How AI Agents Deliver Technology Value

Pressure is mounting for AI to deliver more results. Seventy-five percent of attendees polled at a recent Wall Street Journal CIO Summit said they believe AI is currently driving a small amount of value, but not enough for their investment.¹CIOs are hearing from their boards and CEOs, “We need transformative value, not just incremental efficiency gains.” AI agents could be the answer.

AI agentic systems are evolving faster than any technology in recent memory. They promise more than just productivity boosts—they offer genuine business gains. But to achieve this, organizations require a robust data infrastructure, clear ROI metrics, security, and trust, along with a forward-looking strategy.

Shift from Passive to Proactive Execution: AI agents evolve from simple, passive information retrieval systems to proactive entities that execute and drive decision-making processes.
Adaptive and Intelligent: They possess high levels of autonomy and intelligence, enabling real-time adaptation and optimization in response to environmental changes.³
Complex Task Orchestration: Moving beyond single-function task automation, AI agents can collaborate to handle complex, multi-step tasks at scale.
Cross-Industry Applicability: AI agents can operate seamlessly across different domains, demonstrating their broad and versatile applicability.

Consider the enormous impact AI agents can have on your IT organization and the broader business landscape. For the past two decades, IT organizations have optimized operating models—technologies, processes, people, performance metrics, and security frameworks—around SaaS models. However, AI agents are now positioning themselves to redefine these fundamentals completely.

For many, transitioning to AI agentic systems will indeed be an evolutionary process. This article outlines actionable strategies to help prepare your tech environment to harness the full potential of AI agents.

Where to begin?

The disruptive potential of AI agents demands an immediate focus on the fundamentals. Preparation is crucial to prepare your tech environment to leverage the value AI agents offer.

Prepare Your Tech Environment to Maximize ROI

Organizations poised for success will be those that start preparing now to leverage AI agents for genuine business transformation. AI agents are more than productivity tools; they are catalysts for tangible ROI and market disruption.2

Phase 1 | Measure your AI readiness

External and Internal Analysis: Conduct a thorough readiness assessment to gauge your current standing. This includes market research to understand industry trends and internal data collection to identify performance gaps.
Gap Identification and Planning: Develop a detailed plan to address identified gaps, ensuring your business objectives are driving the right tech strategy.

Phase 2 | Conduct a holistic opportunity assessment

Identify and Prioritize Use Cases: Outline potential use cases for AI agents within your organization. Prioritize each based on strategic alignment, potential ROI, and implementation complexity. Consider starting with “low-hanging fruit.”
Roadmap Development: Create a prioritized implementation roadmap with clear, quantifiable ROI metrics to track progress and value realization.

Phase 3 | Implement an AI operating model designed for value

Finally, to integrate AI agents and maximize their transformative potential, you must establish a robust operating model:

Functional Processes: Align tech investments with business goals, prioritizing enhancements that drive significant improvements.
People and Culture: Cultivate a culture of collaboration across all business units, supported by training programs to enhance AI adoption.
Service Delivery Models: Develop models that streamline AI service management, ensuring optimal performance and continuous service improvement.
Advanced Technology and Tooling: Implement a robust data supply chain with strong data governance and metadata management to drive data integrity.
Performance Insights and Data: Establish frameworks to monitor, analyze, and optimize AI technology performance through clearly defined KPIs.
Trusted AI Guidelines: Develop guidelines focusing on data privacy, model security, and regulatory compliance to build trust within and outside the organization.

Retail	Healthcare	Finance
Issue Statement: How can retail businesses optimize their operations and enhance customer satisfaction through AI agents?	Issue Statement: How can healthcare providers improve patient care and operational efficiency with AI agents?	Issue Statement: How can financial institutions strengthen security, improve decision-making, and drive compliance with AI agents?
Use Case: Implementing AI agents for dynamic inventory management and personalized customer interactions. These agents analyze customer behavior data to optimize stock levels in real-time and provide personalized recommendations, significantly improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Result: Retailers can reduce stockouts and overstock situations, enhance customer experiences, and drive greater ROI.	Use Case: Utilizing AI agents to manage patient data, streamline diagnostics, and automate treatment plans. These agents can assist in real-time patient monitoring and early detection of potential health issues, leading to improved patient outcomes. Result: Enhanced patient care, reduced operational burdens on healthcare professionals, and improved overall efficiency.	Use Case: Deploying AI agents for real-time fraud detection and holistic risk management. These agents can analyze transactions continuously and detect anomalies faster than human analysts. Result: Financial institutions secure their operations, meet compliance requirements more easily, and improve decision-making quality, driving higher trust and efficiency in their services.

In the next 12 to 18 months, AI agentic systems will expand their capabilities even further. Organizations that prepare now—aligning IT strategy, data governance, security, and talent—will be positioned to capitalize on these upcoming breakthroughs.

To help ensure your business objectives are driving the right tech strategy, and to prepare your environment and infrastructure for AI agents, the time to act is now. By embracing these strategies, CIOs can manage capability demands holistically, maximize tech investment ROI, and realize operational efficiency, cost predictability, and enhanced customer experiences.

Align your strategy now to stay ahead. The transformative wave of AI agents is happening now—don’t be left behind.

Footnote

1 Source: “AI Agents Are Everywhere…and Nowhere,” Belle Lin, The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2025

2 Source: “The Rise of AI Agents and the Evolution of Innovation in AgentLayer,” Medium, March 3, 2024.

CIOs face unprecedented pressure to ensure their business objectives are driving the right tech strategy. To make that happen, many are consolidating their fragmented solutions and ensuring they’re getting the greatest ROI from their tech investments so they can realize exponential business outcomes.

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