As 2025 drew to a close, the narrative surrounding enterprise AI began to shift. We moved from 2025 being the “Year of Experimentation” to 2026 shaping as the “Year of Deployment.” Under such a mandate, enterprises must develop and deploy their AI applications scalably, efficiently, and economically. For the large enterprise, starting with the Fortune 500, achieving these goals will require the adoption of a factory-like approach, leading to the development of AI Factories.
Waiting for the emergence of an AI Utility is a strategic trap for the enterprise. Instead, the enterprise must build an AI Factory to deploy its intelligent agents. The utility provides the raw power (tokens). However, the AI Factory requires a machine to process that power. That Proprietary Intelligence Engine is the enterprise’s machine. It is the infrastructure layer where its data and business logic live, both of which are required for realizing impactful and enduring value.
Under what conditions will #AI have a lasting impact on the #enterprise? This is a fundamental strategic question for enterprise leaders. Approaching it as a utility would imply that the bulk of the investments will be borne by others. But this could impact how enterprises scale their AI efforts. Approaching it as infrastructure impacts what the enterprise builds.
AI agents are an important component of the transformation to become an AI-first company. Corporations undertaking this transformation must understand where and how to incorporate agents and which agent types to utilize in the AI-centric processes they establish and the organizational structures they adopt. The article presents AI agent types, outlines how corporations should think about “agentification” as they transform to become AI-first, and explains how our firm’s AI methodology fits agents into AI-first business processes.
In today’s corporate digital transformation landscape, “AI-first company” is emerging as a term that deserves real attention, not just another consultant’s buzzword. But can an incumbent truly transform to become AI-first, as Intuit is attempting, or must it be designed that way from inception, like Tesla? In my previous article, I defined the AI-first business process and contrasted it with AI-enhanced processes. This piece builds on that foundation to define what an AI-first company is, describe its defining characteristics, and provide examples of corporations undergoing this transformation.