Definition
An AI agent is software that combines a language model with access to your tools (email, CRM, calendar, documents) to complete a whole task: read a request, sort it, prepare a reply, update a file. Unlike a chat assistant, it acts without being told each step.
In a company, an agent is judged by the frame built around the model. Its scope of action is limited, every action is logged, and sensitive decisions wait for human validation.
Why it matters to a business owner
For a business owner, the agent takes over the repetitive work nobody wants to do and everybody does badly when rushed: forgotten follow-ups, requests sorted by hand, reports never written, documents read three times by three people.
Decisions, client relationships and trade-offs stay with your teams. The agent gives them time back; it does not replace their judgement.
What Stratedge Consulting does
The agency starts with a map of the tasks that can be automated, puts a figure on the time spent on each, and automates first what pays off most. Agents are connected to your tools, with human validation rules and a tracking board of what they have done. The details are on the AI agents and automations page.
The Standard AI Agent, at €4,000 excl. VAT, puts an agent into production on one of your processes in two to three weeks, with an action log and human validation on sensitive decisions. The models used (Claude, Mistral or OpenAI depending on the case) come from plans that do not reuse your data for training, and your application data is hosted in Europe.
Common mistakes
Starting with the spectacular case rather than the profitable one. A mundane task repeated every day is worth more than an impressive demo that will never reach production.
Letting an agent decide alone on a sensitive matter, or conversely requiring validation on everything, which amounts to automating nothing. The right setting is found rule by rule, with the people who do the work today.