From Self-Service to Autonomy: Customer Portals in the Context of Agent-Based AI

In the manufacturing industry, the goal has been clear up to now: to create a fully integrated customer portal that breaks down silos and consolidates data from ERP, CRM, and PLM. Until now, it was considered a success if customers could find their spare parts via self-service. With the advent of agent-based AI, however, a new question arises: Why does the customer even need to search anymore? And: Are portals even necessary anymore?

The Portal as an Intelligent Cockpit

If AI agents take on tasks autonomously in the future, the customer portal will not lose its raison d’être but will transform into an intelligent cockpit. It remains the central, secure place where the user can track the AI’s actions, approve them, and intervene if necessary (human-in-the-loop). The AI controls the processes, but the portal serves as the indispensable anchor of trust.

Integration as a Technological Foundation

The value of a customer portal lies in the seamless user journey—from the digital twin to ticket management. The creation of interfaces, which is absolutely essential for this, is also the basic prerequisite for making meaningful use of agent-based AI on one’s own data. Portal projects are therefore always strategic AI implementation projects as well. Unlike conventional chatbots, AI agents are characterized by genuine agency: they observe, plan, and execute tasks autonomously within the integrated systems.

Potential for After-Sales

This technological development offers three key levers:

• Proactive Service: The portal knows maintenance intervals and real-time IoT data. The AI does not wait for a failure but initiates the service process, suggests appointments, and places required wear parts in the shopping cart.
• Reducing the Support Workload: Agents independently verify warranty claims in the backend systems and, if authorized, directly trigger the logistics process for replacement parts.
• Hyper-Personalization: The AI acts as a digital key account manager, identifying optimization potential within the machine fleet and proactively offering solutions.

Shaping the transformation through maturity levels

This transformation is not a “Big Bang” release but can ideally be realized through successive maturity levels:

• Maturity Level 1 (Integration): Integration of ERP, CRM, and IoT to create a “single source of truth.”
• Maturity Level 2 (Empowerment): Use of AI agents to automate standard processes in the spirit of Self-Service 2.0.
• Maturity Level 3 (Autonomy): Cross-system action by agents for predictive business models and proactive support.

Conclusion

Fully integrated customer portals form the foundation, but it is only through agent-based AI that they become a true competitive advantage.

The transformation does not end with the provision of information, but begins where the system acts autonomously in the customer’s interest. Let’s work together to identify which of your service processes offer the greatest potential for this autonomous automation. adesso provides the technological foundation for this deep process integration and supports you in integrating it into your existing portal landscape.