tools need access to accurate data, approved definitions and well-designed processes to deliver reliable results.
The next competitive advantage may not come from simply adopting AI, but from knowing where to implement it and how to connect it to the way a business actually operates.
Doing Business Live — Business, Technology & AI Briefing | 3 November 2026