The Six AI Agents Driving Business Value Now
In our Great Rewiring series, we explored how businesses need to completely reimagine their operations around AI rather than just adding technology to existing workflows. But the main question I hear is: "Where exactly do we start?"
While everyone's talking about AI agents, few business leaders have a clear framework for identifying which types could deliver immediate value. That's about to change.
Google analyzed over 600 real world AI implementations across industries, and identified six key ways businesses are using AI agents to deliver immediate value.
Understanding these six agent types gives you a practical lens to cut through AI hype and identify real opportunities for your business. Let's break down these six agent categories, what they do, and how leading companies are using them to transform their operations.
You can also check out the comprehensive list of over 600 real-world use cases for more inspiration and concrete examples.
The Six AI Agents
1. Customer Agents: Making Customer Interactions Easier
These are AI systems that directly interact with customers to improve their experience and provide support.
Key benefits:
24/7 customer support without staffing costs
Personalized interactions at scale
Faster resolution times
Examples
Mercedes-Benz: They have smart AI in their new cars that you can talk to for things like searching for places and getting directions. They also have AI on their website to help you shop online.
Discover Financial: They have a virtual helper that uses AI to answer customer questions to help you better.
2. Employee Agents: Boosting Productivity Within Your Organization
These are internal AI tools that help employees work more efficiently by taking care of routine tasks and giving quick access to company information.
Key benefits:
Automate repetitive administrative tasks
Centralize knowledge and make it instantly accessible
Reduce operational costs
Examples
Uber: They use AI to automatically summarize what customers say, which helps their support staff save time.
Cintas: They built a smart internal search tool with AI so their customer service and sales teams can quickly find the information they need.
3. Creative Agents: Enhancing Marketing and Content Creation
These are AI tools that help create different kinds of content to improve marketing and creative work, like social media posts and images.
Key benefits:
Scale content creation without expanding headcount
Test multiple creative approaches simultaneously
Personalize marketing at the individual level
Examples
PODS: They created the "World's Smartest Billboard" using AI to adapt messages to different neighbourhoods in real-time, creating over 6,000 unique headlines.
Radisson Hotel Group: Personalized advertising at scale using AI, achieving a 50% rise in ad team productivity and over 20% revenue increase
4. Code Agents: Empowering Software Development
These are AI tools that help software developers write code and find mistakes to speed up the coding process and improve the quality of software.
Key benefits:
Reduce development time for routine functions
Catch bugs earlier in the development cycle
Lower the barrier to entry for technical roles
Examples
Regnology: They built a Ticket-to-Code Writer tool with AI to automatically convert bug tickets into actionable code.
Capgemini: They used Code Assist to improve software engineering productivity, quality, security, and overall developer experience.
5. Data Agents: Unlocking Insights from Information
These are AI systems that turn raw data into useful insights to help organizations make better decisions and improve their operations
Key benefits:
Extract patterns from complex datasets
Make predictions based on historical trends
Surface insights that would otherwise remain hidden
Examples
BMW Group: They use AI to make their factory planning and supply chains better, which makes their manufacturing more efficient.
Geotab: They use AI to look at tons of data from vehicles to help companies manage their fleets better and save on fuel.
6. Security Agents: Protecting Your Organization from Threats
These are AI systems that help protect organizations by automatically finding, analyzing, and responding to security threats.
Key benefits:
Continuous threat monitoring
Rapid identification of unusual patterns
Automated response to common attacks
Examples
Airwallex: They use AI to detect and stop fraud in real-time when people are making payments.
BBVA: They use AI to find and deal with security threats across their systems more quickly and accurately.
Your Next Move
The companies seeing the greatest ROI from AI aren't implementing all six agent types at once. They're starting with a single, high-impact opportunity.
Look at your current business challenges and ask: "Which one of these agent types could solve your most pressing problem?" Begin there, with clear metrics to measure success.
Start small, learn fast, and expand methodically. The key to success with AI lies not just in the technology itself, but in how thoughtfully you put it into practice.