A majority of organizations aiming to adopt agentic AI within three years face significant operational challenges, according to a report by technologyreview.com. While 85% of companies express intent to integrate AI agents, 76% acknowledge that their current infrastructure and workflows are not prepared for this transition.
The report highlights that many organizations are attempting to layer AI agents onto existing human-centric operating models rather than redesigning workflows to fully leverage AI capabilities. Prasun Shah, global CTO for workforce consulting and chief AI officer at PwC UK Consulting, explains that this approach is akin to applying "sticky tape" to a failing system. This misalignment may hinder organizations from realizing the full potential of agentic AI, which can independently execute complex workflows, make decisions, and adapt to changing conditions.
Agentic AI has demonstrated the ability to accelerate business processes by 30% to 50% and reduce low-value work time by 25% to 40% in sectors such as customer service, human resources, and sales when deployed at scale. The gap between ambition and readiness underscores the need for companies to rethink organizational design and workflows to unlock these efficiency gains.
Looking ahead, organizations will need to invest in reimagining their operations to support agentic AI effectively. This involves redesigning processes and upskilling personnel to work alongside AI agents, rather than merely adding AI tools to existing structures. The coming years will be critical for companies to bridge this readiness gap to fully benefit from agentic AI’s capabilities, technologyreview.com notes.