Unlocking the power of Agentic AI

Hang on to your hat, agentic AI is here

And you, as CTO, are in at the deep end. 

At the best of times, your task is to steer your organisation through the complexities of innovation and strategy. Now, you’re facing one of the most exciting developments ever seen in technology – the emergence of agentic AI. And we have no doubt you’re keen to keep up with the agentic AI learning curve. 

So, the big questions are: What will you do with it? How will it rock your world? 

Supercharge your technology strategy 

First and foremost, agentic AI offers you a new way to advise on technology adoption and usage.  

While the CTO role traditionally involves guiding the business on how to structure tech and automation strategies, with agentic AI, your ability to recommend with clarity and foresight can evolve significantly.  

What exactly do we mean by that?  

Well, as an example, agentic AI will give you oversight of all of your headless applications – those backend systems that handle requests and execute operations without affecting the front-end user experience. So, the agents you have sitting over the applications can report to you what’s going on without requiring you to jump into the actual system.  

(Side note - how’s this for smart? You can use agentic AI to query your CRM data without the need to navigate its cumbersome interfaces - that’s assuming it wasn’t a CRM we implemented for you! So, instead of spending time logging in and filtering through data tables, a simple natural language query - written or verbal - to the agent could yield information about customer interactions or sales metrics without even opening the application. And the same ease of access applies to your other apps.)   

What else is going to make you smile? 

Getting stuff done, that’s what.  

For example, knocking off some of those low-hanging fruit. With agentic AI working seamlessly in the background, you can optimise your customer-facing services without investing in complex interfaces. Agentic AI can autonomously connect agents from multiple systems (for example, SharePoint, service ticket logging, third-party vendors) to manage responses to customer queries – even drafting the verbal or email responses back to your customer. In essence, agentic AI proactively orchestrates the actions of all the agents below it – no babysitting required.  

What’s next? 

If you’re looking to stay ahead, understanding agentic AI is crucial. Start by engaging with knowledgeable partners (like us) and exploring practical and often easy win applications within your organisation.  

With great power comes great responsibility

As a CIO, there’s never been a better moment to remind yourself that, as Spider-Man’s uncle said (and Voltaire before him), “With great power comes great responsibility.” And with Agentic AI, that power is amplified. So, where will and should you wield the undoubted power? And critically, what do you need to be wary of?

Here are three areas we recommend you focus on when it comes to Agentic AI:

First – the sticky stuff: Risk management and governance

Autonomous AI introduces new risks to your business. It can create a virtual spider web of unintended decisions, ethical dilemmas, or compliance breaches. 

As CIO, your role as a risk mitigator (and rescuer) will intensify. Your priority will be establishing robust governance frameworks to monitor and control these autonomous agents. Like what, you ask? These defences might involve setting kill switches, defining decision boundaries, or ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR or other industry-specific standards. 

Next - workforce and skillset evolution

The rise of Agentic AI will demand that you rethink your IT teams. 

You will likely oversee a hybrid workforce of humans and AI agents (some superheroes, some not!). And you’ll need to ensure that those who fall into the ‘not’ category are upskilled in AI management, ethics, and integration - rather than traditional IT maintenance. 

Your hiring model will shift toward data engineers and AI specialists over conventional support and system administrators. It’s likely that to champion this degree of cultural shift within the organisation, you’re going to need help.

Finally - keep adapting and changing

Staying ahead of Agentic AI’s rapid evolution will require constant learning. Just as Peter Parker constantly metamorphoses into Spider-Man (and back again) at times of need, you’ll have to keep adapting and changing your IT strategy as AI becomes more pervasive across the business. 

For example, if you’re the CIO of a retail business, then you could use Agentic AI to autonomously manage inventory systems, predict loads on core systems during peak shopping seasons, and even negotiate cloud contracts based on usage patterns. This means that your job becomes less about manually approving these actions and more about defining AI’s parameters, measuring its impact on sales, and ensuring you play masked defender to stop AI from overstepping the boundaries of customer privacy. 

Keep your cape handy

In short, Agentic AI will transform you from a technical gatekeeper into a strategic orchestrator. 

You’ll be responsible for balancing autonomy with accountability and driving innovation at scale. That old expectation that you’re “hands-on” with systems is going to rapidly evolve into a new look CIO (cape and lycra wearing - or otherwise) who is “hands-in” with business outcomes.

Chief "Evolution" Officer

As CEO, you’re under constant pressure to recognise innovative solutions to enhance business efficiency and drive growth. And you’re accountable to your Board of Directors for success.

You’ve probably already heard all the hype about agentic AI being one of the most significant advancements in modern technology. If not - agentic AI refers to AI systems that autonomously perform specific tasks or solve particular problems – so, they do (multi-step) complex tasks as well as reason. They focus on purposeful decision-making and action, whereas GenAI focuses on creating content and images, answering questions on demand, etc.

Agents sounds great, right? But what’s in it for you? 

The all-important ROI

As CEO, you’re expected to take the front foot when enabling the business to achieve more. You're accountable to the board for the subsequent ROI – financial, operational, market growth, CSAT scores, employee satisfaction, and more.

For example, as a practical way to improve accuracy and efficiency in your AP team, you could consider eliminating human involvement by adopting an AP voucher match agent. One that considers historical payments, date and time patterns, and reads the invoice - then applies reasoning to match the correct transactions.

This type of simple yet high-value initiative, along with the everyday efficiency and problem-solving gains you’ll make (which we’re sure your CTO or CIO  will brief you on), is just one example of how agentic AI is a gamechanger.

The lure of shiny things

However, you guessed it, implementing agentic AI comes with its challenges.

Like what? While agentic AI is a lovely shiny thing that promises the world, you’ll need to stay focused on the specific problems you want to solve to deliver a board-approved ROI. And this starts with defining clear goals and metrics for success before leaping into the future.

Why? Despite its obvious benefits, the rapid evolution of AI technology can lead to unrealistic expectations and unwelcome outcomes. So it’s crucial to work closely with your technology experts (internal or otherwise) to establish a trustworthy AI framework that encompasses governance, auditability, and bias detection. Your AI processes must be transparent and reliable to maintain stakeholder confidence and meet regulatory requirements.

What next?

Implementing agentic AI is more than just embracing new technology – it’s a powerful tool that will help you resolve or counter specific business challenges and lead your company to greater success.

Our advice though? Before leaping in boots and all, take your time choosing a partner who has proven expertise and experience in using AI to solve problems. After all, not all partners are created equal.