Agentic AI services: Gartner sets out five moves for tech service firms

Business news | January 8, 2026

By Brian Tristam Williams

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Gartner is urging technology service providers to treat agentic AI as a near-term services opportunity, warning that firms that fail to align “intelligent business experiences” with clients’ growth objectives risk losing “$3 of every $10” in revenue by 2030.

From assistants to agent ecosystems

Gartner frames the shift as a progression in autonomy and complexity: AI assistants handling simple rule-based tasks, AI agents that are specialised and autonomous, collaborative agent groups coordinating multiple task-specific agents, and eventually AI agent ecosystems spanning applications and organisations.

Five steps for tech services firms

Mobilise process and data teams.
- Drive cross-team collaboration so offerings are built around measurable process change and business outcomes.
- Align talent development and delivery teams to support agent-led automation at scale.
Rework software assets and alliances.
- Broaden partnerships across established and emerging AI vendors.
- Plan for duplicated process/data/IT requirements and manage partnership costs.
Train for cross-disciplinary delivery.
- Teach teams agentic AI basics, use cases and evaluation.
- Provide tools that help clients identify and implement solutions securely, including low-/no-code options.
Update marketing and sales enablement.
- Refresh collateral with agentic AI language and capabilities.
- Sharpen differentiation, target ideal customers, and train teams for more technical buyer conversations.
Measure outcomes and price accordingly.
- Set benchmarks, control costs, and use pricing that reflects delivered outcomes.
- Build industry-specific expertise and develop case studies to establish credibility.