48 COVER STORY human-led. Structured around on-demand intelligence and powered by ‘hybrid’ teams of humans and agents, these companies scale rapidly, operate with agility and generate value faster.” Frontier firms are “powered by intelligence on tap, human-agent teams, and a new role for everyone: agent boss,” according to the Work Trend Index. As organisations transform into this new type of enterprise, a workplace model focused on collaboration between humans and AI agents is appearing. Microsoft says this model develops through three distinct phases. First, AI assistants empower every employee to work smarter and faster by automating routine tasks and providing real-time support. Second, digital agents join teams as ‘digital colleagues’, handling specific tasks under human guidance. These agents become active team members rather than mere tools. Third, humans set strategic direction while agents execute complex business processes and workflows, autonomously checking in when needed. Within this framework, the role of an ‘agent boss’ has developed, where human managers oversee one or more AI agents. This humanagent team structure is designed to address the ‘capacity gap’, which Microsoft identifies as a growing mismatch between the volume and complexity of business demands and what people alone can manage. In Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, 53 per cent of leaders say they need more productivity from their teams, yet 80 per cent of employees report lacking the time or energy to get their work done. During a typical workday, employees are interrupted every two minutes by meetings, emails or pings, with an average of 275 daily interruptions, when including after-hours activity. As a result, nearly half of employees (48 per cent) and over half of leaders (52 per cent) say their work feels chaotic and fragmented. “No one becomes a clinician to do paperwork, but it’s becoming a bigger and bigger administrative burden, taking time and attention away from actually treating and supporting patients,” says Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. By assigning repetitive or transactional tasks to AI agents, organisations can reduce this overload, giving employees more space to focus on creativity, judgement and building meaningful connections. This shift not only improves job satisfaction but also drives organisations to prioritise expanding team Chemical producer Dow is using Microsoft-powered agents to identify hidden losses in its manufacturing and production process Photo: Microsoft
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=