The next frontier in customer communication 

Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT) is a concept coined by Gartner, helping to frame a new era of enterprise automation. When combined with Agentic AI, it offers a powerful lens to rethink how we engage customers—shifting from reactive messaging to proactive, intelligent interaction. 

In a world where customers expect instant, personalized, and consistent interactions, many enterprises are discovering the limits of traditional customer communication management (CCM) tools. These systems—built around templates, workflows, and scheduled campaigns—have served well for years, but they weren’t designed for today’s dynamic, always-on environment. 

Now, a new wave of automation technologies is reshaping what’s possible. At the heart of this shift are two powerful innovations: agentic AI and business orchestration and BOAT. Together, they promise a step-change in how customer communications are delivered—faster, smarter, and more in tune with evolving needs. 

From static workflows to autonomous orchestration 

So, what sets these technologies apart? 

Agentic AI refers to systems that go beyond task automation. These AI agents are capable of pursuing goals, making decisions, and adjusting their behavior in real time based on changing context. In the realm of CCM, that means communications can be triggered, adapted, and delivered based on what’s happening in the moment—not just what was planned in advance. 

BOAT acts as the orchestration layer, coordinating complex processes across departments, channels, and systems. It ensures that every communication—whether triggered by a support issue, regulatory change, or customer behavior—is aligned, timely, and consistent. 

This marks a shift from static workflows to autonomous orchestration, where communication journeys continuously adapt based on intent, behavior, and business logic. 

What it looks like in practice 

Imagine a customer experiences a failed payment. Instead of waiting for a batch update or a support ticket, an agentic AI detects the issue, drafts a tailored apology, and sends it via the customer’s preferred channel. Simultaneously, BOAT ensures the right internal teams are alerted and next steps are triggered—such as updating the billing portal or notifying customer service. 

Or consider regulatory updates. Instead of manually updating disclosures and segmenting recipients, BOAT can coordinate updates across departments, while agentic AI ensures each customer receives a version that matches their profile and region—with tone and content optimized for clarity and compliance. 

Why it matters now 

Customer expectations are rising—and so are regulatory demands. Organizations need to deliver personalized, relevant, and compliant communications in real time, across multiple channels. 

Agentic AI and BOAT offer a way to meet those demands, enabling: 

  • Hyper-personalization at scale 
  • Real-time responsiveness to customer signals 
  • Cross-channel consistency 
  • Reduced manual effort and human error 

In short, these technologies help enterprises move from managing communication templates to orchestrating intelligent, goal-driven conversations. 

Getting ready for the shift 

To fully unlock the potential of Agentic AI and BOAT, organizations need to ensure they have a modern CCM foundation in place—one that delivers two key capabilities: 

  • Flexible and scalable workflow capabilities to support dynamic CCM use cases and real-time interaction processes 
  • A modern, API-first CCM platform that can expose services for designing, producing, distributing, archiving, and e-signing for all business-critical document and digital form-based processes 

Steps to take: 

  • Assess where current communication processes are bottlenecked by manual steps or disconnected systems 
  • Identify high-impact journeys—like onboarding, claims, or incident response—that would benefit from adaptive automation 
  • Pilot small-scale agentic AI + BOAT use cases with clear guardrails 
  • Invest in governance frameworks to ensure brand tone, data security, and regulatory compliance are maintained as autonomy increases 

The bottom line 

The combination of agentic AI and BOAT is more than an upgrade to your automation stack—it’s a reimagining of how enterprises communicate with customers. Rather than pushing messages out on a schedule, enterprises can now let context, intent, and real-time data drive the conversation. 

For organizations looking to stay ahead, the path forward is clear: move from automation to orchestration, from static to adaptive, and from communication management to communication intelligence.