Business value in practice, not just theory

Many companies are already using agentic AI to drive business efficiencies and get the edge on innovation. Bosch, for example, has deployed AI-driven customer service agents capable of dynamically handling inquiries, allowing human representatives to focus on more complex issues. This implementation has significantly reduced response times and improved customer satisfaction.

In the manufacturing sector, companies like Schaeffler use AI agents to monitor production lines, detect defects in real time, and recommend corrective actions. This proactive approach minimizes downtime and enhances overall productivity. Similarly, Uber has integrated agentic AI into its software development and data processing workflows, automating query generation and reducing the time required for data analysis by 140,000 hours per month.

In finance, banks are deploying AI-driven fraud detection systems that autonomously analyze transactions and flag suspicious activity. These systems continuously refine their models based on emerging fraud patterns, reducing false positives and enhancing security.

Healthcare providers are integrating agentic AI into patient care workflows, where it assists in diagnosing conditions, recommending treatments, and optimizing hospital resource allocation. By analyzing patient histories and medical research, these AI systems help doctors make more informed decisions while streamlining administrative processes. Agentic AI is also starting to play a role in personalized medicine by tailoring treatment plans to individual patients based on genetic data and past medical history.

Tech companies that build agentic AI

Agentic AI relies on layers to function effectively because no single system can handle everything on its own. It has three distinct layers, which different tech companies are leading in right now and who you could work with to implement agentic AI:

• The foundational layer: Where AI gets its intelligence — it includes the advanced models (like those from OpenAI and Anthropic) and the computing power (from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel) that enable AI to process and generate information
• Orchestration layer: Ensures these AI agents operate smoothly, integrating them into workflows, managing their interactions and optimizing their performance — companies like UiPath specialize in this.
• Application layer: This is where Peak specializes. This layer is how agentic AI becomes a rapidly value-adding solution, powering real-world use cases like automating business actions, optimizing pricing or improving supply chain decisions.

Co:Driver: A game-changer, built on agentic AI

Peak has been delivering AI long before people were prompting ChatGPT for pictures and poems. Over the years, we have built predictive AI solutions for retailers, manufacturers and more — giving them their own AI which has helped them maximize margins, hit target service levels and free up capital tied up in inventories. In late 2023, we introduced Co:Driver, our agentic AI assistant.

Co:Driver seamlessly integrates predictive AI and agentic AI. Users can ask questions in natural language, and Co:Driver will retrieve relevant insights generated through predictive AI, synthesize insights and present findings in an accessible format. Whether it’s querying historical sales trends, identifying bottlenecks in supply chains, or evaluating customer purchasing behavior, Co:Driver eliminates the need for technical expertise, making AI-driven decision making more accessible to all employees.

Co:Driver provides users with real-time visibility into how their AI models function, offering clear explanations of data processing, decision making and output generation. This level of transparency helps businesses build trust in AI-driven recommendations and ensures that users can make informed decisions quickly.

Whether it’s analyzing sales performance, forecasting inventory needs or assessing pricing strategies, Co:Driver breaks down complex AI operations into understandable insights, reducing the knowledge gap between AI and business users.

Co:Driver can break down complex objectives into structured plans. When given a business problem, the AI agent determines the necessary steps and selects the best tools to execute them. For example, if a business wants to evaluate the profitability of launching a new product, Co:Driver can gather competitor insights, analyze past sales performance and generate projections. Instead of simply providing raw data, it processes information holistically and delivers actionable steps for decision-making.

Co:Driver is embedded into Peak, allowing it to automate key business functions within its inventory and pricing solutions. Instead of relying on employees to manually analyze market conditions and adjust strategies, Co:Driver can monitor data in real time and autonomously make adjustments that align with business goals.

How to get started with agentic AI

Getting started with agentic AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The key is to start small, focusing on simplicity and measurable impact. Instead of trying to overhaul entire processes, identify high-value, low-risk opportunities where AI agents can immediately drive efficiency.

Look for tasks that are time consuming, repetitive or require frequent decision making — these are the best starting points for automation. Balancing ROI with ease of implementation ensures that your first AI deployments are both effective and scalable.

Collaboration between AI and human teams is just as important as automation itself. Keeping humans in the loop during the early stages helps build confidence in agentic AI, allowing teams to understand how AI operates and where its insights add the most value.

As trust in AI capabilities grows, businesses can gradually shift towards higher levels of automation. The key is to refine workflows iteratively, testing AI models in controlled environments before fully integrating them into decision-making processes.

Speed of iteration is another essential factor. Agentic AI is evolving rapidly, and businesses that adapt quickly will gain the greatest advantage. Piloting solutions, gathering feedback and making continuous refinements are the best ways to ensure AI agents deliver reliable results.

Finally, fostering a culture of learning is crucial. The agentic AI space is developing at an unprecedented pace, and businesses that embrace ongoing education, experimentation and knowledge sharing will be best positioned to leverage these technologies. Encouraging teams to explore AI capabilities, test different approaches and identify new applications will help businesses stay agile in an AI-driven future.

Learn more about agentic AI

If you’re ready to take the next step toward integrating agentic AI into your business, Peak is here to help. Whether you’re exploring your first AI use case or looking to scale it across your business, we can work with you to develop tailored solutions that fit your business needs.

You can keep up to date with the latest on agentic AI by signing up to our newsletter, which includes insights on practical business implementations of AI that you won’t find anywhere else.

What is agentic AI?

Unlike traditional automation, which follows strict rules and predefined workflows, agentic AI can set its own course based on a broader objective. Once given a goal, it can decide how to achieve it and adapt to new information. When enabled to do so, it can even act itself without needing step-by-step human input.

It can analyze situations, determine the best course of action and even delegate tasks to other systems. Rather than simply executing predefined tasks, agentic AI can handle complex decision making, work across multiple systems and continuously refine its approach.

Agentic AI is gaining momentum because it represents a fundamental shift in how businesses use AI. Until now, AI has been assistive, meaning it has primarily provided insights, suggested actions or automated repetitive tasks within predefined limits.

Two of the most immediate and high-impact applications for agentic AI are inventory management and pricing optimization. These areas require constant, data-driven decision making — and agentic AI is already proving its ability to make these processes faster and more efficient.

How can agentic AI help my business?

Agentic AI in inventory management

Modern supply chains are too complex for static decision-making models. Fluctuations in demand, stockouts and logistics constraints require constant adjustments. 

Yet, many businesses still rely on reactive decision making, with hours spent manually adjusting inventory levels based on limited calculations and clunky spreadsheets full of information. This leads to excess stock, shortages and inefficiencies that cut into profitability.

Gartner’s research highlights the role agentic AI will play in improving inventory decisions:

Instead of managers spending hours reviewing data and making incremental adjustments, agentic AI continuously analyzes historical sales data, surfacing recommendations that businesses can act on immediately.

Agentic AI in pricing

Pricing decisions must constantly adjust to shifting demand and price elasticities. Yet, most businesses still rely on outdated pricing models, setting prices based on historical data rather than real-time market conditions.

Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI. This will include pricing adjustments based on AI-driven insights, ensuring businesses maximize revenue without eroding margins.

Rather than waiting for analysts to adjust prices manually, agentic AI can:

• Identify opportunities for margin optimization based on sales and demand data
• Adjust promotional pricing dynamically, ensuring discounts are targeted and profitable
• Prevent unnecessary markdowns, helping businesses avoid revenue losses

Co:Driver, Peak’s agentic AI assistant for inventory and pricing

Co:Driver is Peak AI’s agentic AI assistant — a tool designed to help businesses make smarter, faster decisions by surfacing real-time insights in a way that’s easy to act on. Instead of waiting on static reports or digging through dashboards, teams can ask Co:Driver direct questions and get AI-powered recommendations instantly.

Think of Co:Driver as your own ChatGPT, but built on your business data and processes.

You can ask it questions like:

• “What SKUs are at risk of running out in the next 30 days?”
• “Which products have excess stock that should be moved first?”
• “What’s the optimal price point for Product X?”
• “How would a 5% price increase affect sales volume and revenue?”

It works across inventory management and pricing, two areas where slow decision making can cost businesses millions. For inventory, Co:Driver works alongside Peak’s Inventory AI product, analyzing demand patterns, supplier timelines and stock levels to highlight risks and suggest actions before problems arise. At the same time, it connects with Pricing AI, helping businesses optimize pricing based on real-time market shifts, competitor movements and stock availability.

Co:Driver connects these decisions together. Instead of treating inventory and pricing as separate problems, it links them, so teams can see how one affects the other. Co:Driver helps businesses get the right stock in the right place, at the right time and at the perfect price point that maximizes sell through and margin.

Getting ahead in the age of agentic AI

By 2028, agentic AI will be a standard part of business operations. Companies that integrate it now will be in a stronger position to manage their inventory, pricing, and overall decision making more effectively.

Co:Driver is already making this possible. It gives businesses direct access to AI-driven recommendations, helping them optimize inventory and pricing, with easier access than ever to AI where they can ask questions about their data and get instant answers. .

If you want to find out how agentic AI can help your business, reach out to one of our team at Peak. Also be sure to join our upcoming webinar, What is agentic AI, anyway? on Thursday 27 February.

What is the Retail Technology Show?

The Retail Technology Show is the UK’s leading event for retail innovation, bringing together 15,000+ industry professionals and over 400 cutting-edge technology providers.

Spanning three stages of expert-led content, the event is a key moment for retailers keen to stay ahead using the latest tech. From AI-powered solutions to next-gen supply chain strategies, this year’s show will showcase the latest technologies shaping the future of retail.

When is the Retail Technology Show 2025?

The Retail Technology Show 2025 takes place between 2-3 April 2025 at ExCeL London.

What’s on at the Retail Technology Show 2025?

There are so many sessions to choose from at the Retail Technology Show with 125+ speakers and more than 50 sessions across its three stages.

Each session will cover one or more of this year’s show themes, which includes:

• AI, data and omnichannel
• Customer, social and marketing
• Leadership, workforce and economy
• Sustainability, supply chain and efficiency
• The future of retail
• The future of trading

Here are the sessions we’re most looking forward to at the Retail Technology Show 2025.

Making AI truly operational to drive performance through harnessing the power of your data

We’re looking forward to this fireside chat with Barry Panayi, Chief Data and Insight Officer at John Lewis Partnership.

The session will see Barry break down how John Lewis and Waitrose are structuring their data strategies, the impact AI has already had, and what it takes to move from experimental work to solutions that actually make a difference to business outcomes.

With four years leading data and insight teams at one of the UK’s biggest retailers, we’re looking forward to learning more about how John Lewis & Partners are leveraging AI.

The rise of AI: How Kingfisher has enhanced customer experiences and streamlined business operations and efficiencies

Mohsen Ghasempour, Group AI Director at Kingfisher, will take the stage to share how AI is transforming customer experiences and operations across brands like B&Q and Screwfix.

From the evolution of Kingfisher’s AI strategy to the differences between traditional and generative AI, Mohsen will break down real use cases across different markets and what it takes to integrate AI at scale.

He’ll tackle the challenges of driving adoption, the biggest opportunities for efficiency and growth, and how to prioritize investment for what’s coming next.

AI is reshaping retail faster than ever — this session will show how one of the biggest names in the industry is making it happen.

Predicting how omnichannel retail will evolve by 2027

Omnichannel retail is evolving fast, and by 2027, the landscape will look very different.

In this keynote panel at Retail Tech Show 2025, we’re looking forward to hearing from senior leaders at ASDA, Seasalt Cornwall, Dunelm, and Aptos Retail.

We’re hoping to hear them break down where the industry is heading and what retailers need to do now to stay ahead.

We’re expecting a deep dive into how retailers are defining omnichannel today and where it’s going next, the innovations that will drive a more seamless customer experience, and the changing role of stores in an increasingly digital world.

Balancing economic pressures and digital priorities in a challenging economic environment

We’re looking forward to Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics, sharing the findings from his analysis on the impact of the Government’s budget on UK retail.

His research combines insights gathered from 100+ UK retailers, which will help attendees understand the financial impact of budget across retail.

Particularly, we’re looking forward to the learning how retailers plan to mitigate impact to maintain strong forecasted growth and profit margins through emerging technologies and new approaches to business strategy.

Which customer strategies are currently driving real profit and market share for retailers?

We can’t wait to hear from this expert panel, which includes the following speakers:

• Simon Pakenham-Walsh, Chief Information Officer at River Island
• Jo Graham, Chief Digital Information Officer at Pharmacy2U
• Stephanie Legg, Chief Marketing Officer at schuh
• Jasper Goeman, SVP Business Development Europe at Nuvei

We’re expecting the panel to highlight the best examples of retailers with standout customer strategies, explaining how we can learn from their approaches.

At a time when customer spending is still being crunched by cost of living pressures, we’re excited to learn how the panel thinks retailers can increase their market share in 2025 and what role technology might play. In particular, we’re looking forward to where they think AI sits in a retailer’s strategic framework and how it can help them deliver their business goals.

Learn about agentic AI with Peak at the Retail Technology Show 2025

We’re excited to join the Retail Technology Show 2025 in the exhibition space.

We’re Peak. We work with retailers like Nike, Footasylum and B&M, giving them their own specialized AI that has helped them optimize inventory and pricing. They’ve seen game-changing returns like:

• Hitting availability targets across their supply chain networks
• Reducing capital tied up in inventory
• Maximizing sell-through and profit margins through AI pricing

This year, we want to help retailers understand agentic AI, a new category of AI that enables retailers to access AI-generated insights about their business, meaning you can easily optimize your retail strategies and automate actions to drive efficiencies.

If you want to talk to us at the Retail Technology Show, you can:

• Book a meeting using the button below; or
• Find us at the Retail Technology Show 2025 at exhibition space R70

We’ll see you there.

Learn how to win in the AI era

How do we win in the AI era? We can’t all be AI experts. Instead, we need to get even better at what we do. Discover what you really need to know to succeed in the future of work, from technical knowhow to the human qualities and skills that will make you indispensable in the years ahead.

Uncover steps to success with an Olympic medallist

2024 was an extraordinary year for British sport. We watched as British Olympic athletes won medal-after-medal, reaching new heights in their career. But what does it take to become an Olympic medalist? And what could business leaders learn from their stories? Steve Parry (pictured below) has the answer. An Olympic bronze medal-winning swimmer at Athens 2004, Steve has since gone on to launch his own business. He’ll be explaining what it takes to win an Olympic medal and how to translate those learnings into business success. He’ll give insight into how to succeed at both work and in life through the power of a strong mindset, and by taking individual responsibility while also building the right team around you. 

Discover the power of lifelong curiosity

We’re born with seemingly endless curiosity, but as the years go by, we tend to lose that curiosity, with a creeping feeling that we’ve seen it all before. Simon Clarke has worked for some of the world’s biggest drinks brands, including Coca-Cola. He believes that keeping hold of that curiosity is key to innovation, to success as a leader and a business more broadly. At AltitudeX, you’ll learn how to hold on to your curiosity and the incredible impact this can have.

Network with supply chain specialists and industry leaders

AltitudeX will welcome an exclusive audience of inspirational leaders and senior figures from some of the world’s biggest organizations. Already confirmed to attend are representatives from the likes of PepsiCo, PZ Cussons, Hain Daniels, Ralph Lauren, Virgin Media O2 and Co-op. This is your chance to network with renowned industry leaders and supply chain specialists who have reached new heights in their careers — and to hear, first-hand, the secrets to their success.

Ask the questions that can change everything

Questions can change lives. Whether we’re asking ourselves, or someone else we can learn from. We’re thrilled to welcome someone who knows all about the art of asking questions: Guardian journalist, BBC host and author, Mark Lawson. 

Mark has interviewed some of the most fascinating people in the world, including Noel Gallagher, Stephen Fry and Brian Cox. At AltitudeX, he’ll sit down for a fireside chat to explain how to ask the questions that can change everything. 

Find out what generative AI means for you

AI has taken an interesting turn. With recent advances in generative AI, we’re seeing AI create art, write poems, plan recipes — it’s doing the things we thought would always remain in the domain of humans. But what does the boom in generative AI tools mean for business leaders? At AltitudeX, our generative AI workshop, run by experts in the field, will explain what this technology means for you.

Immerse yourself in the history of the beautiful game

Manchester is a city that is synonymous with football, so we’re thrilled to be hosting this year’s AltitudeX at the incredible National Football Museum. Attendees will gain exclusive access to the entirety of the museum — which will be closed to the public on event day — and get the chance to explore its incredible collection that showcases the history, culture and power of football. On top of this, there’ll be interactive games, a penalty shoot-out competition and some unmissable ticket giveaways!

Explore empathy against the odds

Put all the targets, processes and politics aside. What leadership really comes down to is people. But how do you drive high performance in a team? For Janet Hadley, Head of Supplier Engagement at the Co-op, the answer is empathy — building connections of mutual empathy that creates motivation and meaning, even in the hardest of times. Learn how you can be a more empathetic leader, only at AltitudeX.

Learn the virtue of impatience

Impatience is often seen as a vice. But impatience also drives urgency. Impatient leaders are the ones who want to move faster, who motivate others to do so. But how do we get the virtues of impatience, while avoiding some of the associated vices? At AltitudeX, we’ll explain how impatience can define success and how you can benefit from it too.

Oh, and let’s not forget the food and drink…

Yep — just like every good football-related experience there’ll be half-time pies and post-match pints (or any other alcoholic/soft drinks that tickle your fancy.) We’ll see you for a glass or two of the good stuff in the networking zone after the final whistle!

Sign up for AltitudeX 2024

Join us on Thursday 10 October as we welcome business leaders from across industries. We’ll be hearing their stories; the big ideas that helped them reach new heights, personally or professionally

What Pride means to Peak

Pride has always been a combination of gesture and action. We see gestures like Pride flags waving outside establishments, people wearing Pride rainbow colors and social media posts, offering messages of solidarity to LGBT+ people. People take action too, hosting events focused on LGBT+ issues, marching in the Pride parade and raising awareness and funds for LGBT+ charities.

In past years, we’ve used Pride as an opportunity to celebrate our LGBT+ colleagues and to educate non-LGBT+ colleagues on the LGBT+ experience. This year, we’ve taken a step back to understand how we’re doing as an employer of LGBT+ people and what we can do to make a difference going forward.

One thing we’ve done in previous years is change our social media logo, from our usual design to one boasting the LGBT+ pride flag colors. Of course, we’ve not been the only one. In recent years, many companies have adopted the Pride logo as a form of gesture, a way to indicate their allyship. 

We should all aspire to be an ally to LGBT+ people and it’s heartening to see so many businesses demonstrating this ambition by flying the Pride colors every year. This gesture started out as a meaningful act of solidarity at a time when businesses risked losing customers by doing so. 

But the meaning of this gesture has changed over the years. As societies have become more welcoming to LGBT+ people, the gesture of displaying a Pride flag has become less risky for businesses in many regions where it’s become something of a no-brainer. 

Why wouldn’t you? Adopting a Pride flag can show you’re progressive, it can show your business is a great place for LGBT+ people to work and it can show you’re championing LGBT+ rights. For many businesses, the LGBT+ logo will be a fair representation of their rightful role as an LGBT+ ally. But, ultimately, anyone can change their logo to Pride flag colors.

LGBT+ have expressed concern that by temporarily changing their logos to Pride colors or designs, businesses can reap the benefits of allyship, even if they don’t take meaningful action for LGBT+ people. At Peak, we believe the term “ally” is not a label a business can give themselves. 

We believe the term “ally” is earned. It’s an evaluation made by the LGBT+ community, based on a business consistently acting like an ally. It comes as a consequence of action, not before it. That’s not to say Peak hasn’t taken action as allies. For instance, we removed gendered language from our communications, we added pronouns to our internal communication tools, we equalized parental and adoption leave, we run annual internal Pride celebrations, and we run educational events on LGBT+ topics. 

We also run an annual diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) survey that helps us understand the experiences of LGBT+ people at Peak. We act on those results, with action plans led by our People team and the employee-led group, Peak Equals.

We’ve done a lot. We’re doing a lot. But we’re not satisfied. We want to set the highest standards for what it means to be an ally. That’s why this year, we’re doing things differently.

Why there’s no Peak Pride logo this year

This year, we haven’t shared a Peak Pride logo. To put it simply, we’re not ready. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, but we believe there’s more to do. 

Yes, by displaying the Peak Pride logo, we’d perform a positive gesture of allyship. But we’d also benefit from the positive perceptions that come with allyship. We believe it’s our responsibility to elevate the meaning of allyship for ourselves and the wider business community. 

This year, we want to let our actions speak for themselves. So we’ve used this Pride as an opportunity to reflect on the meaningful actions we can take, like creating “transitioning at work” and “coming out at work” policies so LGBT+ Peakers across the world can feel they’re safe to truly be themselves. 

These are just a couple of policies we’re looking at. We’re also working with Inclusive Employers on our broader inclusion strategy, as well as working with DEI experts in tech. 

We’re with you. This time next year, we hope we can look back on this moment with Pride. Secure in knowing our actions have spoken louder than any words, or logo, could.