Artificial intelligence agents are poised to revolutionize business operations in the coming years. While many organizations are planning to integrate AI agents within the next three years, a significant portion anticipate longer-term implementation for more complex tasks. This shift towards AI-driven business processes reflects the growing importance of automation and data-driven decision-making in the corporate world. Near-term focus on modernization and quality assurance By 2025, businesses are prioritizing the upgrade and modernization of functions and integrations, with ** percent of organizations planning to implement these changes within the next three years. Quality assurance of digital functions and systems is also a key near-term objective, with ** percent of companies focusing on this area. These initiatives indicate a strong emphasis on laying the groundwork for more advanced AI integration in the future. Long-term vision for comprehensive AI integration Looking beyond the immediate future, organizations have ambitious plans for AI agent integration. Many businesses expect to implement workflow automations that span across the organization and access functions from third-party systems within **** or more years. This long-term outlook aligns with executive beliefs that the general public will be using AI agents more than websites or apps from 2031 onwards, with most anticipating this shift to occur from 2036 and later. As research in agentic systems continues to grow exponentially, businesses are preparing for a future where AI agents play a central role in their operations.

Generative AI adoption has surged across industries, with the technology sector leading the charge at an impressive ** percent usage rate across functions in 2024. This rapid integration of AI technologies is reshaping business operations, particularly in marketing and sales, where AI has found widespread application as a creative assistance tool. However, this swift adoption has not come without challenges, as concerns about regulatory compliance have grown in tandem with the increased usage. Varied adoption rates across sectors While the technology industry stands at the forefront of generative AI adoption, other sectors are not far behind. Professional services, advanced industries, and media and telecom all report adoption rates of around ** percent across functions. Interestingly, in the tech, media, and telecom industry, IT departments lead in generative AI application usage at ** percent, followed by product development at ** percent. This trend differs in the energy, resource, and industrial sector, where operations take the lead at ** percent, with IT following at ** percent. Evolving landscape of AI implementation As organizations increasingly integrate generative AI, the landscape of implementation is evolving. Automation and agentic AI have emerged as the most intriguing technological developments for organizations in 2024. This shift is accompanied by a notable increase in technical skills related to AI, indicating broader usage. However, the rise in regulatory concerns suggests that governments and authorities are stepping up their oversight of the industry. This dual trend of increased adoption and heightened regulatory scrutiny underscores the complex environment in which AI technologies are being deployed and developed.