Agentic AI Is Redrawing the Org Chart for Smarter Businesses

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The business world watched generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) advance in 2024, as it churned out human-like text, code and visuals.

Fast-forward to mid-2025, and something different is happening. A new kind of AI is emerging that doesn’t just create content — it gets work done.

“We now actually think of agents as one of the boxes in our org chart,” i2c CEO and founder Amir Wain told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster.

It’s a statement that captures a shift happening across enterprises. Companies aren’t just implementing AI tools anymore; they’re hiring digital employees.

Wain isn’t talking about fancy chatbots or automated scripts. These are autonomous agents that can carry out complex tasks, make decisions, learn from their mistakes and collaborate with human colleagues. They’re essentially digital workers that never take sick days, don’t need vacation time and can work around the clock.

“We used to talk about Gen AI, and now that feels so … 2024,” Webster said. “Now, we’re talking about agents — not just GenAI. It’s a different conversation, a different set of use cases.”

The shift from asking, “Where can I use AI?” to, “How do I deploy my digital workforce?” represents a basic change in how businesses operate. Wain suggested starting with business objectives first, and then figuring out where these digital employees fit best. For i2c, that meant focusing on efficiency and differentiation.

Consider what happened with customer service at i2c. Wain said that instead of viewing it as a cost center that needed optimization, the company saw it as an opportunity to deploy digital workers. Its autonomous customer service agents now handle 99% of calls without any human intervention, responding in zero seconds and supporting multiple languages simultaneously. These digital employees don’t get frustrated, don’t have bad days and never put customers on hold.

“Maybe not the highest-tech use case, but extremely impactful,” Wain said. “It’s not about being fancy. It’s about being effective.”

However, efficiency is just one part of the story for i2c. The firm also acquired and scaled XIQ, which deploys AI agents as communication specialists. These digital workers analyze how individual customers prefer to receive information. Some people like bullet points while others want detailed explanations. The AI figures this out and automatically adjusts how the company communicates with each person.

Wain said he considers these digital employees as personalization specialists working 24/7 to make every customer interaction more effective. However, managing a digital workforce brings new challenges.

“We’re doing pioneering work,” Wain said. “You won’t find third-party audit frameworks or guidelines for this yet. So, you have to set your own principles.”

i2c developed its own management framework for digital employees, focusing on four key areas. The company ensures its digital workers operate with clean, properly sourced data. It actively monitors for bias and corrects it in real time. It maintains transparency in decision making so every action can be audited and explained. And i2c tracks not just what its digital employees do, but why they do it.

“We’re changing the activity log,” Wain said. “Current logs show data snapshots. We need to log the decision itself — and the reasoning behind it.”

Security becomes particularly complex when managing digital workers, he said. Businesses must ensure their digital workforces are legitimate and secure.

“Just like you fingerprint a device, you fingerprint an agent,” Wain said.

Companies need to monitor their digital employees’ behavior patterns and track their intentions to prevent fraudsters from hijacking the system.

The implications extend beyond internal operations. As digital workers become more prevalent, they’re starting to reshape entire industries. Take online commerce, for example.

When AI agents shop on your behalf, they don’t see advertisements the way humans do. They just look for real value and make purchases based on objective criteria. This means retailers and merchants will need to completely rethink their strategies. Instead of flashy banners and catchy slogans, they’ll need to focus on real-time, intent-driven value offerings that appeal to digital workers making purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, fraud detection systems designed for human behavior patterns will need updates to recognize and prevent new types of risks that digital workers might introduce.

Despite all these technological advances, Wain said the fundamentals haven’t changed.

“Whether it’s done by humans or agents, you still track speed to answer, first-call resolution, satisfaction scores,” he said. “What’s different is how you get there.”

The implication is that companies that understand this shift and begin thinking about agents as legitimate members of their workforce rather than just advanced tools will find themselves with competitive advantages. Among them are operating with greater efficiency, better customer experiences and accelerated operational capabilities.

The digital workforce revolution isn’t coming — it’s already here, Wain said. The question is whether companies embrace these new digital employees as integral parts of the organizational chart or continue thinking of AI as just another technology to implement. AI agents aren’t here to reinvent business entirely. They’re here to help companies achieve their existing goals faster, cheaper and more effectively.

“The most successful approach starts with changing your mindset,” Wain said. “Stop asking where you can use AI, and start asking how your digital workforce can help you achieve your business objectives.”

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