The competition towards AI-based intelligent entities: How infrastructure determines the success or failure of labor transformation

Introduction Agentic AI: Redefining work, reinventing roles Contents Architecting agility: Enterprises centralize AI efforts to own the agentic AI era Strategic spending: More than a third of tech budgets are invested in agentic AI initiatives Conclusion: The opportunity is now Agentic AI isn’t just another technology trend—it’s the catalyst forthe most significant workforce transformation in a generation To understand the scale of this transformation, and the barriers standing in the way of it, Cisco partnered with Omdia to survey Defining key termsRespondents: 650 enterprise executives. The findings are striking: 87% said agentic AI has fundamentally reshaped their strategic priorities.Within two years, most employees will regularly collaborate with agents to do their jobs. And executives agreed that agentic AIhas the potential to create entirely new roles, not just eliminate them. We surveyed 650 executives across six countries.All were stakeholders in their organizations’ agentic AI strategies and investments. All held director-leveltitles or above, with 35% residing in the C-suite. infrastructure beneath it. AI systems capable of autonomous action anddecision-making without direct human intervention. And, today, many enterprises don’t have secure, resilient infrastructure to support agentic AI.Workforce transformation is now an infrastructure challenge. And if AI agents are reasoning and acting across applications, These systems, manifested as AI agents, perceiveand interact with their environments whileindependently pursuing goals. clouds, and data centers, then the underlying fabric—the data, the network, and the security controls that surround them—determines whether agentic AI scales or fails. AI governance, modernizing their digital infrastructure, and investing heavily—dedicating, on average, approximately 37% oftechnology budgets to agentic AI. Half believe it’s essential for competitive survival today—well before most organizations willhave re-architected for it. AI technologies in production today. These leading organizations made up 19% of the final sample. environment or planning to do so within the next 12months. These organizations made up 64% and 17%, is the infrastructure imperative—the recognition that agentic AI demands a fundamentally different technical foundation, and thatbuilding it is now urgent. The executives surveyed for this report expect these investments to reshape their workforces within thenext two years—not incrementally, but dramatically. This report examines where executives are placing their bets. It explores howthey’re preparing their organizations and people. And it reveals why the workforce of tomorrow will likely look different from today. respectively, ofthe final sample. 65% of executives said theyexpect agentic AI to createentirely new roles over thenext three to five years. Agentic AI: Redefining work,reinventing roles respond—they act. After receiving initial instructions, they can independently executeprocesses, leverage tools, and query data to achieve objectives. More advanced agents refinestrategies over time based on outcomes, adapting to new information or human feedback.This shift from reactive assistance to proactive action is fundamentally changing how provide visibility into AI decision-making at scale. Without that foundation, these roles can’tfunction—no matter how prepared the workforce may be. where agents can scale. job elimination, but the reality may be more nuanced. Although 40% of executives predictedthat certain jobs will be eliminated, the research also indicates an expectation of workforcetransformation. In fact, 65% of executives said they expect agentic AI to create entirely newroles over the next three to five years. Additionally, 64% expect core responsibilities to besignificantly redefined across their organizations. machines is an essentialskill in the agentic AI era. lean in on trainingto empower staff tocollaborate with agents. design and existingprocesses to makeway for agents. collaboration techniques such as prompt engineering. How agentic AI is reshaping strategic priorities Eighty-seven percent of executives surveyed said that agentic AI has directly impacted their strategic priorities. Among production pioneers, 46% described the shift as “major,” compared to 33% of incubators. Agentic AI isn’t a single-leader initiative. When asked which executives hold significant responsibility for agentic AI strategies, respondents identified multiple stakeholders: infrastructure requirements. and implementation guidance. Unlocking new opportunities forbusiness impact with agentic AI value to be unlocked. Production pioneers are already seeing impressive gains: 60%cited improved operational efficiency, 58% pointed to better decision-making, and 56%reported both revenue growth and cost improvements. significantly more bullish about gains than incubators across every metric. This suggeststhat hands