Autonomous agents: a new evolution of apps

Copilot Studio and Power Automate had a baby!

Let's celebrate!

You may have heard or read about Autonomous Agents that you can create in Copilot Studio, but maybe like it was for me at first glance, you don't understand what this new kid on the block is really about. Is it all hype, or is it yet another Microsoft rebranding?

My way of explaining in simple words what this new concept is about:

Take the level of ease that Copilot studio and its AI capabilities have revolutionized the creation of interactive bots.

Bring this into an automation world, where Power Automate has led so many organizations to depend on.

Mix that all together and you get Autonomous Agents to whom you provide:

knowledge (or skills if you prefer)
actions defining what they can do
triggers that say when they kick in

and voilà!

How did we get here?

When I learn a new concept I want to explain to others, I always try to link it to something we already know. This time around, the connection is with floor cleaning!!

Play along with me, and then tell me if that makes sense for you too.

Brush off the floor - Manual data capture

In the early days when we wanted to gather information about a task, we'd most likely use pen and paper. Tedious work, with potential issues when reading the information back later on - handwriting being what it is. Just like cleaning the floor with chiffon, you may miss spots or don't have an overall perspective.

Broom the floor - Capture information in Excel

Later on, came apps, such as Excel, that allowed to capture data formally. Removing the issues with handwriting and adding automatic calculating capabilities. Much faster and more efficient, just like using a broom to clean the floor.

Use a vacuum cleaner - Use an app to transform data

Apps, Apps, and apps... how do I love apps! Here we can guide the user, we can enforce business rules and logic, all much more sophisticated than 'just' an Excel spreadsheet, right? Makes lives much easier, similar to using the power of a vacuum cleaner.

Automatic robot cleaner - use Copilot/AI to decide on data

Speed through time, up to just 2 years ago or so, and the 'real' AI revolution has started. After many years of tough evolution, we now are in an era where we can use AI to reason over data and leverage large-language models on top of infrastructures that democratize these capabilities and are changing the way we build end-user solutions. It's not cloud-first, it's not mobile-first, it's now AI-first. Copilots are helping us in our day-to-day work, providing us with accelerators and guidance. But just like the automatic robot cleaners, that reasons over the floor surfaces and that is launched on a schedule or by a user request, copilots are just a companion at this point.

Robot cleaner detects a hole and calls for repair - use agents to act by themselves

We yet had time to understand all the potential of Copilots we now have to understand the concept of autonomous agents. What are these about?

Compare this concept to a robot cleaner that can do the following:

1. Start an inspection and cleaning routine based on certain conditions. For example, when a sensor determines the floor is dusty.

2. Proceed with the cleaning, but also be able to identify defects on the floor.

3. Based on a set of provided guidelines, know that it must call a repair team when it detects defects.

4. Send the order to the team, and notify the house owner that this was sent.

Just as an autonomous agent could for example:
1. Start a review process when a vacation request email is received.

2. Interpret the request and understand who it's for, when is it for, and any other relevant information.

3. Based on a set of HR rules, know that it can authorize the request or send it to a manager for approval.

4. Add the vacation entry into the timesheet system, and notify the requestor of the approval.

This is pretty basic, but consider having multiple specialized agents that another agent orchestrates... an army of agents... hmm, now what comes to mind is GOVERNANCE, let's discuss about this ;-)

About me

I'm Éric Sauvé MCT & MVP, aka ZePowerDiver, Power Platform practice lead, solution architect, and consulting service director at XRM Vision. I'm a Power Platform enthusiast and speak in Power Platform and Dynamics CE related conferences.

You can reach me on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zepowerdiver
~~Twitter:~~ ~~https://twitter.com/ZePowerDiver~~
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/zepowerdiver.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ZePowerDiver
Blogger: https://www.zepowerdiver.com/
Github: https://github.com/ZePowerdiver/

Keep on Diving!

Published on: December 10, 2024

Learn more

Dive in the Power Platform and gain power!

Blog image