Implement

Agent or hire: how to decide whether a job should grow through people or systems

When work outgrows your team, you can hire, deploy an agent or do both. Seven questions about the job itself point to the right answer.

The Infercline Desk · 1 h ago

South Africa Local

The Agent Stack

Digify Africa launches WhatsApp‑based Didi Mobile Academy for youth

The new platform offers short digital‑skills modules to South Africans aged 18‑35, targeting unemployed youth in underserved areas.

Agent Security and Trust

South African firms must prioritise data and security as AI use surges

Dell says 67% of South African companies now use AI, but many lack the data, infrastructure and security needed for scale.

Agent Playbooks

How to put an AI customer service agent to work

A customer service agent can settle routine questions around the clock, but customers are wary and the business is bound by what it says. A step-by-step plan for doing it well.

Agent Playbooks

How to put an AI agent on accounts payable

Paying suppliers is repetitive, rule-based and digital, which suits an agent. It is also a favourite target for fraud. How to get the speed without the risk.

Agent Playbooks

How to use an AI sales assistant without annoying your customers

AI can research prospects, draft messages and keep records tidy. It can also flood inboxes and break marketing law. Where to use it, and where a person should stay in front.

The Economics of AI

How to tell whether an AI agent is paying for itself

Vendors quote savings. Your accounts show costs. A simple method for measuring what an agent really returns, including the hidden hours that most calculations leave out.

Agent Security and Trust

Human approval: where a person must stay in charge of an agent

Some decisions should never be left to software alone, and in several countries the law agrees. How to decide where a person approves, and how to make that approval real.

The Agent-or-Hire Scorecard

Should this job grow through people or through systems?

Seven questions about one job in your business. Each answer scores 0 to 3, so the total runs from 0 to 21.

Four possible answersHire someone. Improve the process first. A person and an agent together. Or agent-led, with a person approving the exceptions. Take the Scorecard.