Knowledge Agents for the Enterprise: From Retrieval to Real Work

Most current enterprise "knowledge agents" are merely retrieval-augmented chatbots, which are inadequate for the multi-step, high-stakes nature of actual knowledge work. The next evolution of AI will feature agents that can execute complex tasks like closing support tickets or reconciling ledgers, rather than just answering questions. Enterprises must navigate a trade-off between building a custom AI stack for control and buying off-the-shelf solutions for speed. The optimal strategy is a hybrid approach, where a company owns its core AI architecture while integrating best-in-class components for reasoning, orchestration, and retrieval to reliably turn knowledge into action.