How CIOs can leverage Agentic AI for strategic IT planning

Agentic AI, the future of IT management, is changing the game like never before. Unlike previous iterations of artificial intelligence, Agentic AI is capable of operating autonomously. Agentic AI tools can learn, adapt, and make independent decisions, taking actions based on context and data in real time to pursue long-term objectives and tackle multi-step, complex tasks. 

Chief information officers, or CIOs, are tasked with overseeing an organization’s IT strategy and implementation. As part of this role, understanding and utilizing Agentic AI is essential for ensuring that your company stays ahead of the curve. 

Today, we’re diving deeper into actionable strategies for leveraging Agentic AI in your organization, ensuring maximum adoption with minimal disruption.

Understanding Agentic AI in the enterprise context

You’ve heard of artificial intelligence before, and you have more than likely interacted with it. Conversational AI bots, which use natural language processing models to engage with human users in a way that mimics human conversation, were the first iteration. Then, we saw generative AI, which is all about creating fresh content based on natural language prompts. But with Agentic AI, we have ushered in a new era of potential for the world of IT.  

Agentic AI systems act autonomously according to set goals, offering planning and decision-making capabilities. They can independently complete multi-step tasks and reason in pursuit of objectives. 

Agentic AI pushes the envelope past both conversational and generative AI, offering dynamic, context-aware conversations, continuous learning, and personalized responses. These tools utilize reinforcement learning, planning algorithms, and memory-based reasoning to take actions over time and achieve company objectives for enterprise-level AI. 

For IT leaders in a fast-evolving tech landscape, understanding the strategic potential of Agentic AI is paramount. These tools have the capacity to completely transform the way companies do IT, offering better efficiency, more productive teams, autonomous issue resolution, and predictive data that can inform resource allocation, future decision making, and so much more. 

For leaders developing a CIO AI strategy, Agentic AI must be at the forefront of the discussion. Gartner has even identified Agentic AI as the top strategic technology trend for 2025: 

Image via Gartner

Strategic benefits of Agentic AI for CIOs

Utilizing Agentic AI tools comes with numerous benefits for CIOs. Let’s take a look at how Agentic AI can align with your overall business goals and change your IT environment for the better. Here are some of the many benefits of Agentic AI… 

• Save time: With autonomous troubleshooting and automated workflows, Agentic AI tools make for faster ticket resolution times and cut down on mundane busy work for IT teams, freeing up your personnel to focus on more complex, revenue-driving tasks. For instance, Atera’s AI Copilot saves teams an average of 11-13 hours per week: 

Image via Atera

• Improve user satisfaction: With faster resolution and intelligent self-service, AI ticketing systems have already been showing incredible results. With Agentic AI, end users can solve numerous problems on their own and get back to normal function faster. This means happier end users and less downtime. 
• Reduce costs: Through better resource allocation and ticket deflection, Agentic AI tools can reduce costs. For CIOs, showing how your decisions are healthy for the company’s bottom line is often a hurdle – and with Agentic AI, you can demonstrate savings and improved efficiency across the board. 
• Boost operational efficiency: Agentic AI tools are able to enhance efficiency and make for better planning with real-time, data-driven decision-making. 

Aligning Agentic AI with business goals

When we talk about strategically using AI for CIOs, one of the main considerations is translating Agentic AI outcomes into measurable business value. Agentic AI tools like Atera’s Autonomous IT offer user-friendly dashboards that show your time savings and return on investment, so that you can easily understand the impact of Agentic AI implementation – and demonstrate this impact to other organizational stakeholders. 

Showing the value of Agentic AI to the bottom line and to the overall efficiency and productivity of the company is a strong way to promote cross-functional alignment and buy-in across different departments. 

Show your organization the importance of Agentic AI by emphasizing org-wide KPS that are impacted by Agentic AI. Here are some examples: 

• First-contact resolution rate: End users don’t want to wait around for an available technician to free up, and they don’t want to be passed around from person to person to find the right expert. With Agentic AI helpdesk tools, like those we offer at Atera, first-contact resolution rates skyrocket, as these tools can help resolve common problems autonomously, without ever involving a human technician. 
• Time-to-resolution for support tickets: Everyone knows that lower MTTR (mean time to resolution) equals higher levels of customer satisfaction. When your customers are satisfied, they are more likely to continue buying from your company. 

In fact, ZenDesk reports that over 50% of customers are likely to switch vendors after a bad customer support experience. Better rates in dealing with end-user support tickets from employees can also help with employee retention and workplace satisfaction. 

Image via SearchUnify

• IT cost per employee: You can think of Agentic AI tools as additions to your IT team… but without the costs of another salary plus benefits. This drastically reduces the costs of IT per employee in your company.

In order to successfully implement Agentic AI in your enterprise environment, it’s also crucial to foster AI literacy among leadership teams. A better understanding of the scope, purpose, and functions of these tools will often lead to more acceptance and readiness to adopt them. 

A CIO’s roadmap to implementing Agentic AI

Are you ready to implement Agentic AI in your organization? Take a look at this roadmap to get a general idea of the lay of the land ahead… 

• Step 1: Lay the technical foundation – Look at what infrastructure you’ll need, and ensure that any Agentic AI tool you are choosing easily integrates with the programs and software you’re already using. It’s also important to address security considerations and choose a platform that offers the necessary compliance for your industry. 
• Step 2: Prepare teams and workflows for autonomous agents – Promote AI literacy, implement training, and ready data for your AI agents to parse and learn 
• Step 3: Start small – Pilot use cases, success metrics, and feedback loops. Find some quick wins to kick off your journey with Agentic AI, all while looking forward at long-term implementation plans
• Step 4: Scaling implementation – Go from tactical tools to long-term strategy, finding ways that Agentic AI can help your business thrive for years to come
• Step 5: Partner with strategic vendors – Look for partners like Atera who can offer end-to-end AI support and help you ensure you’re always staying up-to-date on the latest developments in Agentic AI 

Challenges of implementing Agentic AI in an enterprise

AI for CIOs and enterprise-level organizations can come with potential challenges. Let’s take a look at these issues and address how CIOs and decision makers can proactively mitigate risks. 

Potential barriers for Agentic AI adoption can include cultural resistance, change management, and skill gaps. Many people worry about artificial intelligence “stealing” or replacing human jobs. To combat this mentality, it’s important to frame AI agents as supplements or complements to the human workforce rather than replacement. Offering AI training programs can also help your IT team feel confident and empowered to embrace their new AI team members. 

It’s also crucial to create clear guidelines when it comes to governance and decision transparency. Who is responsible for AI oversight? Who is responsible if AI tools have a lapse or introduce a problem? Answering these questions in advance can help establish a clear chain of command. And remember: While Agentic AI can make autonomous decisions, it’s human personnel who are ultimately in control and set the objectives and processes in motion. 

Navigating the ethical implications of Agentic AI and meeting regulatory requirements can be another challenge, but the savvy CIO can proactively set the organization up for success here. 

For example, if there is a problem with the training data, an AI tool might introduce bias into its decisions. Working to combat bias and ensuring AI tools meet privacy regulations starts internally – one place to begin is by developing an ethical AI usage framework that’s specific to your organization and includes items like these: 

Image via Cut the SaaS

Embrace the strategic potential of Agentic AI

For enterprise IT, Agentic AI offers an incredible wealth of possibilities. For forward-looking CIOs, the dawn of Agentic AI represents a chance for your company to get ahead of the curve. By revolutionizing the way organizations handle IT at scale, Agentic AI is set to enhance productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction at every turn. 

Want to explore Agentic AI for yourself? Try Atera’s AI-powered IT management solutions with a 30-day free trial, with no credit card required. Or, learn more about how our customers are using Atera and our AI tools to meet and exceed their goals.