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The Agentic AI Revolution : Leveraging Microsoft AI and Autonomous Agents to Transform Work and Business

Name: The Agentic AI Revolution : Leveraging Microsoft AI and Autonomous Agents to Transform Work and Business
ISBN: 9798868820229

by Will Hawkins, Nancie Calder

January 2026

Intermediate to advanced

167 pages

4h 6m

English

Apress

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The Agentic AI Revolution
Prologue
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
About the Authors
About the Technical Reviewer
1. The AI Landscape and Its Evolving Impact
1.1 From Novelty to Necessity: A Brief History of AI Evolution1.2 Automation, Augmentation, and the Rise of Collaboration1.3 Democratization of AI: From Developers to Power Users1.4 New Business Models and Economic Shifts1.5 The Human–AI Relationship: Partner, Tool, or Threat?1.6 Role-Based Vignettes: Agents in Action Across the Enterprise1.7 Leadership Checklist: Embracing Agentic AI in Your Organization
2. Challenges and Gaps in Current AI Adoption
2.1 The Limits of Traditional Automation2.2 Why Context Matters: The Weakness of Static Models2.3 The Black Box Problem: Why Trust Breaks Down2.4 Siloed Intelligence: Fragmentation Across Tools2.5 Resource Intensive and Fragile to Change2.6 Missing the Human Element2.7 Why Agentic AI Is the Next Step Forward and Its Emerging Risks
3. Understanding Agency—What Makes Agentic AI a Teammate, Not a Tool
3.1 From Pins To Prompts: How Adam Smith’s 250-Year-Old Theory Is Driving the Agentic AI Revolution3.2 What Makes Something Agentic?3.2.1 The Three Pillars of Agency3.3 Degrees of Freedom: A Taxonomy3.3.1 Scenario A—The HR Help Hub3.3.2 Scenario B—Overnight Ledger Reconciler3.3.3 Scenario C—Sales-Forecast Orchestrator3.4 Digital Division-of-Labor Playbook3.4.1 Order-to-Cash in Four Digital Specialists3.5 Bringing the Pieces Together
4. Why Agentic Capabilities Outperform Traditional AI
4.1 Benchmark 1: Task Robustness4.2 Benchmark 2: Self-Directed Problem Solving4.3 Benchmark 3: Automating Iteration4.4 Agent Swarms: Coordinated Autonomy at Scale4.5 Quantifying Impact: Productivity, Quality, Speed

5. Microsoft’s AI Stack and Agentic Evolution
5.1 Meet the Ecosystem: Copilot, Azure AI, Power Platform, Fabric5.1.1 The Infrastructure Foundation (Figure 5-1—Bottom Circle)5.1.2 Data and Orchestration (Figure 5-1—Data Orchestration Circle)5.1.3 AI Service Suite (Figure 5-1—AI Service Suite Circle)Azure AI Agent Service—Managed Runtime and OrchestrationMicrosoft Agent Framework—Unified SDK for Prompt Routing, Memory & Multi-Agent WorkflowsAzure (OpenAI + Cognitive) AI Services/Azure AI Foundry—Models for Language, Vision, Speech, KnowledgeCopilot Studio—No-Code Canvas and Fine-Tune Portal5.1.4 Business Applications Layer (Figure 5-1—Business Applications Circle)Dynamics 365 Agents—Embedded Intelligence in Every RolePower Automate—The Glue That Binds AI to ActionCopilot for Microsoft 365—An Everyday AI Companion5.2 Deciding Which Layer to Use5.2.1 Focus on Mapping Where Your Data Lives to Each Tool’s Connector Framework5.2.2 Not Every Agent Needs to Interact with a User Through Conversation5.2.3 Start at the Top and Drill Deeper5.3 Agentic Framework: Tool Combination Deep Dives5.3.1 Implementing Copilot Studio5.3.2 Azure AI Agent Service Patterns That Will Have You Wiring Agents Together Like A ProStart with Model Context Protocol (MCP)Orchestrating Agent-To-Agent (A2A) HandoffsPicking the Right Memory Store5.3.3 Hardening the Business Applications Layer for AI SuccessPower Automate: The Glue (and the Human Brake Pedal)Dataverse Tables As Shared MemoryApplication Insights for Deep TelemetrySecurity Roles and Data-Residency Controls5.4 Success Stories and Real World Applications
6. Governing Agentic AI—Principles, Practices, and Playbooks
6.1 Why Governance Matters for Agentic AI6.2 Core Principles for Responsible Agentic AI6.3 Designing a Governance Framework6.4 Building Governance Playbooks6.5 Challenges and Pitfalls6.6 From Compliance to Competitive Edge6.7 The Future of AI Governance
7. Embracing the Agentic Workforce
7.1 The Human Side of the Agentic Revolution7.2 Building AI Fluency and Capabilities That Scale7.3 Evolving the Employee Experience7.4 Change Management for Agentic Transformation7.5 Leadership for the Age of Agents7.6 Aligning Organizational Design to Support AI7.7 Scaling Sustainably
8. Beyond the Horizon
8.1 The Autonomy Maturity Path8.2 Scaling Agentic AI—From Pilots to Enterprise Flight8.3 Practicing Ethical AI: Harmonizing Innovation and Responsibility8.4 Maximizing the Human in the Loop8.5 Positioning for the Future: Orienting to an AI-First Business Model8.6 Beyond the Agent Era—Glimpsing the Next Horizon8.7 Conclusion: Embracing the Horizon
Index

Content preview from The Agentic AI Revolution : Leveraging Microsoft AI and Autonomous Agents to Transform Work and Business

W. Hawkins, N. CalderThe Agentic AI Revolution https://doi.org/10.1007/979-8-8688-2022-9_3

3. Understanding Agency—What Makes Agentic AI a Teammate, Not a Tool

Will Hawkins¹ and Nancie Calder¹

(1)

Toronto, Canada

8:27 a.m.

You’re skimming yesterday’s sprint notes when a twinge of annoyance flickers, the budget-recap agent still hasn’t delivered its briefing. Who wired punctuality out of its settings? you grumble.

Before you can draft backup talking-points, the agent pops onto your screen.

You (checking the clock): “Weren’t you due at 8:00?”

Agent: “I was waiting for your sign-off on the human-in-the-loop (HITL) prompt. Without it I couldn’t publish the recap ...

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The Agentic AI Revolution : Leveraging Microsoft AI and Autonomous Agents to Transform Work and Business

by Will Hawkins, Nancie Calder

3. Understanding Agency—What Makes Agentic AI a Teammate, Not a Tool

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.