A CTO's Guide to Agents

“Agents” are everywhere—but most enterprise pilots still stall. In this HSO episode, we cut through the hype and give you a workable playbook. Our guest, Fraser Paine (Head of AI & Global Pursuits, HSO), defines what an agent really is, maps the maturity curve from Level 1 (call-and-response) to Level 3 (orchestrators), and introduces the Three T’s—Tasks, Tools, Triggers—so you can diagnose where you are and what to build next. We unpack why 95% of pilots fail (hint: culture and adoption, not just model accuracy), and how to flip your approach: don’t buy AI—hire it, onboard it like a new team member, and iterate in sprints with measurable checkpoints. We close with a pragmatic look ahead at domain-specific models and what that means for your 12–18 month roadmap.

You’ll learn:

A practical definition of AI agents and a clear L1 → L3 ...