I lead Microsoft’s enterprise AI agent strategy. Here’s what every company should know about how agents will rewrite work

History shows that breakthrough technologies don’t just slot into existing systems, they make us rethink those systems entirely. When steam power arrived, factories didn’t simply replace water wheels with engines. They redesigned the entire layout. Instead of clustering machines around a single power source, they spread them out, creating assembly lines and workflows that unlocked massive productivity gains. Electricity did the same, enabling flexible layouts and lighting that extended working hours and tra ...