What is an AI agent?
Share on socials
What is an AI agent?
Michael Rudenko
Published on 16 June 2025
6 min read
Michael Rudenko
Published on 16 June 2025
6 min read
Jump to section
Jump to section
What are AI agents?
Benefits of AI agents
Risks and limitations of AI agents
Best practices for implementing AI agents
From all the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), AI agents stand out as a key innovation where organisations are seeing a lot of business success. These intelligent systems autonomously manage tasks and adapt to changing environments, offering a dynamic alternative to traditional automation. Companies like Atlassian have successfully integrated AI agents to enhance productivity and streamline workflows.
However, integrating AI agents poses challenges, including data privacy and compliance. This blog explores the benefits, limitations, and best practices for implementing AI agents to drive innovation and growth.
What are AI agents?
AI agents are autonomous software entities observing their environment, making decisions, and performing actions to achieve specific objectives. Unlike traditional automation, which follows fixed scripts, AI agents use machine learning and advanced algorithms to adapt and handle complex tasks. Their ability to operate with little human intervention makes them a valuable asset for improving how businesses run and sparking innovation.
Benefits of AI agents
- Increased efficiency and performance: AI agents are great at handling routine tasks, allowing employees to focus on more meaningful work. This shift can lead to increased productivity and better business results. Once you become familiar with them, AI agents become your trusted partners, always ready to assist you.
- Cost reduction: AI agents help reduce operational costs by automating complex workflows. They reduce the need for constant human supervision, lower labour expenses, and minimise the risk of mistakes.
- Continuous learning and adaptation: AI agents are equipped with continuous learning capabilities. They grow alongside you, scaling as your business expands. This enables them to improve their performance based on interactions and feedback and ensures they remain effective even as business needs evolve.
- Scalability: AI agents can manage multiple tasks simultaneously. This makes them ideal for scaling businesses. They provide reliable support for things like customer service and data management without needing extra resources.
- Enhanced customer experiences: With 24/7 availability and personalised support, AI agents significantly improve customer satisfaction by resolving queries quickly, while maintaining high service quality.
- Integration with existing tools: Software providers like Atlassian have successfully integrated AI agents into their platforms and systems. This enhances collaboration and productivity while streamlining processes and improving workflow efficiency.
Risks and limitations of AI agents
- Complexity and integration challenges: Setting up AI agents can be tricky, as they need to fit into your existing systems, tools and processes. Without careful planning, this can cause disruptions and inefficiencies.
- Data privacy and security: AI agents often need access to sensitive data to function effectively. Ensuring data privacy and security is vital to prevent breaches and maintain trust.
- Dependence on quality data: AI agents rely heavily on the quality of data they are trained on. Inaccurate or biased data can lead to poor decision-making and unintended consequences.
- Regulatory and compliance issues: As AI agents operate independently, it's important to ensure they follow relevant laws and standards to avoid potential legal and financial issues.
- Impact on employment: While AI agents can boost productivity, there's a concern that they might replace jobs traditionally done by humans.
As you think about bringing AI into your business, it's essential to keep these risks in mind. Collaborating with experts like Adaptavist can provide valuable guidance and support, ensuring a smooth and effective implementation process.
Best practices for implementing AI agents
- Set clear goals: Before you start to use AI agents, establish clear goals and objectives. Understand what tasks you want the agents to perform and how they align with your business strategy.
- Collaborate across teams: Get input from various departments, like IT, operations, and customer service, to create a well-rounded implementation plan.
- Ensure data quality: Make sure the data used to train AI agents is accurate and free from bias. Good data management will improve their decision-making abilities.
- Start small and scale gradually: Begin with pilot projects to test the effectiveness of AI agents in specific areas. Gradually scale up as you gain confidence in their performance.
- Monitor and refine: Monitor AI agents' performance and make necessary adjustments. This will help maintain their effectiveness and compliance with evolving regulations.
AI agents in action: the role of Atlassian Rovo
Rovo is a leader in the AI landscape, providing search, chat, and agent functions that provide intelligent support and enhancements for your day-to-day tasks. Rovo agents were created to navigate complex workflows and offer smart solutions, making them perfect for different business departments like marketing and customer service.
Rovo agents seamlessly integrate with Atlassian tools such as Jira and Confluence, plus 100+ third-party tools to unlock new levels of efficiency and collaboration. For example, in Jira, you can use Rovo Dev Agents to accelerate software development by automating routine tasks from idea to deployment, allowing developers to focus on solving problems and creating impactful solutions. They generate comprehensive technical plans, automate repetitive coding tasks, and improve pull requests by providing intelligent feedback to accelerate cycles. Meanwhile, in Confluence, Rovo agents handle tasks such as organising documents and suggesting relevant resources, thereby enhancing knowledge sharing and teamwork.
With out-of-the-box Rovo agents available, plus Rovo Studio to create your own AI teammates in a low to no-code environment, Rovo agents provide limitless possibilities for streamlining operations and saving time.
Integrating AI agents into business operations gives you a competitive edge by improving efficiency, reducing costs, and driving innovation. However, addressing the associated risks and limitations is crucial to unlock their full benefits. By following best practices and learning from successful examples set by companies like Atlassian with Rovo, organisations can leverage AI agents to enhance productivity and transform how they operate. Now is the time to explore the potential of AI to position your organisation at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Take the next step
Discover how integrating AI solutions can enhance your efficiency, reduce costs, and drive innovation within your organisation. Whether you are looking to streamline workflows or dive into the capabilities of AI agents, the possibilities are endless.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to stay ahead in the digital landscape. Contact us today to learn more about implementing AI agents in your business.
Written by
Head of Consulting EMEA
After retiring from the Royal Army Dental Corps, Michael led major projects for the NHS and the London 2012 Olympics. With 30+ year's experience, he fosters trust, collaboration, and efficiency, and excels in complex agile, DevOps, and work management settings.