You can’t survive, much less thrive, unless you are one step ahead of the tools that are creating efficiencies in the workplace and driving the market. And the business tool that you absolutely need to succeed is knowledge: facts, figures, statistics, and just about any kind of content you can envision. In today’s world, what you know is finally just as important as who you know. And everything relating to that information— where you find it, how you retrieve it, and how fast you’re able to make sense of it and spin it back out to your advantage—is key to staking claim to your piece of the competitive landscape.

In this roller-coaster market, all companies are trying to do more with less. That usually means valued employees are taking on more than their share—for less than they think they are worth. But what if you really could increase “output” without negatively impacting your human capital?

Intelligent software agents are virtual extensions of your staff. They can do much that a human can do to interact with information that resides on Web pages, in databases, in emails, in PDF documents, or virtually any Extensible Markup Language (XML) source. And they can do it faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than humans any hour or day of the week.

Training required—but no programming
Intelligent agents do not require any programming, although they do require “training.” They must be taught, for example, to monitor, garner, integrate, and/or mashup disparate information sources of dynamic content according to your needs. A retailer, for example, might employ agents to extract inventory and pricing data for products from competitor sites to either modify or add conviction to its own pricing and sales strategy.

 Information can be, literally, just a mouse-click away
The complicated part of the process is a series of behind-the-scenes algorithms that the end user never has to deal with. All you do to “train” an agent is point and click.

Mouse clicks are then translated into optimized code that is more efficient and robust than human-produced code. Once “trained” to locate and compile information, intelligent agents are able to “fetch”—navigate and retrieve content and/ or specific elements as needed; “process”— discover changes in data and/or filter for keywords; and “deliver” results—information goes directly to the user via email, database, custom XML, and more.

How far agents interact with content is totally up to the end user.

Are you collecting information for a “one-up” report? Are you interested in tracking data over the long haul? Do you need broad content or specific statistics? The bottom line is that intelligent agents can work for you 24/7, 365, enabling your human employees to focus on what they do best, leaving it to these agents to mine and compile critical data and make it ready for use on demand.

Get back to the job at hand while these guys mind the store
Intelligent agents don’t take vacation days. They don’t get sick. They don’t sleep. While your human employees get to focus on core responsibilities and go home to their families, your “agents” remain on the job. Train them to monitor and mine lots of information and deliver it back to you—when you need it. And, with a clearly defined “job description,” and when properly trained and employed, intelligent agents can deliver a tremendous return on investment.

Want to learn more? You can take a closer look at intelligent agents right now by using two knowledge management tools you already know and use on a daily basis: your Web browser and the Internet.

Bruce Molloy is the chief executive officer of Connotate Technologies , a Web consultancy. He can be reached at (732) 296-8844.