Lesson 2.1 – Define a Strategic Use Case

📌 Introduction

The first step in building a successful AI Agent isn’t training, testing, or deploying — it’s choosing the right use case to start with.

Many organizations will eventually have dozens of AI Agents, each handling different roles. But picking the right “first agent” will determine how quickly you deliver value, build trust, and gain internal momentum.

This lesson will help you:

• Think strategically about your first use case

• Assess complexity before you commit

• Choose between multiple agent types using practical criteria

🧠 Why the First Use Case Matters

Your first AI Agent is more than just a pilot — it sets the tone for:

• How well the business understands the potential of agents

• How confident your teams feel in building and iterating

• How quickly you see real ROI

A poorly scoped first project can stall momentum. A well-chosen one accelerates everything.

⚙️ What Drives Agent Complexity?

When planning any AI Agent, two areas are always custom and require the most work:

1. Training the Agent (Knowledge Base / Data Readiness)

This includes:

• Converting documents, transcripts, FAQs into AI-ready format

• Structuring knowledge clearly for semantic search

• Setting up the vector store

• Making sure the AI understands the business language

⚠️ The more fragmented, outdated, or unstructured your data, the harder the training.

2. Integration & Workflow Design

This includes:

• Connecting to CRMs, ticketing systems, internal APIs

• Triggering n8n workflows

• Handling edge cases, error handling, and fallback behavior

• Deciding if the agent will act autonomously or just suggest

⚠️ The more systems involved and the more autonomy expected, the more integration effort is needed.

🤖 Agent Profiles and Their Tradeoffs

📞 Support Agent (Copilot or Customer-Facing)

• High training complexity (documents, tickets, FAQs, transcripts)

• Medium integration complexity (ticket creation, escalation, SLAs)

• Best for: Improving internal support productivity or launching chat agents

💼 Sales Agent

• Low to medium training complexity (product info, messaging, pricing logic)

• High integration complexity (CRM, scheduling, lead scoring, follow-ups)

• Best for: Lead qualification, proposal generation, demo scheduling

📊 Analyst / Research Agent

• High training complexity (deep domain knowledge, structured data)

• High prompt and reasoning complexity (accuracy, relevance, source traceability)

• Best for: Market research, investment analysis, internal ops reports

🧪 Use Case Complexity Checklist

Use this checklist to predict the level of effort for a potential use case:

✅ A. Training Requirements

• What is the source of training content?

  • PDFs, Word docs, internal wikis

  • Structured tickets, chat transcripts

  • APIs or spreadsheets

• How clean and current is the data?

  • Up to date

  • Requires reformatting or restructuring

  • Needs major cleanup or transformation

• What tools will be used to prepare it?

  • raia Academy for doc transformation

  • Manual editing and validation

✅ B. Integration Requirements

• What systems must the agent connect to?

  • CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot)

  • Ticketing (Zendesk, Freshdesk)

  • Internal APIs or databases

  • n8n workflows

• How will integration occur?

  • Function calls within the agent

  • Webhooks triggered externally

  • Complex orchestration via n8n

✅ C. Workflow Complexity

• What is the execution flow?

  • Read-only responses

  • Suggestions (Copilot mode)

  • Autonomous actions

  • Event-triggered via 3rd-party apps

• Does the agent require:

  • Escalation logic

  • Approval gates

  • Retry/error handling

✅ D. Task Type and Agent Behavior

• What type of work is the agent doing?

  • Conversational (FAQs, support)

  • Analytical (reporting, summarizing)

  • Actionable (trigger workflows, send emails)

  • Deep research (cross-doc answers, synthesis)

• What is the expected response style?

  • Natural language

  • Structured JSON or tabular data

  • Summaries or explanations with citations

• How critical is accuracy or explainability?

📊 Visual: Use Case Complexity Matrix

(Color-coded for fast decision making: 🟢 Low | 🟠 Medium | 🔴 High)

🧠 Insights from the Field

📘 From the AI Agent Training Manual:

“Start with a use case where the training data is relatively clean or can be prepped quickly using raia Academy. Avoid cases that require multiple disconnected systems unless you're prepared to invest in workflow orchestration.”

📘 From the Comprehensive AI Agent Program:

“It’s better to start with a successful internal agent than an ambitious but broken external one. Momentum matters more than perfection in Phase 1.”

📘 From the Integration Planning Module:

“Integration requirements multiply quickly. Keep your first workflow simple. Add conditions and escalations once you've proven the agent’s core logic.”

✅ Key Takeaways

• Your first agent sets the tone — choose a strategic but achievable use case

• AI Agents are only as effective as their training and integration

• Use the Training + Integration Checklist to predict effort

• Support, HR, and FAQ-style agents are great for quick wins

• Complex agents (like research or analyst) require heavy prompt tuning and testing