AI is everywhere. Also, the term Agentic AI is popping up more and more in strategy sessions, at conferences, or during coffee conversations with colleagues. Everyone seems to be working on it. But suppose you yourself want to improve or automate a process; what can you do with Agentic AI today? Where do you start? And how do you know if it’s working?

In this blog, we’ll take you through practical applications, smart choices and our take on how to successfully get started with Agentic AI.

 

AI Agent vs. Agentic AI

The terms sound similar, but the difference in functionality and impact is significant. Understanding exactly where that difference lies is crucial before getting started with this technology.

AI agent

An AI agent is a digital assistant that responds to a direct command. Think of a chatbot that retrieves your leave balance or creates a new customer in your CRM system. Efficient, but always dependent on your instruction: one task, one response.

Agentic AI

Agentic AI goes a step further. It is an autonomous, goal-oriented agent that does not give you an isolated task, but an end goal. Within preset boundaries, the agent itself determines the intermediate steps to reach that goal; from gathering information to controlling systems and making decisions.

 

Agentic AI in practice

Although the concept of Agentic AI is still relatively new, powerful applications are already possible today. Below we share three use cases we encounter in practice at Ciphix.

1. Smart email handling through a multi-agent architecture

Many organizations struggle with overflowing mailboxes, especially in HR, finance or customer teams. With Agentic AI, you can automate some of this. For example:

• A customer sends a long e-mail with multiple questions.
• One agent analyzes the email thread and filters out the current query.
• A second agent links this query to the appropriate process.
• Handling is initiated automatically, or – if necessary – forwarded to the appropriate colleague.

By having multiple agents working together within a single orchestration, you can structure and speed up even complex communications.

 

2. Automate document processing (IDP/IXP).

Think incoming invoices, contracts or applications. Instead of an employee manually reading and processing them, an Agentic AI:

• Recognizing the correct information in the document
• Compare this with internal rules or contract data
• And automatically process the information in your system

Again, if something is wrong, it is automatically passed on to a human. This way you maintain control, but save on repetitive work.

 

3. Streamline repetitive processes.

Many internal processes consist of set steps. Such as:

• Onboarding new colleagues
• Processing claims
• Starting a quotation process

By modeling these processes in a clear flow (for example, in BPMN), you can link agents to the right steps. So you don’t have to wait for one “super agent” that can do everything; you deploy multiple, smaller agents that work together within a clear flow.

 

The power of starting small

One of the biggest pitfalls in AI implementations? Wanting to start too big. Building an all-encompassing agent that understands and executes every process sounds appealing, but is rarely effective. You lose grip, testing becomes complicated and the chance of errors increases. That’s why at Ciphix we work from a different principle:

• Start small.
• Clear goals.
• Agents with a defined task.

By designing agents as you would assemble a team – each with its own role – you keep the system scalable and understandable.

 

How do you build trust in Agentic AI?

At Ciphix, this starts with human supervision. In the first phase, an employee validates the output of the agent, we collect insights about what works well (and what doesn’t), and we improve the agent based on real data. This way you build step by step a reliable solution with support in your team.

In doing so, you benefit from our years of experience in business process orchestration. We use proprietary tooling to visually model processes and combine AI, RPA and integrations into one smart, scalable approach.

 

Agentic AI is not a buzzword, but an opportunity

The technology is there. The tools are there. And the first implementations are already running. The only question is: What is your first step?

At Ciphix, we help you take that step small, smart and safe, with concrete results from day one. Wondering where your organization can make a difference? Schedule a conversation!