Agentic AI

An AI agent is software that resolves a customer request end to end, taking actions in connected systems rather than only answering questions. Unlike a scripted chatbot, an AI agent can look up an order, issue a refund, or update a record, then confirm the completed outcome back to the customer.

Conversational AI describes systems that understand and respond in natural language across chat, email, and voice. The category spans intent-based bots and modern language-model agents, and the practical difference between them is whether the system can only reply or can also take action in business systems.

Workflow automation chains system actions — issue a refund, reissue a document, update a record — so a resolution completes itself without an agent performing each step. It separates an AI agent that resolves requests from a chatbot that can only describe how a request would be resolved.

Zero-touch resolution is an issue resolved end to end with no human involvement and no follow-up contact from the customer. It is a stricter measure than containment, because it requires the customer not to return, and it is the cleanest available proof that automation genuinely worked.