Navigating the New Era of AI with Familiar Wisdom

The rush to adopt generative and agentic AI is creating exciting new possibilities for automation. Yet, many organizations are finding that their efforts aren’t always delivering as expected—a phenomenon reminiscent of the early days of Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

As Agustin Huerta, SVP of digital innovation at Globant, points out: “This new era of agents puts the same challenges again in front of us, and we need to think about what we faced during the RPA revolution.”

Drawing on that experience can help organizations avoid common pitfalls:

1. Prioritize Strategic Automation

Just because you can automate a process doesn’t mean you should. As Stephanie Bova, digital transformation officer at Novo Nordisk, emphasizes: “We think hard before we start creating something. Who’s going to maintain it? Is the process itself optimized?”

Novo Nordisk now requires automation projects to demonstrate clear business benefits—a shift from earlier days when virtually any request for automation was approved.

2. Implement Continuous Oversight

Even sophisticated AI systems require human monitoring and validation. Purpose Legal’s chief innovation officer, Jeff Johnson, notes: “We always have people in the guardrails to ensure processes stay on track, especially with sensitive data like legal documents.”

AI may generate convincing outputs—even appearing to provide expert opinions—but these should be treated as drafts requiring careful review by qualified professionals.

3. Ensure Data Quality from Start to Finish

The adage “garbage in, garbage out” remains critically true for AI. Sabrina Joos, director of program management at Siemens, explains that while data quality was always a concern with automation, it’s now more complex:

“With agentic AI, the issue isn’t just whether data is correct but also if it’s complete and meaningful in context.”

By revisiting these lessons from the RPA era, organizations can approach their AI initiatives with greater clarity, focus, and ultimately, success.