Agentic AI: The Business Revolution You Need to Know About
If you’re running a small business in 2025, you’ve likely experimented with AI tools like ChatGPT or automated email responses. But here’s what most business owners don’t realise: what you’re using now is just the beginning. The next wave of AI—called Agentic AI—is poised to fundamentally change how businesses operate, and it’s arriving faster than you think.
Pascal Bornet, a leading voice in intelligent automation and author of the insightful book on agentic artificial intelligence, describes this shift as moving from AI as a tool to AI as a colleague. It’s the difference between asking AI for advice and having AI take action on your behalf.
What Exactly Is Agentic AI?
Think of traditional AI as incredibly smart software that responds when you ask it questions. You type a prompt, it gives you an answer. You stop there.
Agentic AI goes several steps further. It can:
- Set its own goals based on objectives you give it
- Make decisions without constant human input
- Take actions across multiple systems and platforms
- Learn and adapt from outcomes to improve performance
- Work autonomously over extended periods
In Bornet’s framework, agentic systems act as autonomous agents that can perceive their environment, reason about complex situations, make decisions, and execute tasks—all with minimal human intervention. This isn’t science fiction; it’s happening now in forward-thinking businesses.
The Key Difference: Reactive vs. Proactive
Here’s a practical example that illustrates the leap:
Traditional AI (Reactive):
- You: “Draft a follow-up email to John about the proposal”
- AI: Writes the email
- You: Copy, paste, send manually
- You: Set a reminder to follow up again
Agentic AI (Proactive):
- You: “Manage follow-ups for the Johnson proposal until we get a response”
- AI: Drafts email, sends it from your system, monitors for response, schedules follow-ups, escalates if needed, updates your CRM
- You: Get notified only when a decision is made or your input is required
See the difference? One requires you to drive every step. The other handles the entire workflow.
Why This Matters for Your Business
Bornet emphasises that agentic AI represents a shift from task automation to process automation. This has profound implications:
1. Time Multiplication, Not Just Savings
Traditional automation saves you time on individual tasks. Agentic AI can manage entire workflows—freeing you to focus on strategy, relationships, and growth instead of execution.
2. 24/7 Business Operations
Your agentic AI doesn’t sleep. It can monitor customer inquiries, qualify leads, schedule appointments, and even negotiate with suppliers whilst you’re away from your desk.
3. Expertise Scaling
Can’t afford a full-time marketing manager, sales team, and operations director? Agentic AI can fulfil aspects of these roles, giving your small business the capabilities of a much larger organisation.
4. Adaptive Intelligence
Unlike rigid automation that breaks when conditions change, agentic systems can adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes, and improve over time—much like a human team member would.
Real-World Applications Taking Shape
Whilst many agentic AI applications are still emerging, several are already accessible to small businesses:
Customer Service Agents: AI that doesn’t just answer questions but researches your knowledge base, checks inventory, processes returns, and escalates complex issues—all autonomously.
Sales Development Agents: Systems that research prospects, personalise outreach, schedule meetings, and qualify leads based on conversation outcomes.
Content Agents: AI that doesn’t just write when prompted, but monitors your industry for trends, drafts relevant content, optimises for SEO, and schedules publication across platforms.
Operations Agents: Systems that monitor your business metrics, identify problems, recommend solutions, and in some cases, implement fixes automatically.
The Three Horizons of Agentic AI
Bornet outlines a progression that businesses should understand:
Horizon 1 (Now – 2025): Single-domain agents that handle specific workflows—your AI customer service agent, your AI scheduling assistant, your AI content manager. Each works independently in its area.
Horizon 2 (2025 – 2027): Multi-domain agents that coordinate across functions. Your AI can manage both customer inquiries AND update your project management system AND notify your team—working across previously siloed systems.
Horizon 3 (2027+): Autonomous business units where AI teams work together, make strategic decisions within defined parameters, and require human input only for high-level direction and approval.
Most small businesses should focus on Horizon 1 opportunities now whilst preparing infrastructure for Horizon 2.
What This Means for Your Business Strategy
The businesses that thrive in the next five years won’t necessarily be those with the most AI tools—they’ll be those that successfully deploy agentic AI for competitive advantage.
Here’s what you should consider:
Start with Process, Not Technology: Identify workflows that consume time but don’t require complex human judgement. Customer onboarding, lead follow-up, content distribution, appointment scheduling—these are prime candidates.
Build AI-Ready Systems: Agentic AI works best when your business systems can communicate. Invest in platforms with APIs and integrations. Clean up your data. Document your processes.
Establish Clear Boundaries: Decide where you want autonomous action and where you need human oversight. Create guardrails before deploying agents.
Calculate the Real ROI: Bornet emphasises looking beyond direct cost savings. Consider the value of faster response times, 24/7 availability, and your own time freed for strategic work.
The Competitive Reality
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your competitors are exploring this technology right now. The small business that implements effective agentic AI in 2025 will have a significant advantage over those that wait until 2027.
But there’s also good news: you don’t need to be a technical expert to start. Many agentic AI platforms are designed for business users, not programmers. The barrier to entry is lower than you think.
Getting Started: Three Practical Steps
1. Audit Your Workflows: Spend one week tracking where you and your team spend time. Highlight repetitive, rule-based processes that happen across multiple steps.
2. Start with One Agent: Choose a single, high-impact workflow and implement an agentic solution. Customer inquiry handling or lead qualification are excellent starting points.
3. Measure and Iterate: Track time saved, quality of output, and customer satisfaction. Use these metrics to expand to additional workflows.
The Future Is Agentic
Pascal Bornet’s work on agentic AI reveals a future where small businesses can operate with the efficiency and scale previously reserved for enterprises. The technology exists. The platforms are emerging. The only question is whether you’ll be an early adopter who gains competitive advantage or a late follower playing catch-up.
The businesses that win in the next decade won’t be those that use AI—they’ll be those that successfully deploy AI agents to work alongside their teams, multiplying their capabilities and freeing human talent for what humans do best: create, connect, and innovate.
The agentic revolution isn’t coming—it’s here. The question isn’t whether to adopt this technology, but how quickly you can integrate it into your business model.
Ready to explore how Agentic AI could transform your business operations? We specialise in helping small businesses implement practical AI solutions that deliver real ROI. Book a free consultation to discuss which workflows in your business are ready for autonomous agents.