The business AI field guide / 2026

Separate the useful AI from the expensive theatre.

Independent, practical guidance for teams choosing models, building agents and automating real work—without outsourcing their judgment.

Business AI systems connected across models, agents, data and peopleDATAMODELAGENTACTIONHUMAN

Five essential briefings

Build a stack that earns its place.

Start with the decision you need to make, not the technology vendors want to sell.

Layered architectural forms representing a comparison of business AI models

01 / FOUNDATION

Leading AI models

Compare frontier, open-weight and specialist models by capability, cost, context, privacy and operational fit.

  • LLMs
  • Pricing
  • Selection
Compare the models →
Connected industrial shapes suggesting an intelligent agent workflow

02 / ORCHESTRATION

Intelligent agents

Understand tools, memory, planning loops and the controls that keep autonomous workflows reliable.

  • Agents
  • Memory
  • Guardrails
Design better agents →
Modern service workspace representing managed agentic AI operations

03 / DELIVERY

Agentic services

Decide when to buy managed AI outcomes, commission a custom system or build an internal capability.

  • Vendors
  • Contracts
  • ROI
Assess service options →
Structured building grid symbolising connected enterprise automation platforms

04 / EXECUTION

Automation platforms

Compare no-code connectors, RPA and developer-first orchestration for dependable production workflows.

  • RPA
  • iPaaS
  • Workflows
Choose a platform →
Bright experimental objects representing emerging workplace AI tools

05 / HORIZON

Emerging AI tools

Track multimodal assistants, coding copilots, synthetic media and private on-device intelligence.

  • Multimodal
  • Code
  • Research
Scan the horizon →

A better buying principle

Automate the bottleneck, not the org chart.

The strongest AI projects begin with a measurable constraint: response time, backlog, error rate or cost per transaction. Map the work, establish a baseline and keep a human owner accountable for the result.

Read the delivery guide