Modern enterprises have a complex mix of automation tools, digital workflows, cloud platforms, and increasingly, AI agents. While they all promise to make things easier and better, these systems often pile up like mismatched Lego bricks, which ends up adding complexity.
Based on a recent IDC report, there is growing adoption of AI agents by Southeast Asian organisations, with close to nine in 10 (86%) expected to use AI agents within the next 12 months. Many companies are already utilising AI agents for specific tasks, such as automating support ticket management and handling contracts. While this approach can deliver some quick wins, it leaves a lot of value on the table because it fails to address many of the root inefficiencies that are built into processes.
Most inefficiencies in business workflows happen between tasks, specifically during transitions, handoffs, and the manual checkpoints between AI agents, robots, and humans. Without a plan to connect these transitions and automate whole processes from start to finish, businesses risk losing time, money, and ROI from AI agents. Hence, beyond integrating AI tools, companies need the ability to seamlessly orchestrate the work between AI agents, robots, and humans.
From “mess” to “music”
Most AI initiatives stall not because of flawed components, but due to overwhelming operational complexity. Large companies often operate with hundreds and thousands of applications, each a potential point of friction. Introducing AI agents into this environment can exacerbate fragmentation, workflow paralysis, and AI sprawl.
Think of your business processes like an orchestra. You have different instruments (such as AI agents, robots, and humans), but without a conductor, you're just going to get noise, not a symphony. Agentic orchestration is that conductor.
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In this model, AI agents handle the complex tasks that require judgment and cognitive decision-making, such as analysing data or flagging risks. Robots execute the rules-based and repetitive tasks with speed and precision, like intelligent document processing or updating systems. Humans remain a key feature in this process as the maestros, providing strategic oversight and making the final, critical decisions. The conductor, which is agentic orchestration, understands the unique strengths of each component and serves as the company’s nerve centre, coordinating complex, dynamic processes involving AI agents, robots, and humans.
In finance and procurement, for example, AI agents are assigned to analyse invoices, detect compliance risks, and flag anomalies. Robots take on routine tasks such as account reconciliation and approval processing. Meanwhile, finance managers and compliance teams provide strategic oversight, making final judgment calls on exceptions. This division of labour accelerates transaction cycles and reduces processing costs. It also allows businesses to confidently deploy AI while minimising risk by strengthening compliance accuracy and reducing error rates.
Fine-tuning the orchestra of AI agents, robots, and humans
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Yet, balancing autonomy and control is crucial. Complete hands-off autonomy is often impractical because, like humans, AI agents can make mistakes. Businesses also need control over the degree of agency, which can increase as agents become more accurate and reliable.
A well-designed orchestration system should also allow for seamless human checkpoints in critical processes. High-stakes or low-confidence decisions can automatically trigger human review, providing a safety net that allows businesses to deploy AI agents confidently. The system can then learn from these human interventions, improving future agent performance while maintaining speed and efficiency.
Businesses should consider solutions that provide the flexibility to integrate multiple AI models and services without being locked into a single vendor. This reduces the risk of costly rebuilds, empowers teams to choose the most effective tools, and enables quick pivots as technology or pricing evolves. The result is lower operational risk, higher ROI on AI investments, and the confidence to scale AI initiatives with agility.
Ultimately, speed and intelligence will define performance in the new agentic era. Success won’t come from implementing more tools and AI agents, but from orchestrating them to create real value that transforms business processes, making them more dynamic, efficient, and aligned with strategic outcomes.
Tomur Ho is the director of engineering for South Asia at UiPath
