EP 417 – AI Agents Can Think and Act. Is Your Business Ready? – Raymond Ngan, Appian

by Michael Waitze | Mar 11, 2026

For many years, automation inside businesses followed simple rules. If something happened, a system performed the next predefined step. That model created enormous efficiencies, but it was limited by rigid logic and narrow workflows. Today, a new generation of artificial intelligence is emerging that can reason about problems, plan tasks, and take action across multiple systems.

In this episode of the Asia Tech Podcast, ⁠Raymond Ngan⁠, Regional Vice President at ⁠Appian⁠ for Singapore and Asia, explains why the conversation about AI in business is shifting from simple automation to something much more powerful: agentic operations.

Some of the topics that Raymond covered in detail:

Agentic AI Is Not Just Automation, It’s Autonomy
The Future of AI in Business Is Orchestration
Trust in AI Is Built Through Guardrails and They Must Be Manufactured
Deploying AI at the Right Speed and in the Right Situations Is Key
Data Strategy Continues to Be the Real Foundation of AI

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