Agentic AI: four ways it's delivering on business expectations

AI continues to dominate business headlines. From the shaky debut of ChatGPT-5 to splashy enterprise adoption announcements, AI is embedded in every corporate strategy. Yet, behind the headlines, a growing disconnect has surfaced.

According to a recent McKinsey report, 78% of companies use generative AI (GenAI) in at least one business function. However, many also report no significant bottom-line impact, leading business leaders to ask, "If everyone is 'using AI tools,' why aren't we seeing the results?"

The answer is simpler than it may seem. It all boils down to the type of AI these enterprises are deploying. Most GenAI tools generate content but stop short of actually executing on tasks.

Agentic AI, designed to work autonomously, takes things a step further. Instead of just producing drafts, suggestions, or analyses requiring manual follow-through, agentic systems take action.

Here are four primary ways agentic AI can be used to deliver on AI's long-touted business promise.

1. Turn Rising Adoption Into Real ROI

AI adoption is still on the rise, with McKinsey reporting that 92% of companies plan to increase their investments over the next three years; however, enthusiasm does not always translate into tangible results.

Many companies that rolled out GenAI tools report they have not seen a meaningful lift in productivity or revenue. The difference comes down to execution. While a generative model might draft a variance report, the heavy lifting and manual action still falls to analysts.

An agentic system, by contrast, can run the analysis itself, reconcile the numbers across multiple systems, and share the results with decision-makers.

This shift from passive analysis to proactive resolution is where enterprises see reduced cycle times and lower error rates. Agentic AI delivers ROI by turning information and insights directly into action.

For example, if an agent automates reconciliation to save 25% of the time or shortens customer onboarding from two weeks to two days, the value is clear.

Organizations piloting agentic AI report faster reporting cycles, reduced compliance costs, and significant productivity improvements.

Over time, these incremental gains add up to real bottom-line impact, precisely what executives have been promised with GenAI, and what they now demand.

2. From Insights to Execution, With Trust Built In

Much of the early wave of GenAI focused on producing outputs like draft documents, slide decks, or research summaries.

Useful? Yes, but business leaders quickly realized that more content doesn't necessarily mean more progress. Outputs still require people to verify, integrate, and act.

Agentic AI takes a different approach by being outcome-oriented. Instead of spotting anomalies in a dataset, it can launch the workflow to investigate and resolve them.

That might mean detecting pipeline gaps and automatically triggering CRM updates in sales. In HR, it could involve flagging attrition risks and prompting outreach workflows.

Execution alone, though, isn't enough. Trust is also key. Trust remains one of the largest barriers to AI adoption. Thomson Reuters reports that 70% of firms using GenAI lack responsible-use policies, and 72% offer no AI-specific training.

That gap is especially risky in regulated sectors. Agentic AI is being built with transparency at its core, featuring audit logs, role-based access, and data lineage tracking, which show what was done, by whom, and why.

This accountability builds user confidence. Employees are more likely to adopt AI when they can trust how it reached a decision and know that the results meet enterprise standards.

For leaders, it reduces reputational and compliance risk while allowing AI to scale responsibly.

3. Integrate and Consolidate Your Tech Stack

The rush to adopt AI has left many companies with an ecosystem of disconnected tools. A survey of more than 1,000 IT and security professionals found that nearly half (49%) cite overlapping tools as a major challenge, and many report that multiple disjointed tools hinder efficiency and raise costs.

This fragmented system is a major barrier to deriving value from AI investments. Numerous platforms, overlapping features, and inconsistent integrations increase cost and complexity without improving outcomes.

Agentic AI offers an alternative path. Rather than adding another standalone tool, these systems act as connective tissue across existing platforms. A well-built agentic AI can link CRMs, ERP software, HR, and collaboration tools, creating secure connections and writing results without adding fragility.

That means fewer tools to toggle between and less friction for users. For organizations, it consolidates value creation into fewer, more capable systems. The result is less noise and fewer, clearer signals that drive business execution.

4. From One-Time Insights to Continuous Execution

Most AI tools are designed for one-time tasks, such as generating a paragraph, summarizing a document, and writing some code. But enterprise work is a process, not a single task. That’s where agentic AI shines.

These systems aren’t built to wow in a demo. They’re built to run quietly in the background, detecting when an action needs to occur and then triggering the next best course of action without requiring users to log in, confirm, or be prompted.

For example, instead of surfacing a pricing anomaly in a dashboard, agentic AI, in this case through an AI revenue data orchestration process, can automatically flag the issue, alert the procurement lead, and pull in historical benchmarks to justify the change.

If a contract stalls, the system triggers follow-up actions or alerts legal before the deal derails. This ability to keep processes moving makes agentic AI feel more like operational glue than a novelty.

The best part? It’s faster, and most importantly, smarter. In McKinsey’s 2024 State of AI report, top-performing AI adopters were 2.1 times more likely to embed AI into daily workflows compared to their peers.

Agentic systems do precisely that by turning intent into execution. That’s how they deliver business value where traditional generative tools fall short.

Final thoughts

When it comes to the AI conversation, business leaders are noticing a shift in the narrative and what they expect from the technology.

Businesses are less interested in surface appeal and “magic tools” and more focused on results. While GenAI adoption is widespread, the gap between expectation and reality remains wide.

Agentic AI is transforming how companies actually use AI. Instead of adding more noise, it works across workflows, builds in the guardrails businesses need, and ties results to outcomes leaders can measure.

It offloads repetitive, error-prone tasks, allowing finance, operations, and strategy teams to spend more time driving the business forward.

For executives who have witnessed their fair share of overhyped technology cycles come and go, the takeaway is not to settle for AI that stops at surface-level deliverables.

The real value lies in systems that can plug into existing operations, carry tasks through to completion, and deliver results you can measure.

That's where agentic AI is starting to show its value and why it's likely to shape the next wave of enterprise technology.

We've featured the best IT Automation software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro