The Human-AI Loop #9

How agentic AI is empowering leaders to drive innovation, optimize operations, and unlock new growth opportunities in 2025.

🌍 AI News & Trends

Agentic AI is accelerating the evolution of business strategy, workforce planning, and operational efficiency. Here’s what’s making headlines this month:

🔹 Agentic AI Investment Trends – According to Gartner, 19% of organisations have made major investments in agentic AI, while 42% have made smaller investments. However, Gartner warns that over 40% of agentic AI projects may be scrapped by 2027 due to high costs, unclear benefits, and risk controls. The firm predicts that by 2028, 15% of daily work decisions will be made autonomously by AI agents, and 33% of enterprise software will include agentic features. [Source]
🔹 Agentic AI Becomes a Top Strategic Trend – Gartner and IBM both forecast that agentic AI will be the number one tech trend for 2025, with 82% of companies planning to adopt AI agents in the next 1-3 years. [Source]
🔹 AI Agents Redefine Customer Experience – Businesses are using agentic AI to deliver hyper-personalised experiences and empower teams to focus on complex challenges, resulting in happier customers and leaner operations. [Source]

🔥 Trending Now: Sales Automation with Agentic AI

Agentic AI is making waves in sales automation, helping organisations drive revenue growth and streamline sales operations:

🔹 AI Agents in Sales – AI agents are now autonomously qualifying leads, scheduling demos, and personalising outreach, leading to faster sales cycles and higher conversion rates. [Source]
🔹 Seamless CRM Integration – New agentic AI tools are integrating directly with Salesforce and HubSpot, automating lead scoring, follow-ups, and reporting for end-to-end sales efficiency. [Source]
🔹 Human-AI Collaboration – The rise of new roles such as AI workflow designers and prompt engineers is enabling organisations to maximise the impact of agentic AI in sales and marketing. [Source]

💡 Tools like SalesLink take this a step further, combining agentic AI with smart outreach automation, sender reputation protection, and real-time prospect tracking to help you close faster, at scale.

🏆 AI in Action: Success Stories from SMEs

📌 Company: Bank of America
📌 Industry: Financial Services
📌 Challenge: Managing millions of customer support requests and transaction processing at scale.
📌 Solution: Deployed “Erica,” an agentic AI-powered virtual assistant, to autonomously handle financial queries, detect fraud, and execute transactions via voice and text.
📌 Results: Over 1 billion interactions completed, 17% decrease in call centre load, improved customer experience, and increased digital engagement.
🔗 Read More: [Source]

📖 How-To: Implementing Agentic AI for Business Strategy

1️⃣ Pinpoint Strategic Decision Points
📌 Business Function: Corporate Strategy
📌 Key Challenge: Navigating market volatility and data overload
📌 Expected Outcome: Real-time scenario modelling and risk mitigation
Source

2️⃣ Integrate Agentic AI Across Data Sources
📌 Connect agentic AI to ERP, CRM, and market intelligence platforms for holistic decision support
📌 Invest in robust data governance and integration tools
Source

3️⃣ Select the Right Agentic AI Platforms
📌 Evaluate solutions for scenario planning, predictive analytics, and strategy automation
📌 Top Solutions: Salesforce Agentforce, Ciklum AI, AutomationEdge
Source

4️⃣ Upskill Leadership and Teams
📌 Training Method: Executive workshops, online certifications, and simulation exercises
📌 Key Skills: Data-driven decision-making, AI ethics, prompt engineering
📌 Adoption Strategy: Start with pilot projects in strategic planning and expand to other functions
Source

5️⃣ Monitor, Optimise & Scale
📌 Performance Review: Track KPIs such as speed of decision-making, forecast accuracy, and business outcomes
📌 Expansion Plan: Extend agentic AI to M&A analysis, risk management, and innovation pipelines
📌 Challenges: Data quality, change management, and regulatory compliance
Source

🔗 Recommended Tools:

• Salesforce Agentforce (AI-driven business planning and workforce management)

• Ciklum AI (Strategic scenario modeling)

• AutomationEdge (Agentic AI for operations and compliance)

⚠️ Challenges & Solutions in Agentic AI Adoption

📌 Challenge 1: Data Silos and Integration Complexity
🔹 Solution: Invest in unified data platforms and APIs to enable holistic, cross-functional insights.
📌 Example Use Case: Enterprises integrating agentic AI with ERP and CRM for seamless strategic planning.
Source

📌 Challenge 2: Leadership Buy-in and Change Management
🔹 Solution: Demonstrate early wins with pilot projects, prioritise transparency, and provide executive training on AI’s value.
📌 SME-Friendly Strategy: Start with scenario modelling for one business unit before scaling. Source

📌 Challenge 3: Ethics, Governance, and Compliance
🔹 Solution: Establish clear governance frameworks, ensure transparency, and regularly audit AI-driven decisions.
📌 Training & Support: Offer workshops on responsible AI use and compliance. Source

💰 Agentic AI Funding & Grants for SMEs

💡 Government Grants: The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs initiative is supporting workforce AI reskilling programs globally, with grants for SMEs and EdTech providers. [Source]
💡 VC & Startup Investments: Y Combinator’s Spring 2025 batch invested $500,000 each in 70 agentic AI startups, many focused on business strategy and automation. [Source]
💡 Affordable Solutions: Salesforce Agentforce and AutomationEdge now offer subscription-based agentic AI modules for SMEs and individuals. [Source]

🔍 Quick Insights & Best Practices

✅ Use agentic AI for real-time scenario planning and risk assessment
✅ Integrate AI with all business data sources for holistic strategic insights
✅ Track KPIs, decision speed, forecast accuracy, and ROI to measure strategic impact

🚀 Take Next Step

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📝 Editor: Pravin Luthada
📅 Published: July 1, 2025
📢 Next Issue: Agentic AI for Product Innovation – July 21, 2025
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