Mark Ajzenstadt set out seven steps from tool adoption to an agentic org, meaning a company where agents do much of the work. His point was that most companies are on step one, shopping for step-seven technology, when what they need is the work in between.
This page is about when you need governance. For how it differs from guardrails, read What's the difference between AI guardrails and agent governance?
The seven steps
| step | what it means |
|---|---|
| 1. Tool adoption | people across the company use AI tools, and a person runs each one |
| 2. A context layer | each department's knowledge is kept separate, and only the right people can reach it |
| 3. The harness | quality checks and routing are built first, and the AI model is a part you can swap out |
| 4. Headless | automations run on a schedule, without needing anyone's laptop |
| 5. Governance | rules on who may do what, an end date on every agent, and switching off the ones nobody uses |
| 6. Agent to agent | one agent hands its work to the next, with a check at each handover |
| 7. Orchestrated work | agents do the bulk of the work, and people handle the exceptions |
Why sales teams get stuck
Step seven says agents do the bulk of the work and people handle the exceptions. In sales, an exception usually shows no error at all. It is a sentence an agent sent to a buyer, such as a discount nobody approved, a date nothing is in place to keep, or a certification you don't hold.
If nothing decides which messages are exceptions, step seven goes one of two ways. A person reads everything, and the agent saves nobody any time. Or nobody reads anything, and you hear about the problem from a customer.
What step five looks like for an agent that talks to customers
- The facts you are willing to say, each with a named owner and a date.
- A check before every message. The answer is allowed, ask first or not allowed.
- An end date and a review, so no agent runs on rules nobody has looked at for months.
- No forgotten agents that can still get in. Each agent connects with a key, a bit like a password. Every key has a name and an owner, and is easy to switch off.
- A record of what each agent promised in your company's name.
- People handle the exceptions, and they are reached where they already work.
Where Reynforce fits
Reynforce is step five for the part of your company where an agent's words reach a buyer. Its Facts, Rules and Activity pages cover the list above, and requests for approval reach people by email, Slack or text. It works with whichever AI model and agent platform you already use.
When Reynforce is the wrong choice
- You are looking for help with step four or step six. Reynforce doesn't run your agents, and it doesn't pass work between them.
- You are still on step one. Our free audit shows what an agent could quote from your own website today, which is a good place to start.
What it costs
£99 a month for each agent for your first 10 agents. After that it is £79 a month for each agent, up to 49 agents. If you pay for a year at once, you get two months free. If you want us to set it up and get it signed off with you, that starts at £2,500, paid once, and the price depends on the agent's job. Pricing has the rest.