In today’s boardrooms, the term AI agent is everywhere—but the gap between a generic bot and a specialised agentic system is vast. One supports at the margins; the other transforms the operating core.

At a private equity firm, generic copilots produced text and answered questions but delivered little ROI. The breakthrough came when the company deployed specialised agentic agents designed for clear outcomes: an Investment Insights Agent that cut proposal preparation by 80%, a Due Diligence Agent that freed 60% of analyst capacity, and a Consultation Protocol Agent that automated meeting capture and follow-ups.

The lesson is simple: crafting agentic agents is a design exercise, not a procurement exercise. High-performing agents are built with domain context, governance guardrails, and integration into enterprise workflows. Without this, they remain novelties; with it, they deliver measurable ROI and lasting competitive advantage.

For the C-suite, the call is clear: treat AI agents as colleagues to be designed, not gadgets to be licensed. The organisations that specialise and integrate their agents will outperform those that settle for generic bots.

The phrase “AI agent” has entered the corporate vocabulary almost overnight—yet behind the buzzword lies a profound shift in how enterprises operate. Unlike generative AI tools that wait for prompts, AI agents act as teammates: autonomous, goal-driven collaborators that plan, decide, and execute within governed guardrails.

The impact is tangible. At a global logistics firm, an inventory management agent monitored supply levels, negotiated contracts, and triggered route optimisation automatically. Downtime plummeted, excess capital tied up in stock fell, and customer fulfilment improved. Managers shifted from transactional firefighting to strategic supplier and client work.

This isn’t science fiction; it’s an operating model transformation. The challenge is that many pilots stall because organisations underestimate the foundations required—data quality, integration, governance, and cross-functional alignment. Without these, agents remain curiosities. With them, they become value-creating colleagues.

For the C-suite, the question is no longer whether AI agents work. It is how to embed them into the enterprise as trusted teammates—driving measurable ROI, reshaping workforce design, and delivering durable competitive advantage.