If you’re a technology leader in your organisation, you’re probably already grappling with integrating the transformative power of AI into your business strategy.
The good news is that help is at hand in the form of intelligent, autonomous AI agents. Think of them as a team of digital assistants that follow your instructions and learn from your processes as they make decisions and even predict outcomes. This is the promise of agentic AI.
These assistants aren’t one-size-fits-all bots: they’re tailored to the needs of industries and functions.
In healthcare, they can classify and prioritise insurance appeals, with the potential to expand into early patient interventions and medication compliance.
Manufacturers are using agentic AI to supercharge preventive maintenance and analyse the root causes of production-line issues, while logistics providers benefit from smart supply chain management, automating everything from email interpretation to real-time tracking.
Financial service providers are deploying AI agents to support fraud detection and compliance. In insurance, agents are simplifying product offerings for customers, and in marketing, these systems are building psychographic profiles for hyperpersonalised ads that boost sales and engagement like never before.
A complex transition
However, as agentic solutions proliferate, challenges will arise — from cybersecurity risks to the complexities of multiagent coordination. Internal development teams will struggle to move beyond prototyping to full production, resulting in legacy agent-management issues and unfulfilled potential.
The accumulation of technology debt and the need for continuous agent-effectiveness reviews are further complications, and your employees may be worried about job security and hesitant to trust decision-making machines. Fostering a culture of trust demands time, effective communication and strong leadership.
Additionally, the industry faces a shortage of skilled talent in AI and process automation, and issues of AI transparency, bias and accountability cannot be ignored, either.
Yet, with the right strategies and strategic partnerships in place, you can turn these challenges into opportunities for growth.
Create an ecosystem of smart AI
As a technology leader, you’ll know that standalone solutions only go so far in our ever more interconnected world. This is true for agentic AI, too. Think big — right from the start. For long-term success, you need to create an ecosystem, not just roll out a single piece of software.
Consider whether you’ll need industry-specific agents or plug-ins for your robotic process automation bots. Evaluate service providers to see what AI tools and accelerators they offer and whether they have a marketplace for AI models.
A partnership should also give you access to AI-ready infrastructure to support your ecosystem, including public and private cloud services, networks and cybersecurity.
If you get this right, it’s like having a full-time personal AI coach, backed by experts who can do everything from giving advice to scaling your agent ecosystem.
Other key factors
What else should you consider when planning an agentic AI ecosystem with a partner on board?
First, to improve your operational agility, security and governance — all while reducing costs — your ecosystem should be flexible and scalable. And, if you’re dealing with technology debt, your partner should help you inject AI into your systems without needing a complete overhaul.
Then, a managed service must give you guaranteed access to the latest innovations. You should never have to worry about your AI solutions becoming outdated as the technology advances!
Also, a partner’s commitment to ethical AI is essential, to keep solutions secure, compliant and built with responsible innovation in mind. This is crucial in industries such as healthcare and finance where data integrity and compliance are paramount.
The big-picture approach
At NTT DATA, we’ve taken a “big picture” approach to agentic AI. Our Smart AI Agent™ Ecosystem and agentic AI services platform include everything you need, from solutions to services, and our OpenAI and Microsoft partnerships enable deep integration and multiagent orchestration.
We’re even equipping smart agents with extensive domain knowledge to tackle highly specific challenges — for example, specialised supply chain automation and, in manufacturing, coordination across production and engineering processes.
The future is here, and agentic AI is your ticket to this new era of doing business. Are you ready to reimagine your organisation?
