Enterprise Agents at Scale: Control Improves, Costs Follow

• Enterprise AI agents represent an operating model shift, with implications for governance, costs, and accountability.
• Microsoft’s two-layer model (Foundry Control Plane + Agent 365) can improve control and scalability but introduces split ownership and operational complexity.
• Agents can act as autonomous digital workers with system access, requiring identity, monitoring, and accountability models.
• The combined pricing model of per-user licensing plus consumption creates unpredictable and nonlinear cost growth.

Enterprise AI is shifting from assistive tools to autonomous agents acting on behalf of users and processes. Microsoft’s two-layer model, Foundry Control Plane (FCP) for operations and Agent 365 for enterprise governance, enables scale but introduces split ownership, cross-boundary data risks, and complex auditing and accountability. Costs are difficult to predict, as consumption-based usage and per-user licensing grow independent of each other. Without a carefully defined operating model, organizations risk deploying agents faster than they can govern them, leading to limited visibility, compliance exposure, and cost overruns. Organizations should regard agents as an operating model decision, requiring early cross-organizational alignment on ownership, governance, and financial controls.