Will Your Brand's AI Agents or Someone Else's Agents Serve Your Customers?

The blog explores the transformative potential of AI agents in reshaping customer engagement with brands, focusing on the strategic decisions brands face in deploying these technologies. It highlights the advantages of brands developing their own AI agents, such as maintaining control over customer experiences, building competitive differentiation, and gaining richer customer insights. However, it also acknowledges the challenges of competing with AI-native companies like OpenAI, which possess advanced technological resources. The blog discusses alternative strategies, including partnering with third-party agents or adopting a hybrid approach, which combines developing proprietary agents while collaborating with external AI providers. The narrative emphasizes the importance of investing in customer-facing agentic applications to avoid disintermediation by external entities and maintain direct customer relationships. Additionally, it introduces Snowplow Signals, a tool designed to provide real-time customer intelligence to enhance the efficacy of brand-owned AI agents, stressing the need for brands to adapt quickly to the evolving landscape of AI-driven customer interaction.