With the wide and exciting array of ways in which AI agents can function, a key role from our experience is in AI orchestration.
An AI orchestrator coordinates and manages multiple AI agents and other machine learning models to complete complex tasks. This is a sort of report for the agents, that looks over them and tells them what to do.
In layman terms, the orchestrator functions as the manager and the AI agents function as line employees.
According to paper by IBM,
“Despite a momentary surge in gen AI interest around Deepseek’s R1, which promised
significant performance improvements over ChatGPT, the dominant innovation narrative in
2025 is the AI agent.”
Echoing this, we believe that because people do not fully understand AI and have grasped onto the smallest component of it that they can digest and that they can relate to the use case.
The paper goes onto assert:
‘The “new normal” envisioned by this narrative sees teams of AI agents corralled under orchestrator uber-models that manage the overall project workflow. Enterprises will use AI orchestration to coordinate multiple agents and other machine learning (ML) models working in tandem and using specific expertise to complete tasks.’
https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/ai-agents-2025-expectations-vs-reality
The opportunity brings massive efficiencies to business and allows smaller businesses to compete with bigger companies. AI orchestration also gives smaller businesses the opportunity to create value while delaying major hires that are usually big cost centres for small businesses.
But established enterprises, due to their trove of legacy data, are able to fully take advantage of orchestration. DataProphet calls this data orchestration; a process of acquisition, visualisation, control and optimisation.
https://dataprophet.com/our-ai/
With a key focus on the mining and manufacturing sectors, DataProphet is helping create the new institutions that will change the way Africa does business.
This creates massive efficiencies and cost savings that go straight to the bottomline.
How we see it playing out in SA and Africa
We see AI orchestration becoming intrinsically embedded in workflows and operating systems of businesses emerging in Africa.
Small businesses will likely use orchestration to grow market share and compete with their larger incumbents. Bigger businesses will likely use this to pour fuel on what they have built and take it to higher levels.
South Africa has a debit order system that processes billions of rand every month where we see AI orchestration coming in to solve issues of security with rising fraud rates in this space. We will explore this in subsequent issues and show how we are creating solutions for this space.
New opportunities in talent development to develop, manage and evaluate performance also provide a boon for Africa’s youth.
In conclusion, we believe AI orchestration is a boon to Africa’s development, allowing our continent and companies to leapfrog and compete globally. In this multi-part series, we will explore deeper the workings of AI agents and their orchestration- and how this brave new world can do more good than harm for Africa
