Arun Chandra, COO of NiCE, says enterprises need a clear business objective before scaling agentic AI.
Agentic AI adoption has reached roughly 80% of Fortune 500 companies, but enterprise-scale deployment remains uneven. Many organizations are stuck in isolated pilots without connecting the technology to a clear business strategy, according to a webcast produced by MIT Technology Review in partnership with NiCE.
Arun Chandra, chief operating officer at NiCE, says organizations need to define whether they aim to increase revenue or reduce costs before introducing agents. He tells teams to redesign the workflows where agents will operate instead of applying AI to outdated or inefficient processes.
For builders and operators, the practical implication is that builders must treat agents as a coherent system rather than a standalone tool. Agents need current data, knowledge, and access to back-end systems to make decisions and take action. Fragmented information can undermine those capabilities, and isolated agent projects can create new silos within an organization.
Chandra argues that enterprises should treat AI agents as members of the workforce and hold them to the same standards as human employees. The way forward is to build a connected strategy around a few high-value use cases, redesigned workflows, and measurable outcomes. Governance, privacy, security, and change management should expand as agents take on more consequential responsibilities.
What matters
- Roughly 80% of Fortune 500 companies now use agentic AI, yet scaling remains uneven.
- Operators need to give agents access to current context, knowledge, and back-end systems to avoid silos.
- Watch governance, privacy, and change management as agents take on more consequential tasks.
Why it matters
Watch governance, privacy, and change management as agents take on more consequential tasks.
This GenAI News article was prepared in original wording using reporting and materials published by MIT Technology Review AI. Source reference: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/03/1142868/scaling-agentic-ai-pilots-across-the-enterprise/.
Drafted by the GenAI News review pipeline.