AI Agents for Business – What They Are, How They Work and a Framework to Deploy Agentic AI
“If a task repeats every day, an agent should do it. People should decide what’s next.”
Teams start using AI with the expectation of freeing up their time from repetitive work. However, they still feel the pressure of long handoffs, missed SLAs and tools that don’t talk to each other.
AI agents fix this by orchestrating and completing multi-step work without adding headcount or human hours.
What are “AI agents for business”?
The short answer is software workers who select and execute tasks using your data and tools. Agents call APIs, update records, ask for approvals when needed, and check their own work.
An agent is not a chatbot. Chatbots answer questions.
An agent is not robotic process automation (RPA). RPA sticks to scripts.
Agents run workflows with reasoning, tools and guardrails.
But isn’t it just hype? In a McKinsey’s 2025 survey, 78% of companies use AI in at least one function and a majority now report cost reductions in business units using gen-AI. IBM finds 42% of large enterprises have deployed AI, while another 40% are experimenting.
How AI agents work
- Ingest context – Connect to CRM/ERP/ITSM/DBs, enforce identity & permissions.
- Orchestrate – Choose tools, craft steps, respect policy (e.g. “no bulk refunds > $500 without approval”).
- Act – Call APIs, push records, create tickets, post messages. Request human approvals for risky actions.
- Verify – Run assertions, evaluator models and tests against golden tasks.
- Observe & iterate – Trace every step, track cost/latency/quality, rollback on failure.
Make sure to put the plan, actions and checks in logs that your auditors and ops leaders can check. That’s how you scale from one pilot to 50 workflows.
RPA vs. Chatbot vs. AI Agent
| Capability | Chatbot | RPA | AI Agent |
| Answers questions | Yes | No | Yes |
| Follows UI scripts | No | Yes | Via RPA bridge |
| Multi-step reasoning | Low | None | High |
| Calls APIs & tools | Limited | Scripted | Native |
| Human approvals | Rare | Add-on | Built-in |
| Best for | Q&A | Repetitive UI | Dynamic workflows |
The best businesses use a combination of all three. By letting each do what it does best you deliver the desired outcomes at the lowest cost.
Where agents pay off
These are some areas where you can implement Agentic AI workflows and see quick wins in terms of saved time and operational efficiency. These use cases apply to almost every business.
- Finance: invoice arrives → extract, match to PO/GRN, route exceptions → fewer errors, faster close.
- Customer support: ticket lands → intent triage, pull knowledge, draft response/next step → deflect routine, cut handle time. Forrester reports ~ 30% automated resolutions for inquiries.
- HR talent acquisition: application → screen against criteria, schedule interviews, draft offers → shorter time-to-hire.
- Sales ops: new lead → enrich in CRM, score, route, draft intro → faster lead-to-cash, more pipeline.
At MSBC, we have developed and deployed these agentic AI workflows for businesses that are already yielding positive ROI. Want to know more about real-world impact and see how we deliver it? Feel free to book a call with us today!
Tip: start where work is digital, rules exist and volume/variance are high.
Step-by-step method to Pilot and Scale Agentic AI workflows for your business
Stage 1: Define
- Pick one bottleneck in a workflow with high volume.
- Baseline current metrics.
- Write the agent SOP: inputs, allowed tools, approvals and success criteria.
Stage 2: Pilot
- Build the happy path and the top 3 exceptions.
- Run in shadow mode for a week, then supervise.
- Hit go/no-go against baseline (AHT, quality, cost).
Stage 3: Scale
- Add exceptions, automate approvals with thresholds and expand to adjacent workflows.
- Publish weekly scorecards. Tie wins to business KPIs.
This all may sound overwhelming at first, but it’s only an 8-week process. What may make it easier is partnering with an AI consultancy firm such as MSBC to assist you through the whole process. Explore more about how MSBC can help you with AI Consulting.
The Bottom Line
AI agents are all about amplifying human intelligence and capabilities.
While some companies are still debating whether to adopt AI, early movers are already capturing measurable value. They’re reducing costs by up to 60% (link to Hailo case study), increasing revenue by up to 10% and doubling productivity in some areas.
The question isn’t whether AI agents can transform business operations.
The question is will you lead this transformation or catch up later?
At MSBC Group, we design, deliver and run agentic workflows that have a positive impact on P&L. Our approach focuses on one high-value process at a time, with guardrails for compliance, dashboards and weekly improvement cycles. We’re at home in regulated environments and with hybrid stacks (cloud, on-prem and RPA bridges).
Book a one-hour free consultation with us in which we can aim to:
- Map one target workflow
- Identify tools, approvals and checks
- Estimate ROI and a 6–8 week rollout plan.
Let’s connect and discover how AI agents can save time, reduce costs and drive growth for your organisation.