Standard architecture: AI applications and agents
Workflows that drive an outcome from step to step. Process steps that hand work to each other.
Standard architectureThe parts at least half of the organizations in AI applications and agents have, as many as 5 of them run all together. Counted from public, sourced parts only; each organization below links to the parts it was counted on.
- Organizations running it
- 5
- Of their industry
- 36%
The pattern
What every instance has, in order
- DecisionsMarket and positioningin 100% of instancesthen
- ProcessLead generationin 100% of instancesthen
- ProcessProduct or service designin 100% of instancesthen
- PeopleOrg structurein 100% of instancesthen
- ProcessHiringin 100% of instancesthen
- DecisionsHealth, safety and environmentin 100% of instancesthen
- DecisionsData protection and security assurancein 100% of instancesinformation
- PeopleSalesin 100% of instancesthen
- ProcessProduction or deliveryin 100% of instancesinformation
- SoftwareIntegrationsin 100% of instances
Coloured arrows: a flow of that type seen between the two at instance organizations. Grey arrows: order only.
Structure
Element
Share of instances
Companies
Customer onboarding
80%
4
Onboarding and training
80%
4
Learning and improvement
60%
3
Quality control
40%
2
Logistics and fulfilment
40%
2
Uptime and incidents
40%
2
Evaluation and red-teaming
40%
2
Planning and scheduling
20%
1
Pretraining and fine-tuning runs
20%
1
Billing and invoicing
20%
1
Management cadence
20%
1
Variant · where they differ
Member
Variants, couplings and instances
Every level, number, source and dimension: Member, $300 a year.
Couplings · what comes together
Member
Variants, couplings and instances
Every level, number, source and dimension: Member, $300 a year.
Entropy
Where it runs rough
Operating-reality findings at instance companies: workarounds, manual hand-offs, bottlenecks.
- Customer onboarding2 findingsDependency 2 · at 2 companies
- Sales2 findingsDependency 1 · Manual hand-off 1 · at 2 companies
- Usage policies and model documentation2 findingsDependency 1 · Tacit rule 1 · at 1 company
- Regulatory compliance1 findingDependency 1 · at 1 company
- Health, safety and environment1 findingManual hand-off 1 · at 1 company
- Learning and improvement1 findingInformal channel 1 · at 1 company
- Integrations1 findingDependency 1 · at 1 company
- Planning and scheduling1 findingTacit rule 1 · at 1 company
Seen across
Where it holds
Industries
Size
- 501-1000 people20%
Region
- United States40%
- North America20%
- United Kingdom20%
Instances
The 5 companies it was seen at
Member
Variants, couplings and instances
Every level, number, source and dimension: Member, $300 a year.