Repetitive, manual tasks consume valuable employee time and inflate operational costs. Whether this is processing invoices, routing orders, checking inventory levels or handling customer inquiries, these processes often become hidden productivity bottlenecks.
AI agents offer a new approach: instead of programming fixed rules for every case, these intelligent systems understand contextual inputs from emails, documents and databases and make decisions autonomously. According to McKinsey, embedding AI in your operations can save you 20-30% in inventory and 5-20% in logistics costs, all while freeing up your employees for higher-value work.
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From rule-based workflows to intelligent AI agents
Until recently, most automation relied on rigid rules or RPA tools with a “if-this-then-that” workflow. This is a powerful solution for simple and structured tasks but it’s unable to handle nuance or complexity. In contrast, AI agents learn and adapt, shifting automation from static, rule-based processes to intelligent, adaptive solutions that continuously evolve.
This technical evolution allows organizations to transform their operations incrementally. Even small improvements to existing workflows can build a foundation for increasingly autonomous systems.
Revolutionizing document processing workflows
Volution Group, a UK-based manufacturer of ventilation products, faced a common operational challenge: their internal process for handling returns and refunds relied heavily on manual efforts. Employees had to go through many actions: to read emails, extract debit note details and enter the data into the ERP system. Each step required a lot of time and human attention. Therefore, Volution Group wondered if they could (partly) automate these tasks with AI.
To help Volution Group, Squadra Machine Learning Company proposed a modular solution built on AI agents, each responsible for a specific part of the process. This architecture allowed for flexibility, scalability and minimal manual intervention.
- The first agent, connected to Outlook, is responsible for retrieving new emails with debit information.
- Another agent parses email attachments, like PDFs or images, to both extract structured and unstructured data from those sources.
- The last agent validates the extracted data and sent the correct information into the ERP system.
- A scheduler agent was put above the whole process to ensure this chain of agents ran daily and independently.
While this was not a fully autonomous AI system, it acted as a highly efficient AI-enhance workflow with minimal human input required after deployment. As a result, Volution Group achieved up to a 35% reduction in labor costs, clearly showcasing the immediate financial benefits of AI-driven process optimization.
This approach demonstrates how AI agents can be gradually introduced into business processes. Each step of this AI-enhanced workflow can be taken over by AI agents with targeted and minimal changes. It is a clear illustration of how businesses can make practical use of AI without needing to fully re-engineer their systems.
Additionally, this setup also lays the groundwork for full autonomy. With minimal adjustments, such as allowing agents to dynamically select data sources or handle more document formats, the current workflow could easily be expanded into a fully autonomous AI agent system.
This example shows how you can start with practical automation and evolve towards intelligent, self-directed operations over time, transforming your business one step at a time.
Benefits of AI agents for businesses
The adoption of AI agents brings measurable business value across multiple dimensions:
- Higher productivity: By automating routine tasks, AI agents enable your team to focus on high-value work that requires human creativity and strategic thinking.
- Cost Savings: Less manual labor directly cuts costs and improves ROI.
- Faster Processing: AI agents can operate continuously, enabling real-time workflows.
- Always-on Accuracy: AI agents maintain consistent accuracy levels 24/7, reducing errors and costs, while never getting tired.
- Scalability and Agility: AI agent capacity can be expanded almost instantly, allowing you to rapidly response to changing market conditions without operational constraints.
Manual tasks often persist simply because “that’s how it’s always been done”. It can be difficult to zoom out from day-to-day operations and critically assess where automation could make a difference. Volution Group did just that. By automating a repetitive debit note processing workflow with AI agents, they not only cut down on manual effort but also improved processing speed and reliability.
This example showcases a key point: AI should not just be applied for the sake of innovation. Businesses that take time to evaluate where automation can truly deliver impact are the ones that will benefit most. Volution Group’s case shows that even partial automation can create immediate, tangible value.
Intelligent agents for business growth
If your organization still relies on spreadsheets and manual processes, now is the time to explore how AI agents can help you work smarter.
The technical barrier to implement this technology continues to decrease. Even modest AI implementations can dramatically reduce manual efforts while establishing the foundation for increasingly autonomous operations.
Over time, an AI agent will only need broad guidance, not step-by-step instructions. Organizations that invest in clear data infrastructure, feedback mechanisms and modular AI tools can evolve toward implementing autonomous systems with minimal disruption.
Ready to automate time-consuming tasks with AI agents? Contact us to discover how intelligent AI agents can help you reduce manual work, cut costs and scale faster.
