Agentic process automation
Also called: agentic automation · AI agents · agentic AI
Automation where LLM-based agents execute activities with bounded autonomy inside a process — the emerging frontier of the orchestration market.
Agentic process automation is the use of AI agents — software actors built on large language models that can plan, call tools and take actions — to execute activities inside business processes with a degree of autonomy. It is the current frontier of the automation market: Gartner treats agent orchestration as the center of gravity of its BOAT category, Everest Group evaluates agentic process automation solutions as a market, and every orchestration vendor is racing to demonstrate it.
Because the capability is young, the discipline matters more than the demo. The questions that separate a governed agent from a liability are the same ones process governance always asked, applied to a probabilistic executor: what is the agent's scope, what makes it escalate to a person, which actions are irreversible and therefore off-limits, and what evidence does each intervention leave. A methodology that declares the executor class of every activity — human, algorithmic or agent — gives agents a place in the architecture before giving them autonomy, which is the order regulated organizations need.
On this site: Governed AI →