AI-powered virtual agents: Automating complex business processes - Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Harvard Business Review LogoSeptember 14, 2026martinova4/Getty ImagesCompanies are pouring money into AI but often failing to generate enterprise-wide returns because they automate individual tasks rather than redesign the workflows that produce business value. Companies are rapidly increasing AI investment, but enterprise returns remain elusive. BCG’s January 2026 “AI Radar,” surveying 640 CEOs across 16 markets, reports that corporations expect to roughly double AI spending this year, from 0.8% of revenue to about 1.7%. Yet PwC’s 2026 “Global CEO Survey” finds that only 12% of CEOs report both revenue and cost benefits, while McKinsey QuantumBlack’s April 2026 analysis finds that 60% of organizations still see no enterprise-wide EBIT impact—even as nearly eight in 10 use generative AI in at least one business function.

For years, we discussed automation as a way to speed up individual tasks. This approach typically involved a script, a macro or an automation bot. We called it a transformation, but most of the time we were just doing the same work faster. Agentic AI is different. I say that not as a prediction, but from the perspective of someone who has built and deployed it in production within a global business process. An agentic system doesn’t just execute a step. It reasons, decides and acts across an entire workflow, from triggering on an event to gathering context, completing a task and handing off to the next stage. It can call APIs, query databases, send emails, update records and escalate exceptions—all without a human in the loop for routine tasks.