The future of business software:
The AI agents are coming!
A new wave of development is emerging in the business software industry: from AI-supported assistance services to autonomously working agents or agent teams that independently implement tasks in HR, IT or engineering. The aim is to significantly advance the automation of knowledge work. In the latest gridscale Analyst Spotlight, our author, IT analyst Dr. Andreas Stiehler, discusses which players are positioning themselves in this growth market with which concepts and what companies should do to benefit from this development.
The development and use of autonomous agents is becoming increasingly important in the enterprise software market. They should now make it possible to automate knowledge-intensive services and thus open up a market with a total volume of around 4.6 trillion dollars. It is still unclear which players will be able to establish themselves in this segment with which business models and to what extent.
While today’s leading software providers such as Microsoft, Salesforce and Services Now are providing their customers with more and more tools for the development of AI agents, AI start-ups are increasingly entering the market and providing companies with entire teams of agents that independently implement (partial) processes in the sense of business process outsourcing and are remunerated according to performance or success. This is likely to significantly increase the intensity of competition both in the software industry and in various BPO and service segments (IT, HR, engineering, etc.).
The dynamic development surrounding the use of autonomous agents offers companies a wide range of opportunities. After all, AI-supported automation of knowledge work is a key lever for sustainably increasing productivity, saving costs and effectively countering the shortage of skilled workers. However, in order to realize the associated opportunities, it is first necessary to establish a suitable infrastructure for the use of AI agents.
IT and business decision-makers in companies should consider the automation of knowledge work through the use of autonomous agents – and better today than tomorrow. After all, the course has already been set for this development, and more and more offerings are likely to be advanced in this area in 2025. Among other things, companies will have to decide whether they want to develop and operate AI agents themselves or hire them from a specialized AI company. Irrespective of the clarification of these strategic questions, it is important to create a suitable hybrid infrastructure for the use of agents.
gridscale Analyst Whitepaper
The gridscale Analyst Whitepaper “The AI agents are coming! How the automation of knowledge work is changing the enterprise software and services industry” is available for download free of charge.
This is what you can expect in our white paper:
- Practical examples and future prospects: how AI agents are already being used successfully in various industries.
- Development boost from AI agents: how AI-supported assistance services are being replaced by autonomous agents that independently implement tasks in HR, IT or engineering
- Market potential of 4.6 trillion dollars: Growth opportunities arising from the automation of knowledge-based services
- Challenges and opportunities: which players are positioning themselves in this growth market and which strategies companies should pursue in order to benefit from this development
- Disillusionment and new hypes: why the initial hype around AI assistance services such as Copilot is dying down and how autonomous agents are seen as the next big wave of AI technology