Context Economy

Multi-agent demos make it look as though agents are having a conversation: one delegate asks another for research, a specialist returns an answer, and an orchestrator turns it into action. That image is useful, but incomplete. Agents do not collaborate because they can exchange prose. They collaborate because one part of a system can make the right context available to another part at the right time. The architecture of that handoff determines whether a multi-agent workflow is reliable or merely entertaining. ...

Integration platforms earned their place in the enterprise by solving a real problem: connect known systems through known flows. An order enters one application, a record is updated in another, and a workflow moves data from point A to point B according to rules someone designed. That model still matters. But it assumes the application knows the journey before it begins. Agents do not always have that luxury. An agent starts with an objective and has to assemble the information and capabilities required to pursue it. It may need a current customer record, an event that just arrived, a policy document, a specialist tool, or an approval from a person. Which of those it needs—and in what order—depends on the task. ...