Agents, demystified
Press coverage of AI agents tends to say they change everything, or that the models will replace your team next quarter. Neither helps you decide whether to fund a pilot.
These are the questions we ask Australian clients when they bring us an agent brief. The answers usually tell you whether you will have a working production system in six months or a graveyard pilot in three.
1. Is this agentic work?
An agent is software that plans, acts, and verifies, often across multiple tools. If a static workflow can do the job, build a workflow.
2. What's the human-in-the-loop model?
Agent systems that hold up in production are designed around the human escalation path from day one. Where does the agent pause for approval? What information does the reviewer need? How does the system learn from those decisions?
3. Where will it run, and who owns it?
Australian businesses have data residency, privacy, and increasingly regulatory considerations around AI. We design every agent system with these answered up front, not patched in after a security review.
4. How will you know it's working?
Without an evaluation harness, you can't safely upgrade your model, change your prompts, or measure quality drift. Put money into evals before you put money into scale.
Where to start
We typically recommend a focused 4–6 week proof-of-value engagement: one workflow, one team, measurable outcomes. Talk to us if that's where you are.
