From Routine to Efficiency: SmartCat’s Practical Use of AI Agents

This article was originally written for the Serbian technology magazine Internet Ogledalo and published as part of the special issue “Smart Solutions for Smart Business,” which explores practical applications of technology in modern organizations. 

Read the original Serbian version at Internet Ogledalo.

Artificial intelligence in business is most often discussed through big ideas and bold promises. Its real value, however, becomes visible in day-to-day work. Wherever time is lost on routine tasks, AI agents start to make sense as a practical tool.

SmartCat’s experience shows that the greatest benefit doesn’t come from automating everything, but from removing the kinds of tasks that pull people away from thinking, decision-making, and work that actually creates value.

In most organizations, problems don’t arise because people don’t know what to do or lack the necessary skills. They arise because too much time is spent on activities that aren’t the reason those people were hired in the first place.
Administration, manual data entry, status checks, and preparing the same context over and over again are all tasks that need to be done, but over time they become the biggest burden.

These tasks tend to appear gradually, almost unnoticed. Every new tool, every new client, or every new process adds one more small step that didn’t exist before and now has to be completed. Over time, those steps accumulate and turn into a serious marathon of operational work—something no one originally planned, but without which the business can’t function.

As workload grows, this burden isn’t distributed evenly. The most experienced people—the ones expected to make decisions and lead initiatives—often end up stuck in operational tasks that don’t require their expertise.
The work gets done, but with more interruptions, less focus, and slower reactions. In the long run, this leads to team fatigue and slower growth.

In this context, AI agents don’t appear as replacements for people, but as a way to remove routine from everyday work. Their role is to take over repetitive tasks and allow people to focus on what requires judgment, experience, and responsibility.

SmartCat recognized this in its own operations and uses the AI agents it developed in exactly that way: internally, in real processes, without trying to replace human work where it actually matters.

Routine as the Silent Enemy of Efficiency

In theory, routine tasks don’t seem like a major problem. Each one takes only a small amount of time, but when added together, they result in a workday broken into a series of short, disconnected activities. Team members are constantly busy and increasingly rarely have time to focus on more complex problems.

This way of working creates an illusion of productivity. Calendars are full, emails are answered, tasks are completed—but the important things are pushed aside because they require longer, uninterrupted focus. In practice, that means strategic decisions get postponed, and complex problems are solved superficially or on the fly.

The biggest loss isn’t in minutes, but in attention. When attention is constantly divided, work quality drops and mistakes become more frequent. People react instead of planning, put out fires instead of preventing them.

AI agents are useful precisely because they can take over entire routine processes—not just individual steps. They monitor incoming information, make decisions within clearly defined rules, and execute actions without constant human involvement. This relieves everyday work and gives teams back the space to think.

SmartFact

Every new tool, every new client, or process adds one more small step that didn’t exist before and now has to be done.

Less Guesswork, More Intentional Selection

Sales is a good example of how routine work can overload a team. Preparing for first contact with a potential client requires gathering information, evaluating the company, finding a conversation hook, and drafting a message. This repeats day after day.

At SmartCat, this process used to take up to an hour per lead. Even though our sales team is experienced, different people made different assessments based on the same data. That led to inconsistent quality and significant time waste.

An internal AI agent for lead scoring and outbound preparation changed the way this work is done. The agent analyzes basic company information, compares it against criteria defined by the sales team, and assigns a clear score. It then prepares a draft of a personalized message and suggests questions for the initial conversation.

The result isn’t automated sales, but better selection. The sales team enters conversations with clearer context and focuses on leads with real potential. Less time goes into preparation, and more into conversations that make sense and lead to concrete outcomes.

Freeing Up Time for Analysis

Finance teams are often the first to feel the weight of growing routine work. As the number of transactions increases, manual entry and categorization become increasingly demanding. This work must be done accurately, but it doesn’t require people with deep financial expertise to do it constantly.

At SmartCat, this was addressed by developing an LLM-based solution for expense analysis. Instead of manually processing statements, an AI agent automatically extracts line items, assigns them to categories, and generates structured reports. The finance team steps in only when corrections, additional checks, or deeper analysis are needed.

This changes the role of finance within the organization. Instead of being consumed by operational work, finance gains the space to focus on trends, planning, and data-driven decision-making.
Business growth no longer automatically means growth in administration, making the system more sustainable in the long run.

Market Insights Without Hours of Scrolling

Market monitoring is another area where large amounts of time are lost filtering out noise. Information is available, but scattered across social networks, newsletters, and internal channels. Most of that content has little direct value for decision-making.

SmartCat developed an AI agent for market trend summarization to take over exactly this task. The agent collects information from relevant sources, filters out irrelevant content, and prepares a concise overview of what actually impacts the market and sales conversations.

The point isn’t the volume of information, but its timeliness and context. When insights are available at the right moment, decisions are made more calmly, with greater confidence and less guesswork.

HR Processes Without Administrative Overload

Human resources is a field where administration is often taken for granted. Time-off requests, records, documentation, and procedural communication consume a significant amount of time.

Problems arise during peak periods—holiday seasons or vacation planning—when HR teams become overwhelmed with requests they can’t process in time, causing the entire system to slow down.

SmartCat automated this part of the workflow through a system of four AI agents that handle administrative steps from data collection to document generation and calendar updates. The HR team retains control over rules and exceptions but no longer has to deal with routine entry and checks.

The effect isn’t just faster processing, but greater consistency. Regardless of request volume or time of year, the process works the same way, with less room for error.

Consistency as the Foundation for Scaling

As organizations grow, inconsistent processes become a serious issue. The same task is performed differently depending on the person or workload, making planning and control more difficult.

AI agents introduce stability into routine processes. They work the same way every time, regardless of circumstances. This allows growth to be planned without constantly adjusting basic operations.

That consistency is what enabled SmartCat to increase its workload without a proportional rise in operational stress or additional strain on teams.

SmartFact

Regardless of request volume or time of year, the process works the same way, with less room for error.

Technology That Gives Time Back to People

AI agents don’t change the essence of a business, nor do they take jobs away from people. Their value lies in taking over routine tasks that don’t require human judgment but consume time and attention.

When those tasks are removed from everyday work, people gain space to focus on what truly makes a difference: analysis, conversations, decision-making, and leading initiatives.

SmartCat’s experience shows that the biggest improvements don’t come from large, abstract AI projects, but from carefully introducing agents where routine suffocates real work. It’s a pragmatic approach to technology—using it to make work simpler, more stable, and more sustainable.

For companies that want to grow without chaos, AI agents are a tool that removes friction from the system and restores focus where it belongs: on people and the decisions only people can make.