Define the task.
Agree the objective, inputs, permitted tools and completion criteria. Identify the decisions and exceptions that require a person.
AI agents and workflow automation for business
Define the task. Engineer the workflow.
Retrieve approved information, prepare a record or move a request between applications. We build AI workflows around a defined task, with clear permissions, approval points and checks on the result.
Talk to an engineer Start with a scoped reviewEngineering focus
01Retrieve
02Decide within limits
03Act and verify
Possible applicationEngineering & industrial services
Prepare a maintenance work order from an approved procedure, check the required fields and pause for a responsible person to authorise the work. Explore this sector.
Autonomy is a design decision.
A predictable workflow may need very little autonomy. More open-ended work needs tighter evaluation, execution limits and supervision. Start with what the task actually requires.
Connect the work.
Integrate data and applications. Define how the workflow stores its state, validates inputs and handles retries.
Test the boundaries.
Exercise denied access, contradictory evidence, tool errors and interrupted work. Check that the task completes correctly and the resulting action is appropriate.
Use the least autonomy needed. More agents, more tools or longer prompts do not automatically produce a better system.
Connected agents
Different agents. One connected workflow.
Use specialist agents where the task benefits from them, with explicit handovers, controlled access to shared task state and a clear owner of the overall result.
Define the contract.
Specify each agent’s purpose, inputs, expected output and completion state. Define the state it may read or change and how it reports progress, uncertainty and failure.
Keep trust explicit.
Authenticate the other service and validate what it returns. Delegating a task must not silently widen access.
Trace the whole job.
Record handovers, responsibility, retries, cancellation and overall cost. Check the complete workflow as well as the individual subtasks.
State, memory & recovery
Pause. Approve. Resume properly.
Longer tasks need controlled context, saved progress and a clear recovery path. Preserve decisions and action records, recheck permissions and reconcile completed work before continuing.
Track the work.
Save task state and checkpoints separately from the conversation. Use operation identifiers and reconciliation to distinguish a retry from a new action.
Control what is remembered.
Scope memory by user or project. Track its source, version and retention. Sensitive or stale information should not quietly acquire permanent authority.
Recover with context.
Recheck permissions, current data and approval validity before resuming. Give operators a clear way to cancel or recover a stalled task.
Computer-use automation
Useful automation. Even without an API.
Connect AI to the applications you already use. Read screens, prepare changes and check the result, with a person approving consequential actions.
Choose the right route.
Use a dependable API where one exists. Where it does not, define the permitted screens, operations and stopping conditions.
Keep the authority narrow.
Isolate the session, scope the credentials and check the destination before entering information or committing a change.
Verify the outcome.
A click is not confirmation. Check the resulting state, record the action and stop when the interface behaves unexpectedly.
Voice & visual assistants
Use speech and images. Keep the task in view.
Give people a spoken interface to approved information and tools, using a screen or image where it adds useful context.
Connect the context.
Combine the conversation with authorised knowledge and relevant visual input. Make recording, consent and retention choices explicit.
Make the conversation usable.
Handle interruptions, uncertainty and connection loss. Test response time and provide a clear route to a human.
Separate speech from action.
Confirm the intended change before a tool executes it. Validate the inputs and show the recorded result so the user can check what happened.
A closer look
Good questions. Straight answers.
Can we begin with one task?
Yes. A bounded, measurable workflow makes it easier to assess value, risks and integration effort.
Will people remain involved?
Where the task requires it. Approval, exception handling and operational ownership should be defined before the system is used.
Do we need a multi-agent system?
Not necessarily. Start with the simplest architecture that meets the requirement. Add specialist agents only when the separation is useful.
Technical reference: Anthropic: evaluating AI agents (opens in a new tab)
Technical reference: Agent2Agent: protocol documentation (opens in a new tab)
Technical reference: Anthropic: managed agent sessions (opens in a new tab)
The first step
Begin with a defined task.
Start with a conversation about one task, the people carrying it out and the systems it touches. We then scope a review of the workflow, its approval points and how completion should be checked.
What you get. A workflow outline, defined permissions, representative test cases and a scoped plan for integration and operation.
Talk to an engineer