Imagine waking up tomorrow to find your business run by an unstoppable team: experts who never tire, never quit, and only get better with experience. This isn’t fantasy. This is the new reality powered by the Multi Agent System (MAS). It is redefining productivity, transforming workflows and making traditional SAAS look obsolete. I feel this is what Satya Nadella meant when most only picked up that ‘SAAS IS DEAD’!

So, how do you assemble this unstoppable team? What does it take?

Let me give you my formulae to building a future-proof billion-dollar workforce – The Autonomous Five (TA5):

Mr. S – The Strategist (AI-Tech : LLM): A high-IQ, logical thinker who excels at solving complex problems, making inferences, and giving strategic answers. Think Claude 3 Opus or GPT-4 Turbo in human form.

Ms. K – The Knowledge Keeper (AI-Tech : RAG): Your information powerhouse, constantly accessing and curating company knowledge, delivering precise insights instantly to Mr Strategist. Embodies a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) agent.

Mr. P – The Planner (AI-Tech : Agent Orchestration): Breaks big goals into executable tasks, assigns them to the right expert AI agents in the team, and ensures timelines are met.

Mr. C – The Communicator (AI-Tech : NLG): Translates technical insights into plain language for employees or customers, and vice versa.

Mrs. W – The Watchdog (AI-Tech : Guardrails): Monitors all interactions, checks for hallucinations, compliance, and ethical concerns.

Unlike traditional human teams, this AI team doesn’t quit, doesn’t retire, and only improves with time — like fine whiskey.

As you will know, this team can’t be built overnight? So, where do we start?

Most of current business processes have been built as per traditional SAAS mindset. Traditional SAAS applications follow a rigid structure of below 5 steps :

1. UI (Web form where User will input data
2. Workflow (Static Business rules)
3. Integration (Fixed number of systems to pull and push data)
4. Report (fixed number of reports based on available data)
5. Decide (Decisions made by stakeholders based on analysis done by the Human users).

Autonomous AI Agents (Lets call it Dynamic SAAS) simplify and supercharge this to only 2 steps:

1. Interact (User ask or assign anything related to the problem / work assignment they are trying to solve / accomplish for their respective domain. AI processes the query and use Multiple Agents to complete the task or provide a meaningful insight in the background)
2. Decide (Stakeholders make a decision based on task output and or holistic insight generated in fraction of the time as compared to traditional SAAS systems).

This revolutionises your productivity by:

• Understanding user intent beyond explicit articulation.
• Dynamically determining workflows, integrations, and analytical processes.

Transforming SAAS into flexible, intelligent systems of record, driven by infinite data points previously deemed irrelevant due to human analytical limitations which is now possible with AI Technology.

So, (since AI has removed analytical limitations) we need to do two things:

• Design processes to capture unlimited data points.

• Find ways to gain actionable insights previously unattainable.

Let’s understand first, What is an AI-First Process?
An AI-First process is one that is intentionally designed not just to execute a workflow — but to capture the richest possible data about people, behavior, context, and outcomes — so that AI can convert this into predictive intelligence over time.

Most companies today automate processes.

Future-ready companies will (are) design(ing) AI-first processes that become data engines.

Let me dive deeper into ‘how to’ make AI First Processes a reality by taking HR as an example (since HR is my domain 🙂)

Imagine an enterprise that does thousands of interviews, one-on-one sessions, exit interviews, etc. You take a typical HRMS SAAS platform – it captures only surface level data of events. Why? Because we designed HR processes based on traditional HR SAAS solutions which can process limited data.

AI can now understand and make sense of data that was previously deemed irrelevant.

Lets take a look at the 7 Critical AI-First Processes Every Large Organization Must Build

1. Interview Conversations → Record, Transcribe, Contextualise

• Record all candidate interviews (video + audio).
• Store Q&A, reasoning behind hiring decisions, rejection comments.
• Capture interviewer feedback in structured formats beyond rating forms.

2. Work Interaction Patterns → Track, Log, Map

• Capture communication touch-points: emails, meetings, chats, project updates.
• Tag project roles, dependencies, collaboration frequency, blockers raised.
• Map who works with whom, how often, and on what type of tasks.

3. Performance Conversations → Document, Annotate, Narrate

• Record performance check-ins, feedback discussions, and coaching sessions.
• Capture manager reasoning for ratings or promotion decisions.
• Tag aspirations, development needs, role challenges discussed.

4. Exit Conversations → Capture, Classify, Time-Stamp

• Record complete exit interviews verbatim.
• Classify exit reasons, grievances, organizational themes.
• Capture willingness to return or refer others.

5. Culture Listening Touch-points → Enable, Capture, Personalise

• Deploy always-on feedback channels (chatbots, quick surveys, feedback prompts).
• Capture real-time mood, issues, blockers, suggestions — in free form.
• Tag feedback to themes: policies, manager behavior, team dynamics.

6. Skills & Learning Journey → Tag, Track, Update

• Track skill acquisition via learning tools, projects, certifications, peer endorsements.
• Document failed attempts, retry efforts, project feedback on skill application.
• Maintain a living skill graph per employee.

7. Workforce Movement History → Map, Visualise, Connect

• Record every role change, project assignment, BU transfer, manager shift, location move.
• Document context behind redeployment or re-skilling decisions.
• Tag success/failure outcomes post redeployment.

How AI Converts These AI-First Processes into Business Insights

Once these processes are in place, AI doesn’t just automate reports — it connects invisible dots across data points:

AI-First Process

AI Uses the Data To:

Interview Data

Predict long-term performance, culture fit, risk of early attrition

Work Interaction Patterns

Identify working styles, collaboration bottlenecks, communication strengths/weaknesses

Performance Conversations

Suggest personalised growth paths, team role fit, potential redeployment options

Exit Conversations

Detect patterns causing exits, flag high-risk teams, identify alumni for rehire

Culture Listening

Surface real root causes of dissatisfaction by team/location/manager

Skills & Learning Data

Recommend re-skilling paths, track L&D ROI, identify hidden experts

Workforce Movements

Predict optimal career paths, avoid failed redeployments, model succession planning

Final Thought

→ Automation solves tasks. AI-First Processes build intelligence.

All these will happen in a few years. However, the feed has to start today. The wider you cast your net, the more data you get, the better training your AI gets, the clearer the advantage you have over your competitors.

It is time we move from the ‘STATIC-SAAS-PROCESS’ to the ‘AI-FIRST PROCESS’ mindset. This will not just be a game changer. This is the game.

#HRisNotACostCenter

Article Parameters

Relevant Personas : HR Leaders, HR Professionals, HR Consultants and C Suite Leaders

HR Problem : Mindset shift to redesign processes to leverage the fast maturing AI Technology

Solution Style : Quantitative Dip for a well known Qualitative problem

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About Manu Khetan

Manu, Founder and CEO of Rolling Arrays, a global HR technology leader, brings two decades of expertise to redefine HR practices. Passionate about pioneering HR automation and nurturing talent, Manu advocates for a customer-first and employee-first approach, prioritizing value creation. Beyond the boardroom, he is a dedicated family man, a skilled pianist, and an advocate for empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. Join Manu on the transformative journey where HR emerges as a dynamic force for positive change in the business world.