AI Agents: Improving business processes with Generative AI

These are versatile, multifunctional entities that seek to revolutionise operational workflows, improve the customer experience and drive efficiency. In doing so, they are reinventing the way businesses operate and innovate. AI agents are not simply enhanced automation tools; on the contrary, they signify a new paradigm for intelligent systems, offering dynamic and continuous assistance that enables companies to reach new levels of productivity and competitiveness. This is what Keepler explains in its recently published “AI Agents Framework”.

Agents act as smart components that manage complex tasks or sequences of tasks (workflows), streamlining operations and reducing the workload involved in repetitive tasks for human teams. They can be applied to everything from customer service to predictive maintenance systems, so these agents are rapidly becoming indispensable.

This is something that Mark Zuckerberg has recently spoken about, going so far as to state in an interview that “we’re going to live in a world where there are going to be hundreds of millions or billions of different AI agents eventually, probably more AI agents than there are people in the world.”

The strategic benefit of AI Agents

AI agents bring strategic benefits that go beyond operational improvements. They boost efficiency, improve the customer experience and facilitate access to real-time data, enabling organisations to quickly adapt to market changes and new challenges. Companies integrating agents into their operations can expect the following benefits:

• Greater operational efficiency: Through automation and intelligent decision making, agents streamline processes, reduce operational costs and accelerate time to market.
• Increased customer engagement: Personalised and responsive interactions boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. In industries like retail, finance or insurance, this can be an important differentiator.
• Greater data accessibility: Agents make it easier to access, interpret and use data for informed decision making at all levels of the organisation, thus reinforcing a data-driven
• Improved effectiveness of models: AI agents unlock new dimensions of data that can be used to further enhance the capabilities of AI models and the information available to agents to make decisions, exponentially increasing the capability of the “Data Flywheel.”
• Greater strategic agility: Thanks to AI-driven insights, companies can be better prepared to pivot in response to new opportunities and challenges, ensuring resilience and long-term competitiveness.

Transforming data access and generating instant insights

Traditional data access models often require users to navigate multiple environments, platforms, databases and reporting systems, which can lead to inefficiencies and delays in decision making. Thanks to AI agents, this process is being revolutionised. These agents enable faster, more controlled and secure access to data, transforming the way information is retrieved and used. By pooling data from a number of sources, agents offer users synthesised and actionable insights and approaches in real time. Furthermore, they enable related knowledge to be applied and new conclusions to be drawn that could not have been generated in isolation.

For example, let’s say a team member needs a detailed analysis of customer service queries from the last quarter. An AI agent can not only retrieve this information instantly, but also analyse trends, highlight emerging patterns and offer suggestions to address potential issues. This level of deep and immediate insight allows for more agile and informed decision making, enabling organisations to proactively respond to shifts in customer needs and market dynamics.

Evolution beyond traditional chatbots

Traditional chatbots have always been designed to follow pre-defined scripts and respond to specific questions with pre-defined answers. They have always suited basic customer service, but they lacked flexibility and often forced users to escalate to a human representative when questions diverged from the expected outcome. It is safe to say that these chatbots were limited in scope and functioned as supplemental tools rather than integral components of an organisation’s strategy.

AI agents, however, are a major leap forward. Driven by Generative AI, these agents go beyond mere responses: they interpret context, learn from interactions and support decision making. Unlike traditional chatbots, AI agents can engage in complex conversations across multiple streams, personalise interactions based on real-time data, and dynamically adjust to the needs of users and customers alike. For example, an AI agent could help to resolve detailed product issues or provide comprehensive support, relying on its extensive data capabilities to provide timely and relevant answers.

Amplifying the value of human labour

A key point is the debate around the replacement of human labour. AI Agents do not replace human workers, they are powerful tools that enhance their capabilities. They handle repetitive, time-consuming, low-satisfaction tasks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic, higher-value work. For example, customer service professionals can trust AI agents to handle routine queries, allowing them to focus on more complex cases that require human empathy and judgement. Another example is how sales and marketing teams can use agents to gather customer information in real time, enabling them to craft targeted strategies and cultivate deeper customer relationships.

AI Agents’ automation capabilities are also invaluable for tasks involving data analysis. AI Agents can interpret large data sets and provide synthesised insights, so employees can make informed decisions quickly, without having to spend a significant amount of time collecting and analysing data. In essence, AI agents are instrumental in helping organisations maximise the potential of their workforce by offloading tasks that can be efficiently managed by AI, leaving human workers free to drive innovation, strategy and growth. AI agents even allow for the automation of task blocks without requiring human interaction, reducing employee overload in repetitive, low-value tasks.

Thus, AI agents powered by Generative AI are a transformative force for organisations aiming to survive well into the future, offering tools that improve productivity, foster innovation, and streamline data accessibility. Companies that leverage these advanced AI capabilities are well positioned to navigate the intricacies of today’s business landscape and achieve sustainable success.