In the race to deploy AI agents, enterprises are hitting a hard wall of reality: unleashing AI into the business without structure is like hiring brilliant but untrained talent and expecting magic. We know AI has amazing potential to transform our business, but only if we can find the ingredient that transforms potential into performance.
That missing catalyst? Workflows.
Agent workflows: a match made for enterprise transformation
Think of workflows as your business's backbone – the invisible force that's been powering your enterprise operations, growth, and success for decades. Now imagine supercharging these trusted pathways with AI's reasoning power. This isn't incremental improvement, it's the launchpad for genuine transformation.
AI agents are amazing. And they will transform the way we work. But enterprise leaders still have some nagging questions: How do I audit them? How do I make sure they operate ensure predictably? How do I test them at scale?
It’s hard to answer these questions if your only tool for defining and managing agents is text-based prompts. As Alan Trefler explains it in this article: a "prompt-centric approach creates fundamental challenges to implementing agents that enterprises must consider."
Great news, though, we have the answer: Agentic workflows.
Enter agentic workflows
Workflows are the structured, repeatable sequences that drive specific business outcomes. They're your organization's neural pathways – ensuring consistency, compliance, and breakthrough efficiency and effectiveness at scale. If your business sells “services” like banking, telecommunications, or insurance, workflows lie at the very core of your products. They are your competitive advantage.
When combined with the power of AI systems, workflows provide the disciplined framework both humans and AI need to thrive. Workflows offer structure and repeatability. They’re like the chord changes in a song. Musicians may improvise around them, but they keep all the instruments working together and ensure everyone is moving in the same direction.
Making workflows "agentic"
Let's be clear – an AI agent isn't just another chatbot. While chatbots merely respond to queries with pre-programmed answers, agentic AI takes decisive action. It makes judgment calls, navigates complex systems, and accomplishes meaningful tasks with genuine autonomy.
One way of thinking about agents is that they design, execute, and optimize the workflows in your business. Here’s how Pega’s CTO, Don Schuerman, explains what makes an AI agent valuable: "First, it must automate tasks effectively – reducing manual effort while maintaining accuracy. But more importantly, if an established best practice or workflow exists, the agent should consistently follow it rather than rely on notoriously unpredictable Large Language Models to figure out on their own what to do."
The power of agents. The predictability of workflows.
Picture giving a new employee complete system access without training or guidelines. Even with the best of intentions, a lot of bumbling around, mistakes, and wasted time would ensue. The same applies to AI agents. Without workflow discipline:
- Governance becomes impossible. How do you ensure AI actions align with critical policies and regulatory requirements?
- Results become perilously unpredictable. Will your AI deliver consistent outcomes given identical inputs? Without workflows, you're gambling.
- Scale remains a fantasy. One-off AI solutions create more fragmentation instead of enterprise-wide transformation.
- Trust evaporates instantly. When AI actions can't be explained or traced to established processes, both employees and customers head for the exits.
What we hear from enterprise decision-makers makes this clear: 82% of them agree that customer, organizational, and regulatory demands will require AI to operate in reliable, repeatable, explainable, auditable environments.
Agentic workflows: where intelligence meets structure
When workflows and AI agents unite, business transformation ignites. This isn't about incremental efficiency gains in siloed pockets; it's about fundamentally reimagining how work flows and gets to done, done as never before everywhere across the enterprise.
Leon Trefler emphasizes this distinction in this post: "What truly sets our approach apart is the deliberate fusion of AI reasoning with workflow discipline. Unlike prompt-centric competitors who expose enterprises to unpredictable outcomes and unmanageable risks, our workflow-first methodology provides a governance framework that simply doesn't exist elsewhere in the market."
With agentic workflows, AI transcends basic task execution to deliver transformative experiences:
- They become digital guardians, proactively rerouting operations the moment disruptions appear – not after the damage devastates your business.
- They transform customer experiences, autonomously resolving requests and turning frustrating wait times into "it's already done" moments of delight.
- They revolutionize operational efficiency, identifying and eliminating process bottlenecks that others have accepted as "business as usual."
- They accelerate innovation, analyzing requirements and designing breakthrough processes at speeds that keep pace with your most ambitious strategic goals.
The path forward: building agentic workflows
Ready to harness this powerful combination? The strategic roadmap is clear:
- Leverage the power of AI reasoning to design your workflows. Agentic reasoning can help us find new and better ways of working. Pega Blueprint™ puts this power at your fingertips. You can design a better workflow in minutes – faster than a prompt engineer could refine a prompt.
- Transform trusted workflows into intelligent agents. Instead of trying to finesse unpredictably prompts, anchor your AI in proven workflows that consistently deliver. With workflows as your foundation, you build inherently governed, secure, and transparent experiences. (And did we mention that with Pega Blueprint, you can build a new workflow in just minutes…)
- Leverage the power of agent automation at every step. Connect work to the right agents and then connect those agents to the right people and systems.
Automate reading that document. Have an agent do your research for you. Draft an email to customer. But do it in the context of a seamless – and governed – flow that drives transformative outcomes.
The winners and losers in the agentic AI race
The enterprise AI landscape is rapidly dividing into two distinct camps. Winners will leverage agentic AI as a strategic force multiplier, unlocking unprecedented levels of automation, productivity, and customer experience without compromising on enterprise standards. Their competitive advantage is built on proven workflows with reliability, governance, and continuous self-improvement embedded at the core.
The hesitators? They'll be left behind, paralyzed by caution and indecision. Some will deploy impressive-sounding AI conversationalists that ultimately deliver zero practical value. Others will implement disconnected AI agents that operate in isolation from the systems, people, and processes necessary for meaningful business impact.
The choice is clear: When your workflows power your agents, your business doesn't just operate – it flows. When agents and workflows unite, your enterprise evolves from manual to mind-blowing, unlocking unprecedented levels of automation with the governance and predictability your business demands.
Experience the difference
The Era of Agentic Workflows arrives June 1 at PegaWorld – where you don't just imagine the possibilities, you experience them.
Discover how Pega builds agentic AI into every workflow to accelerate your autonomous enterprise transformation journey. Visit Pega's agentic workflows point of view page to learn more.
And test drive Pega Agent Experience™ for your workflows to see firsthand how Pega Blueprint™ turns your trusted processes into intelligent agent workflows that deliver end-to-end results.
This post was written in partnership with Intern Iris, Pega’s highly collaborative generative AI assistant.