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I’ll do that for you: the rise of AI Agents
Here's why composable architecture is essential for companies to stay competitive in an AI-driven future.
- Article
- 3 MIN READ
- Feb 21, 2025
-
Brian BrowningVice President, Enterprise Solutions
Summary
Imagine never having to book an oil change appointment again, make dinner reservations at your favourite restaurant, or get tickets to your favourite concert or Broadway show. All of the enjoyment without any of the hassle of researching, calling, comparing prices and schedules. That could soon become reality, thanks to the rise of AI agents, or bots that know you as well as you know yourself and are capable of making the choices you’d make as you conduct your daily activities.
AI Bots: the opportunity
“Bots” is a shorthand term for robots, but not the kind you may be thinking of. Instead of physical robots working in warehouses, AI bots are programmed software tools that automate business processes and work to allow organizations to become more efficient in handling what would otherwise be boring, manually-driven IT tasks. In fact, bots make up almost half of all Internet traffic today
But bots have started to grow out of purely IT-focused use cases and are increasingly being positioned as tools that can help automate our own lives. With the infusion of AI technology, bots become much smarter and capable of mimicking human decisions. That sets the stage for them to become truly useful parts of our lives — especially when it comes to mundane tasks that contribute to the drudgery of life.
Emotional versus logical buying patterns
When we think about the process of buying, it’s helpful to remember that humans buy different things in very different ways. For example, many people don’t exhaustively research the cost of a product or service for commodity items; instead, they tend to evaluate not just on price, but if it is more convenient to acquire for them. Others deeply enjoy the process of researching, comparing notes, asking friends and family, discussing with others in forums, etc, before they make a purchasing selection.
Still others are almost irrational in their purchasing decisions—for example, my wife still doesn’t understand why I had to have the most expensive Eddie Van Halen guitar available. This ultimately comes down to how emotionally invested we are in the purchasing process. The Eddie Van Halen guitar purchase is an objectively emotional purchase because it is fueled by nostalgia and boyhood dreams of being a rock star.
Unemotional purchasing is where AI Agents begin
But for non-emotional purchases, logic tends to drive the process and that’s where AI Agents are poised to make the most impact, at least initially. That’s not to say that AI agents are to only consider price when making a purchasing decision. In fact, AI agents will utilize a strong understanding of your individual preferences when making decisions.
AI agents need to know these preferences so that they are able to act the way you would in any number of situations. Building a user profile requires access to a tremendous amount of information - everything from your work schedule to what kind of car you own to your personal finances. While 63% of consumers in a 2024 survey expressed personal privacy concerns around the use of generative AI, if the information needed can be handled in a secure, trusted fashion, then the AI bot can actually start to interact with the external world on your behalf.
For example, if you need to schedule an oil change, you likely care about the price, but you also care that it can be done quickly, the appointment timing works with your schedule and doesn’t impose undue burdens on you.
If you outsource this chore to an AI agent, it will identify your car’s location, identify oil change companies within 5 miles of that location, poll the oil change companies and share your needs (including services required, year, make and model of your vehicle) with them. The AI agent will evaluate the offers from each oil change company and then book an appointment at a time that works for your schedule and location. All of the hassles, automated away so that you simply ask the AI agent for an oil change, and it replies, “No problem; I’ve booked an appointment at Oil Change Express for Tuesday during your lunch break and was able to get a new customer discount for a total price of $19.99”.
AI Agents can assist with emotional purchases, too
So far, we’ve focused on non-emotional purchases, but that’s not to suggest that AI Agents don’t have a role to play in emotionally driven purchases. For example, I likely would never ask an AI Agent to fully plan a vacation for my family and me, but I very well may ask an AI agent to compile a shortlist of destinations that I may want to consider.
That AI Agent can do a lot more than just share a list of beach destinations, though. It could use my loyalty status with Marriott to prioritize beach locations that earn me additional points or locations where I could use my points to save costs. The agent may also recommend specific airlines and deals that I should consider, again taking into consideration my preferences to avoid connections and maximize my loyalty benefits with a given airline.
Discoverability of products and services
This brings up an important question for business owners: are your products and services discoverable to an automated bot working on behalf of a customer? Today, most organizations have call centers, websites, or mobile applications to ensure that customers can become aware of the company’s products and services. Importantly, these same channels mostly allow for transactions to be conducted — the same website used to provide product information also allows the customer to purchase the product, too.
Ensuring that these channels can accommodate AI agents will become the next major focus for businesses. Just like when websites were invented, companies that see the value and are quick to act will have a first-mover advantage. These generational opportunities come along very infrequently and represent a sizable opportunity to gain market share.
The idea of accommodating AI agents will require more digital infrastructure, but the move is already starting to happen. Companies will have to be able to present product and service offerings, pricing, and availability to inquiries from AI bots in an increasing fashion in the near future. To put it simply, if your organization can’t respond to requests from AI bots, you will simply be cut out of the purchasing process.
Composability is the key that unlocks AI Agents
This is where the benefits of composable architecture begin to really shine. By decoupling the front-end channel from a common set of back-end services, organizations that have invested in composable technology,like Contentful, are ready to respond to the AI agent wave as it emerges. AI Agents simply present themselves as a new channel that must be monitored and interacted with. Contentful, and composable tools like it, fundamentally provide for this new layer to be added quickly, allowing companies to re-purpose existing content, services and transactional capabilities to this new channel.
Contrast that with companies stuck on monolithic platforms who must wait for their vendors to provide support for this next-generation way of interacting with customers. The promise of composability, at its most fundamental level, is the opportunity to take advantage of and capitalize upon trends that we can’t see coming. The rise of AI agents is a prime example of a powerful new opportunity that composable solutions are already ready to support.
For more information
If you’re interested in learning more about composable architecture or AI agents, please reach out — always happy to connect.
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