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Over the years, automation has come a long way. What used to take hours (or even days) can now be done in seconds. This is exactly what Azure Logic Apps has been doing since its launch back in 2015. Logic Apps has been the go-to tool in the Microsoft ecosystem for connecting almost anything – from emails to enterprise systems – letting you build powerful, low-code workflows on Microsoft Azure. With a few clicks, you can make apps talk to each other, run scheduled tasks, handle complex business processes – all without typing lines of code.

Our Automation and AI teams at VNB Consulting bring decades of experience in Microsoft Integration technologies, including Azure Logic Apps since its inception. We are actively reviewing the latest capabilities announced by Microsoft, participating in previews, and prepared to hit the ground running for any AI agent development needs with Azure Logic Apps.

While Azure Logic Apps is fantastic for deterministic workflows and repetitive tasks, how about scenarios where workflows could do more than just follow plain instructions? What if workflows could think, learn, and act? This is where AI Agents step in.

AI Agents: From Logic to Logic-with-a-Brain

Talk about agents, the first thing that creeps up the mind is “Is this another chatbot?” Well, actually not! AI Agents are like smart assistants – you give them a goal, and they will figure it out how to get it done step by step. They can understand natural language, make decisions, and even adjust if something comes along the way. In short, it’s like bringing brains to your workflows.

The Big Reveal: When Azure Logic Apps and AI Agents Team Up!

Now, we’ve got Logic Apps, handling all sorts of amazing connections and workflows, without having to write tons of lines of code. And then we have AI agents, which are smart little helpers that can think, decide, and act.

So, what happens when these two worlds come together? This isn’t about connecting two separate services anymore. Microsoft has engineered something deeper: a true synergy that changes how we think about intelligent automation.

At the recently concluded Build Conference, Microsoft announced “Agent Loop”, a new capability to build AI agents into your Azure Logic Apps workflows. With agent loop, what Microsoft has done is to give Logic Apps a brain to think and make decisions, and at the same time given AI agents hands to act across hundreds of different systems, apps, and services in the real world.

What is Agent Loop?

The Agent Loop is a powerful new capability within Azure Logic Apps (Standard) that fundamentally changes how your workflows operate. Instead of you meticulously defining every single step for your Logic App to follow, the Agent Loop allows you to hand over a goal to an embedded AI Agent. This agent then intelligently figures out how to achieve that goal, not in a rigid sequence, but through a dynamic, continuous cycle. It’s called a “loop” because the agent keeps working and adapting, going through cycles of understanding, deciding, acting, and then checking its progress, until the entire task is successfully completed. Think of it as giving your Logic App the ability to actively pursue and resolve complex goals on its own! So, here’s what Agent Loop does –

• Think about the goal (think!)
• Chooses the right tools (select the APIs or services from a list of Logic App connectors) (learn!)
• Takes action and checks results (act!)
• Repeat the loop until the task is complete!

Why Agent Loop Is a Big Deal?

• Agent Loop makes your workflows smarter. Instead of following fixed steps, the agent loop empowers your workflows to think, learn, and act on the fly. This means intelligent, flexible automation that can adapt to different inputs or changing conditions without breaking down.
• The agent uses Artificial Intelligence models like Large Language Model (LLM) as the brain that processes information, understands the goal, and then reasons to decide what specific action to take next.
• Significant time savings. You no longer need to define every single step. Simply hand the agent a goal, and it intelligently plans and executes the necessary actions. This frees up countless hours and allows your teams to focus on higher-value tasks.
• By leveraging Logic Apps’ vast ecosystem of 1400+ connectors, the Agent can interact virtually with any system, from emails and CRMs to databases and APIs, instantly and intelligently.
• You don’t need to be an AI expert or write complex code to use AI agents. The agent will do the heavy lifting for you and requires very minimal human intervention. It brings the power of AI Agents to the low-code world of Logic Apps.

Wrapping Up

At VNB, we couldn’t be more excited about this. We’re already exploring more on these agentic capabilities to build smarter workflow powered by intelligent decision-making. This is just the beginning. Watch this space as we dive deeper and look at how AI agents work inside Azure Logic Apps, how to set one up along with real-time use case scenarios to show just how powerful this new capability can be.

The future of automation is here, and it’s incredibly powerful. Don’t miss out on what’s coming next!