The Sticky Tape Problem
Adapt, we all overcome..
MIT Technology Review reports a striking gap: 85% of organizations want to be operating with AI agents within three years, but 76% admit their current operations and infrastructure aren't ready. The disconnect, per PwC's Prasun Shah, is that companies are "embedding AI employees into what is a human operating model" — layering agents onto workflows designed for human pace, human decisions, human review cycles. He calls it sticky tape on a structure that was already breaking.
The promise is real. AI agents at scale could accelerate business processes 30 to 50%. But unlocking that requires rewiring the work itself, not just bolting agents onto a pre-AI org chart.
For small businesses watching this from below: the constraint that usually disadvantages us — no entrenched workflows, no legacy systems, no quarterly reorg politics — becomes an asset when the playing field shifts. Building agentic from day one is easier than retrofitting it onto fifteen years of habit. Starting small starts to mean starting clean.
