Enterprises are shifting rapidly from advisory AI tools to agentic systems that can act across production networks, according to new research from Cisco and Omdia. The study, The Impact of Agentic AI on Network Operations, found that 95% of organisations believe their existing non-agentic AIOps tools fall short in at least one significant area, while 51% already run agentic AI in production.investor.
The findings indicate that network teams are under pressure from rising alert volumes, fragmented tooling, continuous change and issues that cut across multiple technology domains.investor.
The scale of the challenge is substantial. The average organisation generates about 4,100 monitoring alerts and events each day, more than half of which are network-related. Cisco and Omdia estimate that manually clearing the daily network-alert backlog would require roughly 100 IT specialists.investor.
Autonomy advances in NetOps
The research suggests that agentic AI has moved beyond recommendation engines. Among respondents, 75% have deployed AI for network operations, while 51% use agentic AI systems that take action in production. These systems can reroute traffic, adjust wireless parameters, isolate suspicious endpoints and resolve incidents end to end without prior human approval.investor.
Attitudes towards autonomy are also evolving. Four in five respondents are comfortable granting AI a high or fully autonomous role in network operations, including 24% who would allow AI to operate with no human oversight. In addition, 82% are comfortable allowing AI to make at least some production network changes without prior approval.investor.
That willingness is expected to translate into broader operational change: 84% of respondents expect to reach an AI-led operating model within 12 months.
“Agentic AI represents a fundamental paradigm shift: moving from running operations to orchestrating intent,” said Joe Vaccaro, senior vice-president and general manager, Network Platform & Assurance at Cisco.
“Agentic AI for NetOps requires trust built on visibility into every decision, explainable context behind every recommendation, and guardrails that ensure deterministic outcomes.” Joe Vaccaro
Trust becomes the scaling condition
The report finds that organisations will expand agentic operations only if they can maintain visibility and control. Some 86% say a single integrated platform, rather than another point tool, is the most effective route forward.
Meanwhile, 69% require detailed explainability for agent-driven actions, and 36% regard full observability—including tracing, summarised rationale and post-action audits—as the minimum acceptable standard.investor.
AI adoption is also increasing the burden on networks. Cisco’s analysis of aggregated direct-to-AI network telemetry indicates that AI traffic is on course to double every six months, while its testing found that agent-performed tasks can generate up to 450% more total network traffic than equivalent human-driven tasks.
Jim Frey, chief analyst for network and IT operations at Omdia, said the findings point to a broader shift from advisory AIOps to agent-powered operations. “As that shift accelerates, integrated visibility, strong governance, and measurable outcomes will be critical to expanding autonomy while maintaining operational control,” he said.
