Leaders Letter 207: The Agentic Web Executive Briefing

AI Has Reshaped The Web - Here's How To Get Ahead

Dear leaders, apologies, it has been a while.

Why? I needed the break. Content creation is harder than most think, especially high-quality content you will want to read and then choose to use the recommendations.

I have been deep in AI since December. I have been focusing on understanding AI, not just at a foundational level, but how it works, why it is disrupting industries, why it is removing headcount (hint it isn’t as much as the headlines are suggesting) and confusing executives to go all in OR go human+AI until they are confident in the narrative to the shareholders and industry at large.

The narratives are so important that it outweighs the HR firing and associated issues.

I have hosted AI workshops for brands, leadership teams and Marketing teams, which have been great, I love workshops, and helping team members to get closer to their (AI) AHA moment. It has been equally eye-opening - many professionals still believing it is “cheating”, “not trustworthy”, a “fad” and not something they fundamentally believe in.

Here’s an outline of what the workshop could look like for your business:

» If you or your business needs help with AI, just get in touch — ai@dannydenhard.com

The Agentic Web: Today I wanted to share a new technology shift that is about to start appearing, it is the agentic web (it will be agents (bots) working across the web to complete tasks we set them to complete and automating tasks the agents believe we should be doing to be more productive.

This executive briefing is designed to highlight the implications agentic web will have and why it will be critical that you are ahead of this next phase of AI.

Got questions, hit reply.

Want answers on the agentic web, hit reply. Or chat with me here

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Agentic Web Executive Briefing

Prepared for: Board and C-Suite Level Executives

Prepared by: Danny Denhard, Coach, Consultant, Advisor

Date: 28/05/2025

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Executive Summary

The agentic web is the next phase of the internet. We are about to embark on a shift from human-created web (from researching product or problem to transacting), to agents (bots) creating and organising content, completing tasks, connecting with brands and other agents and transacting on our behalf (somewhat autonomously)

Bottom Line Impact: Larger SAM, bigger revenue opportunity, large investments required. We have to be a first-level mover. By moving early, we can capture early adopter revenue and become the brand humans and agents trust, gain a first mover advantage, we need to be able to change internal thinking to influence our market position. In this current market, our competitive advantage will have to be leading the market in adopting new tech and creating great user (human and agent) experiences.

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Critical Industry Shift Overview

Current Web To Agentic Web

Timeline: 18 Months - Starting Now. Expect ramp Q4 2025

Magnitude: High Impact - Industry-wide change required. From opening up bot access (most are now disallowed and protected via tools like Cloudflare), amending web protocols (APIs, etc) and technological shifts. Once the agentic web starts, it will not stop.

What's Happening:

• A permission-based web protocol is being enabled in the AI technology shift

• Microsoft are leading the charge of allowing agentic (bots) to complete tasks such as researching, downloading and transacting on websites/apps (or agent-to-agent (aka A2A). Microsoft will be using the Anthropic (Claude) MCP protocol and building on top of protocols to enable agentic transactions.

• Low to no adoption yet - this is new technology, but will accelerate with huge investments being made into AI and directed by Microsoft

• Microsoft appear to have aspirations of policing the agentic web similar to how Google does currently

Strategic Implications For Our Business:

Opportunities:

• Market expansion will grow over time, being long-term focused is vitally important. More productive humans will mean an increase in the market and growth of brand and tech opportunities.
  Being seen as the brand and go-to for core products in our space is more important than ever to ensure revenue growth, market expansion, and any moats we believe we have.

• Customers will follow the usual crossing the chasm cycle; innovators and early adopters will invest significant time and money into being first in the automation of tasks and building the best agents. The early majority may have to shift into early adopters, not to be left behind in productivity and cost savings. Customers will demand the brands they know, like and trust lead the market

• Short term:

  • Improve technology and tech stack,

  • Invest in hiring the right FTE, and external consultancies will increase our capabilities. Many team members will struggle to adapt, and could see team members leave

  • Ways to incorporate new AI planning and build out new revenue models. First mover advantage while competitors struggle with how the web is evolving is imperative

• Mid-term:

  • Create a high-trust brand, increase revenue and repeat customers (agent + human customers/users), early ROI in AI investments and automations

  • Expanding our scope, there will be an opportunity to scale, whether this is in supply chain, increase national/internal ordering and fulfilment and in some cases consider offering a fully translated global experience

• Long-term:

  • Increased SAM and SOM, market expansion, more productivity will likely mean more ordering and more effective Marketing

  • Revenue acceleration through 24/7 autonomous operations and enhanced customer experience

Threats:

• Short-Term:

  • Poor technical implications and low trust (negative press) will erode trust and impact transactions.

  • Not handling customer support effectively and quickly - agents will expect real-time error handling and real-time solutions - otherwise it will go to another site or agent to transact

  • Increase in hack attempts - hacks will be more sophisticated

  • Early overinvestment based on output on audit and strategic review

  • Huge increase in tech and infosec may be premature while market matures and catches up

  • Underinvestment will lead to poor outcomes and revenue loss

  • Right now, there is not a verification engine/vetting platform planned; this will need to be built, or verification will be controlled by a big tech player like Google, Apple or Microsoft

  • New human and agent behaviours will lead to an increase in issues, from credit card rejections, chargebacks (unwanted actions taken, wrong tasks set by human-to-agent), incorrect attribution, and new configurations required for CRM systems (agents to be connected to customer accounts and approved)

• Mid-Term:

  • Poor risk calculations and implementation will mean high fraud or claim backs from agents and humans unaware of transactions

  • Questions that need to be answered will be: who do you market to - human and agent or to agent to handle and filter?)

  • High discount use and race to lowest price with pressure from automated systems to reduce pricing, as it will be hyper effective in finding savings, the lowest price and the most effective ways to buy items or plan trips.

  • If we are slow to the market and slow down agent actions, we will loss sales, market share and it will impact how we are seen by LLMs guiding agents and customer satisfaction will drop quickly.

Required Response:

Short Term: Today - 6 months

• Full specification of the new tech architecture requirements, new budget will have to be assigned

• A full strategic review and realignment of priorities is to be completed post-tech audit and review. Expect many mid to high effort, mid to high impact tasks to be reassigned

• Full training is required to connect the business with the new seismic shift.

• Workforce change management - experienced leaders and those with transformation experience are critical to take the lead in market shifts - potential new hires are required to deal with project and scope change

• Marketing and Growth to build out new flows, including Marketing channels, CRM flows. Customer support will require new levels of training, and any AI implemented will need to be updated and prepared for new levels of Q&A and interactions

• Budget reforecast and reforecasting critical - there will be a need to bring forward spend and request additional investment to win

• Urgent need for new AI and agent governance frameworks and compliance protocols

• Regulatory uncertainty requires proactive engagement and adaptive strategies

Would you like this as a Google doc. Request below

Still not convinced? Here is the Microsoft CTO explaining the Agentic web and how they are planning for it

I have also been busy embracing Growth & Marketing through my coaching, I have created a few podcasts with smart people:

• How the CMO role has evolved and why being an executive is so challenging for most

• The secrets every Marketer needs to know about their content failures

• The future of SEO and why it is going to go hand in hand in AI

I cannot promise more regular content, but when there is something as important as this, I will definitely be hitting your inbox with something that will help you for months to come.

Enjoy the rest of the week

Danny Denhard