Understand
Interpret a request, question or business event.
What If AI Could Do More Than Answer A Question?
AI can do more than help people work faster; it can take on defined tasks, navigate processes, work with business information and take action within the boundaries you set. As organisations move beyond using generative AI to write, summarise, analyse, research and create, the next opportunity is to ask what AI could actually do.
Imagine an Agent that receives a request, understands what is needed, finds the right information, follows the correct process, updates a system and knows when to bring in human input. That changes the role of AI from something people use to something that can participate in how work gets done.
CPS helps organisations identify where AI Agents can solve real business problems, build them securely and create the foundations to scale towards an Agent-First organisation.
The Problem With Traditional Automation
Traditional automation is powerful, but it generally follows rules that have been explicitly defined.
- If this happens, do that.
- If a form is submitted, send an email.
- If an invoice arrives, move it to a folder.
- If a customer raises a case, assign it to a team.
But many real-world processes aren’t that predictable.
People ask questions in different ways. Information sits in different places. Circumstances change. Decisions require context. Exceptions need judgement.
This is where AI Agents can create a different type of automation.
Agents can interpret the situation, not simply follow a fixed instruction.
What Is An AI Agent?
AI Designed To Understand, Decide And Act
An AI Agent is designed to work towards a defined goal rather than simply respond to a single prompt.
The result is a more dynamic form of automation that can support increasingly complex work.
Depending on its purpose and permissions,
an Agent can...
Find
Retrieve relevant information from trusted sources.
Reason
Consider the information available and determine an appropriate next step.
Act
Complete tasks or interact with connected systems.
Collaborate
Work alongside people or other Agents.
Escalate
Recognise when a situation needs human judgement or approval.
The Difference Between Copilot, Automation And Agents
Choosing The Right AI For The Problem Not every problem needs an Agent.
Sometimes Copilot is the right answer. Sometimes automation is better. Sometimes a combination creates the greatest value.
CPS helps you determine which approach is right. We don’t start with “you need an Agent.” We start with the problem.
Helps a person do the work.
Useful when employees need assistance with:
- Writing
- Research
- Summarisation
- Analysis
- Meeting preparation
- Information discovery
Check out the full impact on integrating Microsoft Copilot.
The Art Of The Possible
What Could An Agent Do For You?
The most valuable opportunities may not be the obvious ones. Imagine an Agent that could:
- Handle Internal Questions: An employee asks a question about policy, process or organisational information.
- The Agent finds the relevant information and provides an answer based on trusted sources.
- Process Customer Requests: A customer submits a request. The Agent understands it, checks relevant information, progresses the appropriate process and escalates where required.
- Support Freedom Of Information: An FOI Agent could help manage growing demand by supporting information retrieval, classification and administrative processes.
- Prepare Project Updates: A Project Agent brings together actions, risks, meetings and project information to create a current view of progress.
- Support Sales Teams: A Sales Agent can help prepare customer information, summarise interactions and support CRM activity.
- Help Employees With HR: An HR Agent could answer common questions, guide employees through processes and reduce routine HR administration.
- Monitor Processes: An Agent could monitor activity and identify when something requires attention rather than waiting for someone to discover it.
These are examples, not limitations.
The best Agent opportunity might be a problem unique to your organisation.
Bring Us Your Problem
You Don’t Need To Know What Agent You Need
This is one of the most important parts of the CPS proposition. You don’t need to arrive with: “We need a Copilot Studio Agent.”
You can simply tell us:
- “Our team spends two days a week doing this.”
- “Customers keep asking us the same questions.”
- “Nobody knows where this information is.”
- “We’re struggling to keep up with demand.”
- “Our project managers spend too much time reporting.”
- “We need to process more requests without increasing headcount.”
Then we explore the possibilities.
- Could AI help?
- Could automation help?
- Could an Agent help?
- Or is there a better solution?
That’s the conversation we want to have.
The Agent-First Opportunity
Reimagine The Work, Don’t Just Automate It
Agent-First transformation starts with a different view of work. Instead of asking: “How can we make this existing process slightly faster?” We ask: “If an Agent could handle part of this process, how should the process work?”
That can mean redesigning work around the strengths of both people and AI.
People provide:
- Judgement
- Empathy
- Relationships
- Creativity
- Accountability
- Strategic thinking
AI Agents can provide:
- Speed
- Consistency
- Information processing
- Monitoring
- Repetitive execution
- Availability
- Scale
Together, they create a different way of working.
The CPS Agent Journey
From Problem To Production
Start with the problem.
We explore where there is demand, friction, repetitive work or an opportunity to improve an outcome.
Outcome: A clear Agent opportunity.
Agent In A Day
Move From An Idea To A Working AI Agent
Sometimes the best way to understand what’s possible is to build something. Our Agent in a Day workshop gives organisations a practical way to explore an Agent opportunity.
Together, we can:
Identify
Choose a real business problem.
Explore
Understand how AI could approach it.
Design
Define the Agent’s role, information and boundaries.
Build
Create a working proof of concept.
Demonstrate
Show what the Agent could do in practice.
Plan
Identify what would be required to move towards production.
The result isn't another AI presentation...
It’s a practical demonstration of what could be possible.
The Microsoft Agent Ecosystem
Technology That Makes Agentic AI Possible
We don’t lead with the technology, but the Microsoft ecosystem provides the capabilities needed to build, connect, govern and scale Agents.
- Microsoft Copilot Studio: Build and customise AI Agents around specific business needs.
- Agent Factory: Create a repeatable approach to developing and scaling AI Agents across the organisation.
- AgentOps: Monitor, manage and optimise Agents throughout their lifecycle.
- Microsoft Dataverse: Provide trusted business data that Agents can work with.
- Microsoft Fabric: Connect Agents to business data, analytics and intelligence.
- Microsoft Graph & Microsoft IQ: Provide organisational context, knowledge and relationships.
- Microsoft Security & Purview: Help ensure Agents operate within appropriate security, identity and information governance controls.
Agent Factory
Don’t Build One Agent. Build The Capability To Build Many.
The first successful Agent can demonstrate what is possible. But organisations quickly face a bigger question: How do we scale this? Agent Factory provides the thinking and structure required to move from isolated Agent projects towards a repeatable enterprise capability.
This can include:
- Agent design standards
- Reusable components
- Governance
- Security
- Development approaches
- Testing
- Deployment
- Monitoring
- Lifecycle management
The objective is to make Agent development repeatable, governed and scalable.
AgentOps
Agents Need Managing Too.
Deploying an Agent isn’t the end of the journey. As Agents become part of business processes, organisations need to understand:
- Is the Agent performing as expected?
- Is it delivering the intended outcome?
- Is it being used?
- Are users satisfied?
- Is it operating within its boundaries?
- Are there emerging risks?
- Does it need to be updated?
AgentOps brings operational thinking to the Agent lifecycle. Build it. Monitor it. Improve it. Govern it.
AI Strategy & Governance
Give Agents The Right Freedom, And The Right Boundaries
The more capable Agents become, the more important governance becomes.
An Agent may be able to access information, make decisions or initiate actions.
Organisations therefore need to define:
- What can the Agent do? Clear responsibilities and boundaries.
- What can it access? Appropriate data and information permissions.
- What can it change? Controlled actions within business systems.
- When does a human need to intervene? Clear escalation and approval points.
- How do we know what it has done? Monitoring, auditability and accountability.
CPS helps organisations create practical governance that enables Agents to scale safely.
Common Agent Opportunities
Where Could You Start?
- Customer Service Agents: Understand enquiries, retrieve information and support resolution.
- FOI Agents: Help manage increasing volumes of Freedom of Information requests.
- HR Agents: Answer employee questions and support routine HR processes.
- Knowledge Agents: Help employees find trusted organisational information.
- Sales Agents: Support sellers with customer preparation, insights and administration.
- Marketing Agents: Support campaign creation, personalisation and optimisation.
- Project Agents: Bring together project information, actions, risks and reporting.
- Operations Agents: Monitor processes, manage requests and identify exceptions.
- Contact Centre Agents: Support conversations with customer context, knowledge and next best actions.
What Makes A Good Agent Opportunity?
Not every process should become agentic. The strongest opportunities often involve:
- High Volume: A significant number of requests or transactions.
- Repetitive Work: People repeatedly perform similar activities.
- Information Complexity: Information needs to be gathered from multiple sources.
- Clear Outcomes: There is a measurable result the Agent is trying to achieve.
- Human Escalation: People can remain involved where judgement is required.
- Meaningful Friction: The current process creates a noticeable cost, delay or customer experience problem.
The Outcomes
What Can Agentic AI Change?
- More Organisational Capacity: Allow AI to absorb defined workloads without simply adding more resource.
- Faster Processes: Reduce delays caused by manual information gathering and handoffs.
- Better Customer Experiences: Respond faster and provide more consistent support.
- Reduced Administration: Take repetitive work away from employees.
- Greater Scalability: Handle increasing demand without processes becoming increasingly labour-intensive.
- Improved Consistency: Apply knowledge and processes consistently across interactions.
- More Valuable Human Work: Give people more time for judgement, relationships and activities where they add the greatest value.
Beyond Individual Agents
The Real Opportunity Is The Agentic Organisation
One Agent can solve one problem. Multiple connected Agents can begin to transform how an organisation operates.
Imagine:
- A customer enquiry is received.
- A Customer Agent understands the request.
- A Knowledge Agent retrieves the relevant information.
- A CRM Agent checks customer history.
- A Process Agent progresses the request.
- A Human is involved only where judgement is required.
The outcome is recorded automatically. That’s the longer-term opportunity.
Not isolated AI tools. A connected digital workforce.
Why CPS?
We Don’t Build Agents Looking For A Problem To Solve
The market is filling with AI demonstrations. That’s not what we believe creates value.
CPS starts with the organisation.
- We Understand Your Environment: We understand complex, regulated and outcome-critical organisations.
- We Start With The Problem: We identify where AI could genuinely improve the way work gets done.
- We Know The Microsoft Ecosystem: Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Dataverse, Fabric, Microsoft 365 and Security can work together.
- We Think Beyond The Pilot: We consider governance, adoption, monitoring and scalability from the beginning.
- We Build For Outcomes: The success of an Agent isn’t how impressive it looks.
It’s whether it solves the problem.
Ready To Start Your AI Journey?
You don’t need a complete AI strategy to take the first step.
You need to understand where AI could make a difference to your organisation.
Understand your current readiness, identify potential opportunities and start building a practical roadmap for AI transformation.
Book an AI Readiness Assessment
Your Next Stage: AI Business Applications
Once you’ve established your Agent capability, the next opportunity is to put AI directly into the business processes that matter most.
Rather than AI sitting alongside your organisation, AI Business Applications bring Agents into the flow of work, supporting the processes that run sales, customer service, projects and other critical functions.
Explore AI Business Applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI Agent?
How is an Agent different from Copilot?
Do AI Agents replace employees?
Does every organisation need AI Agents?
What information can an Agent access?
Can Agents take actions in business systems?
How do we control what an Agent can do?
What is AgentOps?
How do we identify our first Agent opportunity?
How can CPS help?