Microsoft’s latest report explores new AI opportunities for UK businesses. The Agents of Change report coincided with the UK leg of Microsoft’s global AI tour, showing how ‘agentic’ AI is transforming businesses.
Findings show that organisations with clear AI strategies gain in productivity and profitability. This divide emphasises the need for a well-defined AI adoption strategy.
This academic research commissioned by Microsoft included surveying 1,480 UK leaders and 1,440 UK employees by YouGov in January and February 2025. In this article, you’ll find a selection of the report’s highlights.
Agents of Change: Key Findings
Workload pressures and productivity potential
- 52% of UK employees feel their current workload is more than that of one person’s.
- 36% of leaders and 25% of employees believe they currently do the job of at least two team members.
- 67% of leaders and 46% of employees think they would be more productive if AI could autonomously handle time-consuming or repetitive tasks.
Cost reduction and efficiency
- 71% of organisations are looking for ways to reduce costs through automation.
- 64% seek efficiency and productivity gains through AI-led workflows and processes
Skills Gap
- 57% of leaders report an emerging gap between the efficiency and productivity of employees using AI and those not.
- Only 18% of UK workers say they have received training on how to use AI in their job.
Career Prospects
- 63% of UK employees hope agentic AI will boost their career prospects by catching errors in their work.
- 40% are looking to agentic AI to uncover ways to help them seek promotion.
- 36% of UK leaders say frequent AI users are more likely to be promoted in their organisation.
AI adoption opportunities and challenges
- 87% believe further transforming the workplace by speeding up their AI adoption is important over the next year.
- 74% of businesses want AI agents to automate repetitive workflows and reduce operating costs.
- 50% of UK leaders say there is a gap between AI ambition and action in their business.
- 51% say their organisation wants to harness AI’s competitive advantage but is not yet ready to do so.
- 41% of leaders admit they ‘don’t know where to start’ with AI.
The Rise of Agentic AI
Agentic AI is an evolution of artificial intelligence systems capable of making decisions and taking actions to achieve specific goals with minimal or no direct human intervention.
These systems enhance productivity, optimise workflows, and reduce the burden of repetitive tasks on people.
The Agents of Change report highlights the following agentic capabilities to boost performance and competitiveness, which range from simple to advanced usage scenarios.
Retrieval Actions
AI pulls information from your approved organisational resources, understands it, and summarises key points to answer questions. For example, an AI agent can simplify and present information from an HR policy document on-demand.
Task Actions
AI automates repetitive tasks based on specific triggers. For example, an AI agent can book meetings by checking team members’ availability to match each request’s specialist needs.
Autonomous Actions
AI plans and executes tasks independently, like a logistics system optimising deliveries without human input, improving operational efficiency.
In the Agents of Change report, 60% of people surveyed see agents as a way to improve the management of business-critical processes, such as detecting and escalating attempted fraud. A similar percentage felt that AI agents could successfully personalise interactions to boost customer satisfaction.
Agentic AI promises increased productivity, lower costs, and a better work environment. As AI continues to evolve, strategic integration of agents is expected to become a crucial driver of business success.
Leaders’ Priorities for Agentic AI
The report highlights UK leaders’ top priorities for agentic AI:
- Automation of repetitive workflows to improve operating costs – 71%
- Autonomous detection systems that escalate cases of potential fraud – 59%
- AI that personalises interactions to improve customer satisfaction – 58%
- AI chatbots that reason to provide recommendations on how to improve customer experience – 54%
- AI that identifies the most plausible sales targets – 52%
- AI that automatically identifies opportunities to grow market share – 51%
Gearing Up for Agentic AI
Integrating AI presents significant hurdles for many businesses. Challenges include skepticism, fear, skill gaps, and budget issues. The Agents of Change report finds a performance gap is emerging, leaving slow AI adopters at risk of falling behind agile competitors.
Here are some tactics outlined in the report to develop a robust blueprint for AI success.
Embracing Agentic AI
- Education and Communication: Launch initiatives to educate employees on the benefits and potential of agentic AI and their value for your organisation. Workshops and training will address fears and misconceptions.
- AI Champions: Identify and empower AI advocates within your organisation who can drive adoption and support their peers in understanding and integrating AI solutions.
Clear AI Strategy and Roadmap
- Strategic Planning: Develop and articulate a comprehensive AI strategy aligned with your business goals. This should include clear performance benchmarks and milestones to track progress.
- Pilot Programs: Run small-scale pilot programs to test AI solutions in controlled environments. Use these to gather data, test AI governance frameworks, identify risks and refine your approach before full-scale deployment.
Gain Familiarity with Responsible AI Principles
- Ethical AI Implementation: Educate teams on ethical AI implementation and ensure systems are in place to monitor compliance with guidelines and regulatory requirements.
Drive Efficiency Gains
- Automation for Productivity: Implement simple AI-driven automation in customer service, sales, and operations to achieve immediate efficiency gains and cost savings.
- Advanced AI Integration: Transition from basic automation to intelligent generative AI that can autonomously identify opportunities, provide data-driven recommendations, and support strategic decision-making.
Use AI to Sharpen Decision-Making
- Data-Driven Recommendations: Identify how AI agents can enhance decision-making by providing data-driven insights and scenario forecasting. This will allow for more accurate risk assessments and strategic planning.
Final thoughts
The Microsoft Agents of Change report indicates that nearly half of UK businesses benefit from AI through optimised processes and competitive advantages. In contrast, the other half have yet to explore these opportunities. By following the report’s blueprint, companies can overcome initial challenges to realise AI potential.
The transition to AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a well-planned approach, you can quickly harness agentic AI to drive innovation and efficiency. At ServerSys, we can help you realise this transformative potential with practical solutions that enhance your agility.
Download the Microsoft report and contact us to discuss how we can help you implement AI strategies that work for your business.
