How Digital Workers Are Changing Industrial Performance - with Somya Kapoor of IFS Loops

2026-03-18 · Source: The AI in Business Podcast · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Operations & Process Management, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, extended

Summary

IFS Loops CEO Somya Kapoor and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella discuss the evolution of industrial AI, highlighting how agentic systems are overcoming past barriers to intelligent automation. Earlier industrial AI efforts struggled due to expensive compute, limited deep learning algorithms, and on-premise data silos. Recent advances, including cloud infrastructure and advanced LLMs, now enable digital workers to handle complex operational tasks like procurement, order handling, and field service. These digital workers are task-specific assistants that learn from business instructions, automate manual processes, and provide clearer oversight. IFS Loops offers templated digital workers for supply chain, field service, and asset management, emphasizing focused adoption, measurable ROI, and the critical need for built-in oversight, auditability, and guardrails to manage these agents alongside human teams.

Key takeaway

For CTOs evaluating intelligent automation, recognize that modern agentic AI systems are fundamentally different from prior attempts, offering robust solutions for core operational tasks. Prioritize focused adoption on specific, repetitive workflows with clear ROI metrics. Crucially, plan for comprehensive governance, including audit trails, guardrails, and supervisor agents, to ensure secure and scalable deployment of these digital workers alongside your human workforce.

Key insights

Agentic systems enable intelligent automation for complex industrial tasks, overcoming prior AI limitations.

Principles

• Focus on narrow, repetitive operational tasks for early AI wins.
• Ensure AI initiatives are ROI-driven with measurable business outcomes.
• Manage AI agents as co-workers with clear oversight and governance.

Method

Digital workers are introduced as templated, task-specific assistants that learn from natural language business instructions, automate workflows, and integrate with existing systems, with a supervisor agent providing audit trails and monitoring.

In practice

• Automate supplier order management and inventory replenishment.
• Assist field technicians with real-time warranty information.
• Implement audit trails and supervisor agents for AI governance.

Topics

• Industrial AI
• Agentic Systems
• Digital Workers
• Intelligent Automation
• AI Governance

Best for: CTO, Executive, Director of AI/ML, VP of Engineering/Data

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by The AI in Business Podcast.