AI agents shift the productivity question

What is happening. Chat assistants produce individual answers. Agentic systems carry out multi-step tasks and work across company systems. The challenge is no longer just answer quality, but whether entire workflows can be controlled reliably.

What it means for Germany. Productivity gains appear in clearly scoped, well-understood processes. Companies that do not test for themselves leave it to their software vendors to decide which workflows get automated, and how.

What to do now. Choose two or three tightly scoped processes, define metrics and stop criteria up front, and report the results to senior leadership. Do not roll out broadly until the value has been demonstrated.