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Since ChatGPT was released nearly three years ago, individuals and companies have experimented with reactive AI, composing AI prompts to create articles, tables, translations, to-do lists, and chatbots to resolve questions. While these tasks offer practical value, especially boosting efficiency, the next leap isnt just technical. Agentic AI systems can enable organizations to deploy autonomous service agents capable of managing entire organizational processes end to end.The value of agentic AI lies in collaboration, not replacement, where humans and machines each play to their strengths. When workflows combine human judgment with machine precision, organizations can streamline tasks, innovate personalization and insights, sharpen decisions, scale, and measure outcomes that inform ongoing process upgrades. Unlike reactive AI, agentic systems function as digital colleagues, taking initiative, pursuing goals, having memory and context, using tools to learn from outcomes, and adapting in real time. This shift unlocks incremental gains and breakthrough innovation in customer and user experience through reimagined workflows for operational excellence. The catch? Redefining how an organization operates to deliver differentiating value requires careful human orchestration. While agentic AI acts autonomously, it depends on human or enterprise oversight to anchor purpose, set guardrails, and ensure alignment. Effectively implementing agentic AI prioritizes the role of human employees in value creation to a higher level, ensuring transparency, ethical standards, and responsible strategic oversight at every level. Enable seamless integration: The Model Context Protocol To realize agentic AI’s full potential, organizations need to connect AI agents to multiple tools and data sources without building custom integrations for each one. Enter the Model Context Protocol (MCP)an open standard that replaces fragmented integrations with a single, universal protocol. Think of MCP as a USB-C port for AI agents. Just as USB-C standardized device connections, MCP standardizes how AI systems access databases, applications, and external services. No more writing separate code for each integration. For businesses, this means autonomous agents can seamlessly access customer databases, CRM systems, knowledge repositories, and execute actions across platformsall through one standardized protocol. As the ecosystem matures, AI systems maintain context while moving between tools and datasets, creating a sustainable architecture. The result? Dramatically reduced technical complexity and agents with the contextual awareness to deliver transformative customer value. Change management for cross-functional process reengineering Implementing the transformative value of agentic AI requires organizational change managementredesigning organizational processes that efficiently yield quality outcomes. Not just a new tool, impactful agentic AI implementation requires an AI expert as a vital ongoing member of cross-functional mission-based teams focused on a specific process selected for re-engineering. AI experts should not be siloed in the technical function. They should be embedded with the functional process content and outcomes experts, learning from each other as they expand organizational expertise. As the number of reimagined process teams grows, so does the organizational expertise, extending gains achieved and staying ahead of a continuously evolving AI. All of this requires careful orchestration of data, strategy, and organizational readiness focused on the functions to which agentic AI is applied and a work culture that adapts to discover new opportunities. This is transformational enterprise change. It is not an event but a new way of working. The potential, however, is substantial. If your organization is still only implementing prompt engineering, you are lagging. Prioritize process re-engineering targets Another key factor is how to prioritize which re-engineered processes customers and users will value most by seeing how they use the product or service. In the early 1980s, then-NCR Corporation used observational research to identify the most time-consuming challenges their retail cash registers could automate. NCR collaboratively developed the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol and developed a SCSI computer chip that enabled scanning charges to replace hand entry. Similarly standing in their customers shoes, Intuit engineers and product managers spur innovation by regularly engaging in follow-me-home with customers seeing how users apply their product features in their daily lives. This institutionalizes technical experts insights into customer usage to feed innovative ideas for more transformation. Train for an AI world Companies recognizing employees AI skill gaps are providing in-house or commercial training for workers. Higher ed institutions and their nonacademic competitors offer a variety of online courses. With AI continuously evolving, the next generation and their teachers also need training. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Americas second largest teachers union, is starting a training hub with $23 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic to focus on training teachers to generate lesson plans with AI wisely, safely and ethically. AFTs Share My Lesson is now Beta testing an OpenAI-powered teaching assistant, TRYEdBrAIn, that can adapt lesson plans to change grade levels, translate into different languages and many other options. Beta testing is now underway to understand user experience. The Khan Academy is testing an AI-powered teacher assistant as a student tutor in various school districts. As digital transformation accelerates, leading organizations will see agentic AI not as a tool, but as a catalyst for new paradigms of teamwork, value creation, and enterprise agility. Barie Carmichael is senior counselor and David Sanchez is director, AI Business Solutions at APCO Worldwide.
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E-Commerce
Canada’s largest airline, Air Canada, will begin suspending flights starting Thursday. The decision comes after the airline’s flight attendants union, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), issued a 72-hour strike notice over failed contract negotiations. The airline said it will suspend flights on Thursday and Friday, moving toward a full shutdown on Saturday of both Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge if a deal isn’t reached. “A planned labour disruption by CUPE, the union representing 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, is expected to begin Saturday, August 16, at 01:00 ET,” Air Canada said in a statement. Air Canada also said it has been in contact with other airlines to help meet their customers’ travel needs. It explained that the airline will attempt to rebook customers’ canceled flights, possibly on other airlines, but acknowledged there will be major hurdles with rebooking in a timely manner. “If your travel is disrupted, you can always choose a refund,” it said.“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders, and the communities we serve,” Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement. “However, the disappointing conduct of CUPEs negotiators and the unions stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canadas and Air Canada Rouges operations through a lockout. As we have seen elsewhere in our industry with other labour disruptions, unplanned or uncontrolled shutdowns, such as we are now at risk of through a strike, can create chaos for travellers that is far, far worse.” In a statement, the union said the airline has failed to address its concerns. The statement referenced “poverty wages” and unpaid labor, referring to time worked while planes are not in the air. The statement said: “Currently, Air Canada flight attendants perform hours of critical safety-related duties for free. The company has offered to begin compensating flight attendants for some of these dutiesbut only at 50% of their hourly rate, and the company is still refusing to compensate flight attendants for time spent responding to medical emergencies, fires, evacuations, and other safety and security-related issues on the ground.” While most airlines only pay flight attendants for time in the air, some flight attendants have begun pushing back. Recently, flight attendants in North America have sought compensation for total hours worked. That includes time on the ground, where they board passengers before takeoff and waiting periods between flights occur. “We have a lot of time in our days that we are unpaid,” Julie Hedrick, a flight attendant for American Airlines and president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants union, told NPR last year. “All of us, of course, feel that we should be paid for the minute we get to work until we go home, but we have to look at the entire package,” she said. In hopes of appeasing the union, Air Canada offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years. It included a 25% raise in the first year. The union pushed back, saying it would only actually raise wages by 17.2% over four years, and didn’t account for inflation. Air Canada had offered to compensate flight attendants for some unpaid work, but only at half of their hourly rate. This isn’t the first time Air Canada has threatened to shut down operations. Last year, after stalled talks with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) union, pilots prepared for a strike. Finally, an agreement was reached after Air Canada pilots voted in favor of a new agreement. If a deal isn’t reached by the weekend, the disruption will certainly be widely felt. According to the airline’s corporate profile, Air Canada provides service to airports all over Canada, as well as six continents, and is the largest foreign carrier to the U.S. Air Canada provides service to more than 50 U.S. airports, with around 430 flights between the countries each day.
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E-Commerce
Ulta Beauty and Target Corp. announced on Thursday that they won’t be renewing their in-store partnership, which ends a year from now in August 2026. Until then, Ulta Beauty products will continue to be sold in Target stores and online at Target.com. Ulta Beauty has an estimated 600 in-store, or “shop-in-shop” locations at Target, at nearly a third of Targets 1,981 U.S. stores, according to CNBC. Fast Company has reached out to both companies for additional information about the timeline and locations of the closures. Shares in both stocks fell on the news, with Ulta Beauty (Nasdaq: ULTA) down about 1% and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) down nearly 2% in early and midday trading on Thursday. Since launching four years ago in 2021, Target’s partnership with the beauty retailer, which sells everything from cosmetics to skincare and haircare products, was a way to increase foot traffic in Target stores while giving Ulta a way to expand its customer base. Target, like many big-box retailers, is seeing slower growth and softer sales fueled by high prices, inflation, and changing consumer habitswhich have prompted fewer Americans to shop in stores as they gravitate online. The retailer also faced consumer boycotts over its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies earlier this year. For 35 years, Ulta Beauty has revolutionized how people experience beautybringing together an unmatched assortment from mass to luxuryand our partnership with Target was one of many unique ways we have brought the power of beauty to guests nationwide, Amiee Bayer-Thomas, chief retail officer at Ulta Beauty, said in a press release. As we continue to execute our Ulta Beauty Unleashed plans, were confident our wide-ranging assortment, expert services, and inspiring in-store experiences will reinforce our leadership in beauty and define the next chapter of our brand. That release said customers with Ulta Beauty rewards and Target Circle-linked accounts will continue to earn Ulta Beauty rewards on eligible Ulta Beauty purchases at Target until August 2026. Target and Ulta Beauty, by the numbers In its latest earnings results for the first quarter of 2025, ending on May 3, Ulta Beauty reported net sales increased 4.5%, to $2.8 billion, compared with $2.7 billion the year prior, primarily due to increased comparable sales and new store contribution, and partially offset by a decrease in other revenue. The company has a market capitalization of $23.77 billion. Target, which reports second-quarter earnings next week, missed its first-quarter revenue expectations for the period ending May 3, with revenue coming in at $23.85 billion and falling short of the $24.27 billion estimate. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.30 adjusted, missing analyst estimates of $1.61. At the time, the retailer cut its full-year sales outlook, with sales down 3% compared with the same period a year ago. Target has a market capitalization of $47.14 billion.
Category:
E-Commerce
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