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ZDNET's key takeaways
AI agents did not take off in 2025.
Obstacles include legacy systems and architecture.
Companies that succeeded were thoughtful about implementation.
This past year was deemed the year of AI agents by experts and industry leaders alike, with a promise to revolutionize how people work and increase productivity. However, consultancy Deloitte's new Tech Trends report found that these autonomous AI assistants actually failed to take off, identifying both the obstacles preventing widespread adoption and ways to overcome them.
Every year, Deloitte releases its Tech Trends report, which examines the biggest trends of the past year to help inform enterprise leaders and workers alike about what to look out for in the upcoming year. Naturally, the main topic of the 17th report, like that of the past two years' reports, which ZDNET covered in 2023 and 2024, was AI. However, with investments in AI at an all-time high this year, the report offered valuable insights on how to maximize the ROI on agentic strategy.
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"Getting beyond the headlines to really focus on the so what, and now what, is the service that Tech Trends tries to do," said Bill Briggs, CTO at Deloitte. "The world's going to continue to advance and evolve, and you can't wait, or you will be left behind."
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