Note: This is the first of a two-part series exploring the rise of autonomous businesses driven by agentic AI systems. In Part 1, I focus on how enterprises are adopting these systems to revolutionize operations and decision-making. Part 2 will delve into how telcos and telecom-adjacent companies must evolve to support this transformation, building the infrastructure for agent-to-agent communication. Stay tuned!
Part 1: Enterprises Are Embracing Agentic AI; Is Yours, and is your telecom provider ready?
The Rise of the Autonomous Business
As businesses push toward automation and efficiency, we are witnessing the emergence of the autonomous enterprise. These organizations rely on agentic AI systems—independent, intelligent agents—to optimize decision-making, drive innovation, and handle real-time operations.
Having spent 20+ years serving telecom and enterprise companies around the globe, I’ve realized that the meteoric presence of highly interconnected, real-time
AI apps and systems like ChatGPT, Gemini and other enterprise systems communicating
with each other and ingesting large datasets may be the biggest boon ever know to enterprises –
and telecom companies’ biggest existential threat. This evolution of managed
AI to agentic AI is the next frontier for any organization that consumes data or transports it.
David Arnoux’s model of “The 5 Levels of the Autonomous Business” perfectly captures this evolution for the enterprise company:
Let’s break this down…
• Level 1 (Manual): Humans control all tasks. Tech is limited to record-keeping.
• Level 2 (Assisted): Automation supports repetitive tasks, while humans make major decisions.
• Level 3 (Semi-Autonomous): Systems take over day-to-day tasks; humans step in for complex decisions.
• Level 4 (Fully Autonomous): Most operations and decisions are automated. Teams oversee performance and handle edge cases.
• Level 5 (Self-Evolving): Processes refine themselves via machine learning—for example, optimizing supply chains or marketing campaigns automatically.
We are rapidly moving into Level 4 and beyond, where businesses will increasingly depend on autonomous AI agents to handle everything from logistics to customer service to cybersecurity
The Enterprise Connection: Agentic AI in Action
To understand how agentic AI systems function and communicate within an enterprise, consider the role of Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems from the telecom world. Special note: telcos should pay attention here because what I’m about to explain is going to be vital for your future survival. Here’s the quick walkthrough:
In the early days of telephony, enterprises used PBXs to connect employees within their organization, enabling seamless internal communication while relying on telcos to connect them to the outside world.
Similarly, modern enterprises will use agentic AI systems to automate and optimize internal processes, with AI agents acting as decision-makers and communicators within the organization.
Imagine a logistics company using AI agents to dynamically reroute shipments in response to weather disruptions. These agents must communicate internally to adjust delivery schedules, optimize routes, and inform stakeholders.
However, this is just half the picture. To fully realize the potential of autonomous businesses, these AI agents must also connect and collaborate with agents outside the organization. In the legacy telecom world of the PBX, this is where the communication ends. Voice calls stayed inside the enterprise; communicating externally required a different set of telecom technologies. This brings us to the challenges of identity, trust, and communication infrastructure—a topic we’ll explore in Part 2.
What’s Next?
To meet the demands of autonomous enterprises, telecom companies will need to build the next generation of communication infrastructure that supports agent-to-agent connectivity. Much like the OSI model revolutionized traditional telecommunications, it can serve as a blueprint for integrating agentic AI systems into the fabric of modern networks.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore how telcos and telecom-adjacent players must adapt to this new reality.
