In a customer-first organization, AI systems run processes while humans set goals, define policy constraints, and handle exceptions.
“You need to shift the operating model to humans as conservators and agents as operators,” says Scott Rodgers, global chief architect and chief technology officer of Deloitte Microsoft Technology Practice in the US.
The imperative of the actor first
With technology budgets for AI expected to increase by more than 70% over the next two years, AI agents, powered by generative AI, are poised to transform organizations and deliver results beyond traditional automation. These initiatives have the potential to deliver significant performance gains, while shifting humans toward higher-value work.
Artificial intelligence is advancing so rapidly that established approaches to automating tasks will likely only yield incremental gains. Because legacy processes are not designed for autonomous systems, AI agents need machine-readable process definitions, clear policy constraints, and structured data flows, according to Rodgers.
To complicate matters, many organizations do not understand the full economic drivers of their business, such as cost to serve and costs per transaction. As a result, they have trouble prioritizing the customers who can create the most value and instead focus on delightful pilots. To achieve structural change, executives must think differently.
Companies must instead coordinate results faster than competitors. “The real risk is not that AI won’t work, but that competitors will redesign their operating models while you still fly customers and co-pilots,” says Rodgers. “Nonlinear gains come when companies create agent-centric workflows with human management and adaptive coordination.”
Increasingly routine and repetitive tasks are handled automatically, freeing employees to focus on higher value, creative and strategic work. This transformation improves operational efficiency, promotes stronger collaboration, and generates faster decision-making – helping organizations modernize the workplace without sacrificing enterprise security.
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