Discover how agentic AI is creating real opportunities for businesses to automate work and unlock insights.
In 1995, most American businesses didn’t have a website. The internet was dismissed as a novelty, not a serious business tool. Newsweek ran a now-infamous column titled “The Internet? Bah!” arguing that an online database would never replace a newspaper. Most executives agreed. The ones who didn’t captured advantages that latecomers spent the next decade trying to close.
That story has replayed across every major technological shift in modern history like the telephone, the personal computer, the Cloud. Each time, there was a window of a brief stretch where the technology was mature enough to be useful, but new enough that most companies hadn’t implemented it yet. The businesses that recognized that window and acted gained ground they never gave back.
I believe that AI’s window has just opened. Let me explain.
Why Now?
Over the last several months, OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic released a new generation of AI models that aren’t just smarter, they can do things. “Agentic AI” can take a goal, break it into steps, use tools, make decisions, and deliver results.
A year ago, this was largely theoretical. Today, it’s real. OpenAI’s Operator lets users hand off multi-step tasks like booking travel, filling out forms, navigating websites to AI systems that execute them.
And this is where it gets interesting for the 30+ million small-to-medium sized businesses in America.
What This Means for Your Business
The infrastructure that made agentic AI possible for the enterprise is rapidly becoming available to everyone. Consider what’s achievable today.
A company can deploy an AI agent that connects to its data, answers questions about its clients and sales trends, and generates visual reports on demand which can save hours of delegation, rote work, and a three-day turnaround. This isn’t hypothetical, it’s a solution we’ve built at Keller Schroeder.
Think about a service firm that spends 40 hours a week on proposal writing. An agent that pulls from past proposals, tailors language to RFP requirements, cross-references pricing data, and produces a polished first draft could give that firm back half its week.
With proper setup and orchestration, agents are economically viable today. The question now is how quickly companies can start utilizing them.
Adopting Responsibly
Moving quickly matters but moving with intention matters more. The companies that got the most out of the early internet weren’t the ones that rushed to put up a website, they were the ones who asked, “What specific problem does this solve for us?” That’s the right question to ask about AI, too. Find places where your best people are doing work that isn’t worthy of their best thinking. Start there.
How Keller Schroeder Can Help
At Keller Schroeder, these are the exact kinds of problems we’re solving right now by building practical, agent-powered solutions tailored to specific business needs. We can help you identify where agents make sense, harness them responsibly, and ensure they deliver value.
The organizations that move thoughtfully in 2026 will build advantages their competitors spend years trying to close. We’d love to help you be one of them.
