David Jones eyes AI super-agent opportunity

Retailer David Jones is in the “ideation phase” of deploying an artificial intelligence super-agent that could underpin its business modernisation and digital transformation projects for many years into the future.

If it passes proof-of-value tests, enthusiastic company advocate and senior technology manager, Rahul Anhal, said he was hopeful it could be operational within three years.

Anhal told iTnews that the retailer needed the super-agent to allow agentic AI applications to use data across its distributed SaaS platforms, in a compliant and secure way.

For instance, Anhal said, the super-agent could orchestrate agentic AI-driven interactions between David Jones’s Salesforce and Snowflake platforms.

Specifically, the retailer is examining the super-agent capabilities of its current iPaaS provider, Workato.

David Jones has been using Workato's integration platform since October 2021 when it rolled out the system in a bid to retire its legacy integration platforms. For now, the retailer is running the Workato platform in parallel.

“We are in an exploration phase [with the super-agent]. We're playing with the idea of using (Workato) as a super-agent. At David Jones, we use best of breed platforms," Anhal said. 

“Every platform has an agentic AI or an AI offering, but the problem for us becomes when there is a requirement for these platforms to talk to each other via that agent.

“How do we make sure that we secure those communications? How can we control it? And also, how do we ensure that we have insight on what's going on with it?

“If you don't have that governance framework, then very quickly, it can get out of hand."

AI super-agent capabilities are pushing business automation into new frontiers in line with broader advances in machine learning and autonomous reasoning.

They can generate deep, context-aware outputs based on multiple data sources with some referring to this capability as “thinking” or "reasoning".

Exploration phase or not, when asked about potential roadblocks to the super-agent deployment, Anhal revealed David Jones chief technology officer, Hugh Fahy, is leaning into it.

“Our CTO is very keen with this one," he said.

"We’re obviously choosing which platforms to play with and integrate."

He cited skills availability and budget as potential challenges to the effort.

Anhal did not reveal details of what or which agentic AI applications it had earmarked for its nascent super-agent to support, nor if there were any confirmed for the pipeline at this stage at all.

He said that no part of the business was strictly off-limits for agentic projects.

“There's no discrimination when it comes to business orchestration," he said.

Anhal spoke to iTnews on the sidelines of the World of Workato customer event in Sydney.

Earlier in the day, during a panel session, Anhal provided a glimpse of the enthusiasm within the retailer for knitting its data silos and SaaS deployments together with the new iPaaS integration system.

In an age of social media, when fashion can change rapidly due to the role of influencers with followers in the millions, the demand from internal stakeholders to pursue marketing initiatives is growing quickly, he said.

“It’s easier to deliver those initiatives. When marketing comes to us (and says) ‘Hey, we need to do something. Can we integrate our new loyalty platform with our ecommerce platform? We want to start doing some complex promotions’, it's ready.

“It can no longer takes months - it's a sprint. It can take less time than that, depending on the complexity (of the project), and that is where then we start getting the competitive advantage.

"In our work, speed is everything. You miss the boat, you miss that opportunity”.