The term “AI agents” refers to software-based, goal-oriented systems that use large language models (LLMs) and other AI methods to autonomously plan tasks, make decisions, interact with data sources, tools and APIs, and deliver results. Depending on the use case, they operate from assistive (human-approved) to partially or fully automated, aiming to accelerate processes, improve quality, and reduce manual workload.
Goal & task planning: Breaking objectives into steps, prioritizing, and adapting to new information.
Tool & API usage (function calling): Invoking external systems (e.g., ERP/CRM, ticketing, email, databases) with parameter validation and error handling.
Knowledge access & RAG: Contextual retrieval from internal sources (documents, wikis, data warehouses) via retrieval-augmented generation.
Memory & context management: Short- and long-term storage for case context, history, and preferences.
Workflow orchestration & multi-agent setups: Coordinating specialized agents and hand-offs between process steps.
Triggers & event processing: Starting work based on events (e.g., new order, alert, email) or schedules.
Human-in-the-loop: Configurable approvals, escalations, feedback cycles, and hand-overs.
Permissions & identity: Role-based access control, impersonation with audit trail, policy enforcement.
Observability & cost control: Runtime monitoring, cost/latency controls, success metrics, logging.
Governance & security: Guardrails, data masking, compliance rules (e.g., GDPR), secure sandboxes.
Testing & simulation: Scenario tests, A/B experiments, replaying cases before production rollout.
Deployment & scaling: Versioning, skill registry, canary rollouts, load management.
Multilingual & tone control: Adherence to audience, brand, and style guidelines.
Customer service agent: Pick through tickets, drafts replies, or resolves standard cases end-to-end using CRM and knowledge bases.
Procurement/purchasing agent: Requests quotes, compares terms, and creates purchase requisitions in the ERP.
Invoice-matching agent (Accounts Payable): Reads invoices, matches POs and delivery notes, handles discrepancies with suppliers.
Sales enablement agent: Creates account briefings, updates CRM fields, and generates follow-ups and meetings.
IT operations/incident response agent: Correlates alerts, executes runbooks (restarts, rollbacks), and documents in the ticketing system.
HR onboarding agent: Creates user accounts, assigns permissions, schedules trainings, and sends checklists.
Financial reporting agent: Aggregates KPIs from BI tools, builds management reports, and comments on variances.
Code/DevOps agent: Opens PRs, writes tests, runs static analysis, and triggers deployments per policy.
Contract & document review agent: Classifies documents, extracts clauses, flags risks, and suggests mitigations.
Marketing campaign agent: Builds segments, creates variants, manages budgets, and optimizes live campaigns.
Meeting & knowledge agent: Produces minutes, action lists, and syncs tasks into PM tools.
Facility/IoT agent: Analyses sensor data, optimizes energy consumption, and schedules predictive maintenance.
