In addition to a collection of attributes that ordinary business objects have, intelligent business objects are capable of processing information and communicating in a meaningful way. This includes human beings, software systems and electronic devices. For example, a customer would be an intelligent object because an organization needs to keep certain information about its customers, and may need to communicate with them. Aware IM can communicate with intelligent objects via communication channels in two ways: sending notifications or requesting services.

A business space in Aware IM is an intelligent business object because it can both communicate and process information. The information is processed according to the rules defined in the business space. As far as communication is concerned, a business space can both provide services and handle incoming notifications.