Should your business be using AI agents?
Introduction
You’re probably spending over 20 hours a week carrying out monotonous tasks like responding to emails and entering data into various systems. We all wish we could spend that time on important strategic work that could grow our businesses without being burdened with tedious labor that clogs up our daily calendars.
Through our interviews with $20–100 million ARR businesses, we reached the same conclusion as a 2023 study by techradar.com which found that we spend “as much as half [our] day (3–4 hours) doing non-productive work or manual tasks that could be automated”. If drafting and responding to emails or manually entering data into a spreadsheet / CRM / ERP wasn’t your childhood dream, you’re certainly not alone. Even though they are crucial, these tasks steal your team’s peak productivity hours while preventing them from focusing on strategic, high-value work. Our customer discovery sessions revealed a common pain point:
It is extremely difficult to automate high-impact tasks which require significant human input. This is because they rely on unstructured data like PDFs, Excel Sheets, handwritten documents, images, or contracts.
For the first time, technology has enabled a one-size-fits-all solution that can work for your business off-the-shelf: AI Agents.
We break down AI agents in detail here for those interested, otherwise here’s a brief description: AI agents are programs that automate tasks that involve data interpretation, tool use, and human approval by leveraging large language models (LLMs), machine learning algorithms, and guidance frameworks to complete domain-specific workflows. These agents can be integrated into your daily routine simply by sending them an email in plain language assigning the work.
Where can you use AI agents in your business?
Let’s dive into some real-world examples where AI agents can significantly impact your business operations. Consider tasks like bank reconciliations or invoicing. While essential for maintaining financial accuracy, they can be time-consuming and costly. As mentioned, they can take up to 20–30 hours per week of your team’s time or even require a dedicated full-time employee. By automating these processes with AI agents, you save hundreds of hours annually and can redirect your employees’ efforts towards more strategic and value-adding activities, such as improving customer relationships, optimizing operational processes, or developing new products and services.
With an AI agent, you simply connect it to your email and ERP software, assign the task, and let the agent do the rest. The agent will read the invoices, extract the relevant information, and input it into your ERP system — all without any manual intervention.
AI agents help streamline critical tasks that span multiple areas of your business and demand substantial due diligence to prevent errors. This can include preparing financial reports for investors or analyzing large datasets to identify market trends. Each of these requires significant time investments from senior executives, easily consuming over 40–50 hours per month. This diverts their focus away from strategic decision-making and leadership responsibilities such as setting long-term goals, fostering a positive company culture, or mentoring and developing team members.
By leveraging AI agents through a simple task assignment interface, you can automate data collection, analysis, and reporting. Agents enable team members to make informed decisions faster than ever before. This not only reduces the risk of human error but also allows your leadership to allocate their time more effectively, focusing on initiatives that directly contribute to the success and growth of your organization.
Before you carry on…
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What is the hidden cost of manual repetitive tasks?
It’s not just about the time and resources consumed by these manual tasks — it’s also about the opportunity cost. Every hour not spent on devising and executing strategic plans is lost revenue. This was demonstrated in a study by spaexecutive.com which showed that manual tasks could be costing your business up to 25% of your revenue. By automating these tasks with AI agents, you’re unlocking your team’s potential and positioning your business for growth.
When implementing AI agents, it’s essential to consider data security and the quality of work produced. A reliable AI platform should prioritize secure connections between AI agents and your internal tools, ensuring that your sensitive data remains protected, especially if you work in regulated environments like Finance and Healthcare. LLM API providers must also facilitate your data locality requirements, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards. The platform should implement proper data storage and processing protocols to maintain data integrity and confidentiality. As a business, you must confirm these requirements are met before you trust an application with your sensitive data.
Businesses that perform repetitive, manual tasks involving unstructured data and requiring a lot of human effort will benefit most from AI agents. As your business grows, communication and alignment become increasingly complex, making it challenging to maintain cross-team collaboration and consistency across work output. AI agents can mitigate those pain points across the board by being able to access the necessary data constantly and scaling instantly according to the tempo of your business. This ensures that your processes will maintain the same level of output as your operations expand and evolve, allowing your teams to focus on their most important objectives such as improving customer satisfaction, optimizing supply chain management, or developing new products or services tailored to your target market.
Is now the right time to adopt AI Agents?
The adoption of AI agents is rapidly accelerating, with businesses across industries recognizing their transformative potential. According to a recent survey by McKinsey, 50% of companies have already adopted AI in at least one business function, and this number is expected to grow to 80% by 2025. As the technology matures and becomes more accessible, the barriers to entry are falling away, making it easier and more cost-effective for businesses to implement customizable generative AI solutions.
One of the key drivers behind this increased accessibility is the reduction in costs associated with developing and deploying AI agents. As more players enter the market and competition increases, businesses can now access powerful AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost compared to just a few months ago. The prices of these services will only trend downward as LLMs become increasingly commoditized.
Today, even smaller companies with limited budgets can now harness the power of AI to automate tasks, create easily customizable workflows that suit the firm’s needs, and gain a competitive edge.
Moreover, the level of customization and flexibility offered by modern AI platforms allows businesses to tailor AI agents to their specific use cases and workflows. Whether you need an AI agent to assist with customer support, data analysis, or content creation, you can now configure and deploy these agents to seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and processes. This level of adaptability ensures that AI agents can deliver maximum value to your business without requiring significant changes to your current operations.
As the barriers to entry continue to fall and more businesses adopt generative AI solutions, those who fail to keep pace risk being left behind. By embracing AI agents now, you can position your company at the front of this technological revolution and become one of the first adopters to reap the benefits of this technology, a technological shift that is easily on par with the mass adoption of the internet itself in the early days.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the rise of AI agents represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of business technology. As we’ve seen, the challenges faced by enterprises across industries — from time-consuming manual tasks to the increasing complexity of operations — can be effectively addressed by the strategic implementation of AI agents. The barriers to entry are lower than ever, and the potential benefits are vast.
However, it’s crucial to recognize that this window of opportunity won’t remain open indefinitely. As more and more businesses adopt AI agents and integrate them into their workflows, those who hesitate risk falling behind in an increasingly competitive landscape. The time to act is now.
By understanding the current capabilities and future potential of AI agents, you can make informed decisions about how to leverage this technology to solve your specific pain points and position your business for long-term success. Whether you’re looking to automate repetitive tasks, streamline complex processes, or gain deeper insights from your data, AI agents offer a powerful solution.
So, if you’re ready to take your business to the next level and stay ahead of the curve in the AI-driven future, now is the time to explore how AI agents can transform your operations. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by — the future of your business depends on it. As always, if you’ve enjoyed reading this, signing up to the waitlist on our website is the best way to stay up to date for content like this: https://solitude.ai
Sources
- https://www.techradar.com/pro/workers-are-wasting-hours-every-day-on-menial-it-tasks
- https://spaexecutive.com/2023/10/06/the-business-cost-of-manual-processes-may-be-25-of-your-revenue/
- https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai-in-2023-generative-AIs-breakout-year
