AI agents in business: beyond the chatbot
AI agents are not limited to chatbots. They can automate entire business processes, from monitoring to decision-making.
When artificial intelligence in business comes up, most people picture a chatbot: a conversation window that answers questions. AI agents go much further than that.
Chatbot vs. AI agent: what is the difference?
A chatbot waits for a question and provides an answer. It is reactive, and limited to a text exchange.
An AI agent is an autonomous programme capable of chaining several actions together to reach a goal. It queries databases, calls external services, makes intermediate decisions and produces a result without a human stepping in at every stage.
The fundamental difference: a chatbot answers, an agent acts.
Five practical use cases
1. Automated document processing
An agent receives invoices by email, extracts the key information using OCR (optical character recognition), matches them against purchase orders in the ERP (enterprise resource planning software) and flags any discrepancies.
2. Intelligent monitoring and alerts
An agent continuously monitors business indicators (stock levels, cash position, supplier lead times) and raises qualified alerts when a threshold is crossed, along with the context needed to make a decision.
3. Report generation
Rather than compiling data manually from several sources, an agent queries your tools, summarises the information and produces a formatted report every week.
4. Workflow automation
An agent orchestrates a complete process: a customer request comes in, availability is checked, a quote is generated and sent for approval. Each step follows on from the last according to defined rules.
5. Decision support
By combining internal data (sales, margins) with external data (sector trends), an agent produces reasoned recommendations to inform a strategic decision.
What makes this possible today
- LLMs (large language models, such as GPT or Mistral) understand instructions in plain language, with no complex programming required.
- APIs (the connection points between software applications) let agents interact with your existing tools.
- Costs have fallen: running an AI agent costs a few tens of euros per month, not thousands.
In summary
AI agents do not replace your teams: they take on the repetitive tasks so that your people can concentrate on the work that requires judgement and expertise.