Automation questions, answered directly

No. Most business automation is rule-based software following a sequence defined in advance, and works the same way it did before current AI systems existed. AI is one component that can be added where a step requires interpreting unstructured input.

Usually not. Most automation work connects systems that are already in place. Replacement becomes a question when a system has no usable interface for other software to work with, which is a cost question rather than a technical one.

Neither is better in general. Agency is useful where the possible paths are too numerous to enumerate and a liability where the correct path is already known and must be followed exactly.

Not necessarily. A chat interface produces text. An agent takes actions in other systems and chooses which ones to take. A system can have one without the other.

Rarely. Most of the time saved comes from preparation — gathering context, drafting, routing — not from the final click. Reviewing prepared work is considerably faster than producing it.

When the log of reviewed decisions shows the system is consistently correct for a specific category of case, and the consequence of the remaining error is acceptable. Move the boundary on evidence, one category at a time.

Ask someone to describe it end to end, including the exceptions, without referring to a screen. If that description is difficult to produce, the specification does not exist yet and the first piece of work is documentation.

Two systems that disagree about the same record. The automation moves the inconsistency faster, and someone has to reconcile the results by hand.

Less than it appears. Platforms change; process discipline does not. A partner who documents, tests and hands over well will produce a better result on an unfamiliar tool than the reverse.

What happens to the running processes if the engagement ends. If they live in systems the partner owns, ending the relationship means rebuilding.

Because cost is driven by process complexity and system access, not by company size or industry. A number given before those are known is a guess, and it usually changes.

Maintenance. Integrations break when either side changes, and the time to detect, diagnose and repair is a recurring cost that rarely appears in a proposal.

Usually not. The biggest problem is often the least well defined. A smaller, well-documented process delivers a result sooner and produces the operational knowledge needed to tackle the larger one.

Judgment that depends on relationship or context, decisions with legal or financial consequence, and rules that change so frequently they never stabilise.