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If an organization’s people are its most valuable asset, then the data that it owns may be its second most valuable asset. How a company observes, interprets, and applies data about its customers and its user journeys can be the major differentiator between market leaders and their competitors.
But collecting, analyzing, and reporting that data can be an excruciating process. Most executives are used to waiting days or weeks for business analysts to gather, synthesize, and present reports on the organization’s most critical information.
Fortunately, all this is changing — thanks in large part to new Artificial Intelligence tools.
My entire career has been spent in the field of enterprise Information Retrieval. With each successive paradigm shift — from CD-ROMs to cloud computing — we’ve experienced the promise of faster, more targeted access to accurate information. Even so, it’s been a constant struggle to just understand what’s hidden inside volumes of information, especially when we’re also trying to align disparate sources, track the provenance, and enrich first-party data with licensed third-party content. Over time, we’ve addressed this by trying to shoehorn the data itself into catalogs, repositories, lakes, and oceans that we can more easily search.
New AI tools are flipping the script on this challenge. Rather than forcing everything into a “data lake,” new “Agentic Technology” — small, specialized AI “agents” that understand specific kinds of information — can interact directly with data wherever it exists, respecting governance rules and acting as virtual Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). For example, one agent might focus on summarizing HR policies, while others might specialize in understanding sales forecasts or interpreting financial reports.
Sitting above these agents is a “super agent” that functions as the conductor of the AI orchestra, bringing together insights from individual agents to answer complex questions from users — often in a matter of seconds. Fittingly, an additional AI agent can then evaluate the super agent’s responses, optimizing them for accuracy and efficiency.
Once an organization has implemented this kind of AI-driven data infrastructure, it can put these tools in the hands of its most valuable assets: its people and teams. Instead of worrying that AI is about to replace them, these users instead can put these tools to work for them.
This requires some skills development. After all, writing basic prompts is easy, but undertaking sophisticated prompt engineering in a way that generates business value for the organization is far more nuanced. Investing in this talent is the key for organizations to properly leverage and act on its proprietary data.
This upskilling has an upside for both the organization and the employees alike. Employers benefit from greater success and productivity, and employees can enhance their careers and job security. In the words of Harvard’s Karim Lakhani, “AI is not going to replace humans, but humans with AI are going to replace humans without AI.”
With localized AI agents performing the behind-the-scenes grunt work of seeking, analyzing, and understanding data, executives can engage in real-time conversations with their data. Gone are the days of spending days or even weeks searching for the right person to address a question, waiting to set up a meeting, and then enduring extra delays to perform research and present answers. Instead, executives can get the information they need precisely when they need them.
With AI now available to enterprise organizations, this technology will see widespread implementation over the next few years. The organizations that are prepared to embrace it will be well-positioned to move quickly, building products and experiences based on real user journeys. Those that neglect it, on the other hand, will essentially be flying blind.
Data has always been a powerful asset, but harnessing its true potential requires more than just collection and storage—it requires intelligent tools and skilled teams. Agentic Technology offers a way to make data accessible and actionable quickly and with minimal fuss, enabling executives to make informed decisions quickly and confidently. As AI-driven data solutions evolve, the companies that invest in both technology and talent will find themselves leading the way in a rapidly changing business landscape.
Erik Schwartz is the Chief AI Officer at Tricon Infotech. Find him on LinkedIn or at [email protected].
