TL;DR: AI business solutions have moved on from chat tools, and agentic AI can now plan and complete whole tasks inside the apps your team already uses. Getting your data and costs in order first helps you see the benefit sooner.
What are AI business solutions?
AI business solutions are tools that use artificial intelligence to take time-consuming work off your team’s plate. They broadly fall into two groups.
Assistive AI
Tools that respond to a single prompt, such as drafting an email or summarising a long document.
Agentic AI
Tools that plan a multi-step task and work through it towards an outcome you describe.
How is agentic AI changing the way businesses work?
The newest AI business solutions can handle a sequence of tasks from start to finish. Assistive tools have made single jobs quicker. The joining up between those jobs has still been down to you.
Agentic AI takes on that joining up. Say you have a client meeting on Thursday. You could ask an agent to gather the latest correspondence into a briefing note and block out prep time in your diary. You check the result and make the final call.
It is still early days. Research from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology found that just 7% of UK businesses already using AI had adopted agentic tools.
What does agentic AI look like in Microsoft 365?
For businesses on Microsoft 365, the clearest example is Copilot Cowork. You describe the outcome you want, and Cowork plans the steps and carries them out across apps like Outlook and Teams.
Cowork shows each step as it works, and you approve each action before it happens. That keeps a person in charge of anything sent on your behalf.
Meeting follow-ups
Cowork can draft the recap after a Teams call and schedule the follow-up meeting. That clears the admin that builds up after a busy day.
First drafts from your own files
Cowork can draw on your emails and documents to build a report or presentation. You then shape the final version yourself.
What should you consider before using AI agents?
Agentic AI works best with a few foundations in place. Two areas deserve attention before rollout.
How do you keep AI agent costs predictable?
Cowork sits on top of a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and Microsoft bills its use based on the tasks each person runs. Spend can climb quietly as more of your team delegates work. Setting sensible limits from day one keeps your budget on track.
Is your data ready for AI agents?
An agent can reach whatever the person using it can reach. If file permissions have become loose over the years, an agent may bring up documents some staff were never meant to see.
Our AI implementation and training service starts by preparing your data and permissions for AI. A small test group then trials the solution before it reaches the wider team. Our cyber security services then keep that data protected as AI use grows.
What is Labyrinth Elevate?
Labyrinth Elevate is our webinar series for business leaders who want to see new technology at work. The next session, Smarter Working, AI & Cyber Security, runs on Wednesday 7 October between 11:00am and 11:45am.
Matt Dunn, Director at Labyrinth Technology, will demonstrate Claude and Copilot live, including custom agents and skills. He will also show how to keep token spending under control in Copilot Cowork. You will hear about the cyber security trends worth having on your radar too.
Where should your business start with agentic AI?
Agentic AI is still at an early stage in UK businesses, so you can explore it at your own pace. Starting with one everyday workflow shows you the time it saves before you commit further. Labyrinth Elevate gives you real examples to picture in your own team.
