Perspective / 02

AI agents cannot fix fragmented commercial data

Agency amplifies the quality—and ambiguity—of the identity and authority model beneath it.

Perspective

Independently created. Contains no employer or client implementation detail, internal names or figures.

00The thesis

An agent can act across systems faster than a person. That makes unresolved identity and authority more dangerous, not less.

01Argument

Agency magnifies ambiguity

If two accounts may represent one customer, autonomous action turns a data-quality question into duplicated outreach, pricing or commitments.

02Argument

Retrieval is not authority

Finding a value does not establish whether it may be trusted, changed or used for a consequential decision.

03Argument

Build the control plane first

Define canonical identity, permitted actions, confidence thresholds, audit events and human review before expanding agency.

Second-layer questionWhat part of the problem is the organization asking technology to conceal?

04Where the argument is applied

Related capabilityAI & Agentic Workflows
  1. AI case / 05Using AI to assist data quality without giving it master-data authorityAn agent suggests duplicate candidates, normalized names and missing classifications—with evidence—into a data steward’s queue. It never merges, renames or reclassifies a record itself.AI & Agentic WorkflowsData & IntegrationsSystems & CRM ArchitectureFictional scenario · 7 min
  2. Systems case / 05Designing customer identity across CRM and ERPSeparating commercial, legal and transactional identity—and governing how they map, merge and retire across CRM and ERP.Systems & CRM ArchitectureData & IntegrationsProcess ArchitectureFictional scenario · 9 min