Insights
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is software that uses AI to choose and carry out steps toward a task. For a business, that might mean reading an inquiry, checking the information it needs, and preparing a response. What it can do depends on the tools, permissions, and instructions it has been given.
The useful question is what a particular system can handle reliably in your business. The label alone does not tell you that.
How is an agent different from a fixed workflow?
A simple automation follows a rule: when a form arrives, add the details to a spreadsheet. A fixed workflow connects several such steps. For example, it might detect a missed call, send a text, and record the reply.
An agent can interpret information and choose among permitted actions. If a customer asks about both availability and your service area, it may check both before replying. That flexibility also creates more ways to make a mistake, so the allowed actions and the circumstances requiring a person need to be clear.
A business system may combine fixed rules with AI. The appointment must fit the calendar; interpreting the customer's request may require more flexibility. There is no need to use AI for every step.
What does “AI employee” mean?
It is a product description, not a dependable statement of capability. Ask what tasks the product performs, what information it can access, and what decisions still require your staff. A name and a conversational voice do not establish whether it can do the work you need.
Where can an agent help?
Useful candidates include sorting inquiries, drafting replies, collecting information, preparing routine documents, and coordinating actions across connected tools. Assess each against actual examples from your business.
Consider a customer who texts, “My AC stopped working and I have a baby at home.” The system should collect the relevant details and alert the appropriate person according to your rules. It should not invent an arrival time or make a safety judgment it has not been designed to make.
What needs checking before it goes live?
- Unusual requests. Test incomplete messages, existing customers, wrong numbers, and requests outside the service area.
- Connections. Check that calendar availability and customer records are read and updated correctly.
- Failures. Decide who is notified when an action fails or a connection stops working.
- Maintenance. Review the instructions when your hours, prices, services, or software change.
There should be a named person responsible for the system, a way for customers to reach staff, and an activity record that someone reviews. Ask to see those arrangements in a demonstration using your examples.
How do you decide whether you need one?
Start with work that is being missed or taking too much time. Count how often it happens, what it costs, and what a mistake would mean. Then compare a process change, an existing software feature, a fixed automation, and an agent.
I would use the least complicated option that can do the job well. The ability to build an agent is not, by itself, a reason to put one in charge of a process.