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Today, we’re unveiling a roadmap that sets out the release schedule for a network of business planning agents. These agents, already in private testing, will leverage mastery over a portfolio of tools to handle complex, time-consuming tasks autonomously.
If you don’t know what an AI agent is, this article will help you.
Meet your new teammates
Today, we’re unveiling three AI agents, each with a specific specialization.
Analyst Agent
Analyzes information from internal and external sources to identify trends, detect anomalies and build a comprehensive picture of the drivers behind data and performance patterns. It will present insights in multiple formats - dashboards, reports and audio - and offer recommendations to help teams take action. The Analyst Agent is available to select Pigment customers in private preview today.
Planner Agent
Collaborates with the analyst agent to translate insights into actionable steps. With domain expertise in areas such as finance, supply chain and operations, it will proactively make recommendations based on factors including company goals and market conditions. For example, if sales in North America are lagging while EMEA is exceeding expectations, the Planner agent will simulate different regional strategies to bring global performance back on track.
Modeler Agent
Autonomously builds and updates the models that underpin Pigment and serve as the foundation on which the Analyst and Planner agents operate. It maintains these models based on business changes and performs data quality checks, ensuring real-time accuracy and relevance.
To enable these agents to do their jobs, we’re building a suite of tools they’ll be able to use as they see fit.
A few examples are:
- Data analysis
Enables agents to perform tasks like contribution/variance analysis, time series analysis, data quality checks. - Qualitative data retrieval
Enables agents to read and utilize the information contained in documentation on your Pigment Drive. - Prediction/anomaly detection
Enables agents to leverage machine learning algorithms to make accurate predictions and identify anomalies in datasets. - Report generation
Allows agents to produce reports in a variety of formats - PDF, PPT, audio files, for example. - Modeling toolkit
Allows agents to create components, review and update formulas, optimize applications for maximum performance.
Why are agents a big deal?
Pigment already includes AI-enabled functionality that allows users to generate visualizations and get insights on their data by asking in natural language, instantly find boards in their Workspace, and get instant answers to questions about the platform.
Those are all powerful use cases that enable customers to make incremental productivity gains every time they use the platform. But those features are reactive - they only work when you prompt them and are limited - they perform one specific task, in one specific way.
Agents are collaborative, proactive and autonomous. They design their own workflows rather than following a set path, and have access to a portfolio of tools that enable them to support dramatically more powerful use cases.
That means they’ll be able to work together to fulfil complex requests - for example:
Analyze the revenue change by country for this month compared to last month. Break it down into price, volume, and product mix effects. Identify which products or regions contributed most to the changes. If volume declined, determine whether it was due to lower demand or supply constraints. Include historical trends for context. Generate a PDF with one page per country. Send it by email to Country Managers on the 3rd of each month.
or…
Every Sunday, after actuals are uploaded, generate a new demand forecast for the upcoming week using the forecasting algorithm Prophet. Once the forecast is complete, identify any changes in demand. Review key metrics such as inventory policies, and send alerts to demand planners via Slack. Share updated requirements with the production team to align with the latest market demand.
Ramp time has begun
As we speak, we’re training our team of agents. The Analyst Agent, now in private preview, is expected to enter general availability later this year, with Planner and Modeler following.
As agent capabilities advance and new members join the team, we’re expecting some incredibly exciting use cases to emerge - some that we can already imagine, and some that we can’t.
In the meantime, expect more development blogs from Pigment - and if you’re attending our upcoming Paris and New York roadshows, you’ll get to take a look at agents in action.
