Closed scope
The agent performs a declared set of tasks. Outside it, it routes instead of improvising.
Solution
An agent is not a chatbot: it does not only answer, it acts — queries a system, fills in a record, routes a case. We build agents with a closed scope, explicit tools and supervision where the decision matters.
The agent performs a declared set of tasks. Outside it, it routes instead of improvising.
Every possible action is an explicit tool, with permission and limits — not free text.
Controlled access to the internal sources the task requires, and to those only.
Sensitive decisions go through human approval before becoming action.
Every action is recorded: input, tool used, result and who approved it.
A set of test cases measuring quality before and after every change.
Usage limits per run and per period, with alerts — AI cost is variable by nature.
A clear escalation path for when the agent lacks enough confidence.
The second column is the one almost nobody publishes. It exists because a scope with a declared limit is the only honest way to agree on price and deadline.
If the task fits a deterministic rule, ordinary automation solves it better, cheaper and without variation in the answer. If there is no reliable knowledge base, the agent will answer with conviction about wrong information. And if the operation accepts no margin of error and no supervision, the problem is not a candidate for AI — it is a candidate for a system.
A proof of concept with real cases usually stands up in a few weeks. What decides the total schedule is access to the internal sources and the time to build the evaluation set — without it, there is no way to state the agent improved.
How many tasks are in scope and how clearly they are defined.
Access to internal sources and the state of that information.
How many systems the agent must call.
Level of supervision the operation requires.
Expected volume of runs per month.
Record-keeping and compliance requirements of the sector.
A solution is not a separate box: it is the same services applied to one specific problem.
A solution is not bought from a catalogue. It starts with an assessment of the real process, and only then becomes scope, schedule and proposal.
A chatbot answers; an agent acts. The agent has tools — look up an order, open a ticket, update a record — and uses those tools within a declared limit. It is the difference between a conversation and work carried out.
It will get some proportion wrong, and the design assumes that from the start: sensitive decisions go through human approval, every action is recorded, and there is an escalation path when confidence is low. Anyone promising absolute accuracy is not describing the technology.
The cost is variable, metered by model usage, which is why limits per run and per period come with alerts and a dashboard. We estimate the range during the assessment, based on the real expected volume.
It depends on the provider and the plan contracted. That is decided before the first line is written, with services and contracts compatible with the confidentiality of your operation.
That is what we recommend. One task, one evaluation set, a period of supervised operation. Widening the scope later is cheap; fixing an agent that did too much too early is not.
Repetitive work leaves the hands of the people who should be deciding.
The systems the company already has finally start talking.
Changing the engine with the car running — which is how it actually happens.
AI Agents
The first conversation and the preliminary assessment cost nothing. Only then come the scope and the proposal.