Assistant or agent: the difference that matters
An assistant waits for a question and answers with what it knows. An agent receives a goal, fetches the information where it lives, chains several actions and comes back with a result ready to validate. The second is more useful, and more demanding: it needs access, so access must be limited, and everything must be traceable.
Three rules we do not negotiate
- A dedicated account, minimal rights. The agent has its own account in your software, with only the rights its task needs. Never an employee's account.
- It prepares, a person validates. Sending a quote, changing a price, deleting a record: these actions stay human. The agent prepares and submits them.
- Everything is logged. Every read, every suggestion, every validated action is traced, with the source data. You can review and undo everything.
Why the MCP standard
Every tool has its API, and every AI vendor would like to sell you its connector. The Model Context Protocol is the open standard that describes to a model the actions a piece of software exposes. We use it for two reasons: the connector we write for your ERP works with any model, and you can switch models without redoing it.
With which software
- ERP: Odoo, Sage, Dolibarr, EBP, or software built for you. We have connected agents to our own ERP, which taught us what breaks.
- CRM: HubSpot, Pipedrive, Brevo, Zoho, or your ERP's CRM module.
- E-mail and documents: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, a file server.
If your software has no API, we say so before starting, and we suggest another task.
What it costs, and what it returns
A first agent takes six weeks, between twelve and eighteen engineer days. Running costs depend on volume: a few tens of euros per month for an agent handling a hundred e-mails, a few hundred for thousands of documents. On the other side, count the entry and search time your team spends today: it is usually the simplest measurement to make, and we make it with you in week 1.
References
- The Model Context Protocol: the open standard that connects a model to your software.
- The EU AI Act: transparency and human-oversight duties.
- The CNIL's guidance: personal data and AI.