More than half of large organizations have already deployed AI agents that take autonomous actions in their production networks, according to a new study from Cisco and Omdia Research. The report, titled "The Impact of Agentic AI on Network Operations," surveyed 1,000 IT and network-operations leaders at companies with at least 500 employees. It reveals a rapid shift from AI tools that simply advise human operators to systems that execute network changes on their own.
The study found that 51% of respondents already have agentic AI operating in live network environments, while 84% anticipate running an AI-led operating model within the next year. Organizations face roughly 4,100 monitoring alerts and events daily, with just over half related to network issues. AI agents themselves are adding to infrastructure demands: Cisco's separate testing showed that a task carried out by an AI agent created up to 450% more total network traffic compared to the same task done without agentic systems. Despite the momentum, 95% of survey participants identified at least one major weakness in their current non-agentic AIOps tools, and 86% said a single unified platform represents the best way forward.
Jim Frey, Chief Analyst for Network and IT Operations at Omdia Research, said the findings "point to a broader shift from the advisory model of AIOps to agent-powered operations, AgenticOps, that can take action." The report found that organizations aren't prepared to adopt agentic network operations without clear governance frameworks in place. Thirty-six percent of those surveyed stated that complete observability—including action traces, summarized reasoning, and post-action audits—is the bare minimum acceptable standard for autonomous operations.
The report explains that network operations teams are overwhelmed by rising alert volumes and issues that cut across multiple systems, which drives interest in agentic solutions. However, organizations will need to revise their IT operations and governance policies to function effectively in this changing landscape. For managed service providers and integrators, the transition means helping clients establish boundaries on agent actions and verify that automated changes performed as intended. Visibility across customers' existing tools offers a practical starting point, the report notes.
The report concludes that the IT workforce will transform rather than shrink as agentic AI takes hold. Humans will set policies and design escalation pathways, while agents handle high-volume operational tasks. Companies should build visibility and auditing trails to confirm that autonomous systems continue to meet organizational standards, the study recommends. The report signals that change is coming quickly, giving enterprises a narrow window to plan how they'll manage their network operations in an agent-driven era. Partners who can navigate the tension between automation's efficiency gains and the governance guardrails required to deploy it safely will likely shape how this technology matures across the industry.