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Generative and Agentic AI for IT Managers

Hype meets reality in large companies

This book is 85% completeLast updated on 2026-06-08
Wolfgang Keller

LLMs and agentic AI are currently generating a great deal of hype. When applied correctly, they can deliver tremendous benefits. This book outlines the challenges involved in implementing these technologies within large enterprises—particularly in regulated environments. It serves as an accessible introduction for IT-focused executives and enterprise architects, while also proving useful for IT professionals in general who wish to explore the subject and avoid common project pitfalls.

This book is a translation into English of Generative- und Agentic-AI für IT-Manager which was originally written in German

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About

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About the Book

Generative AI and AI agents are not the first hyped trend to sweep through the corporate world. However, this one is poised to unleash a transformative power unlike anything history has seen before.
Following the "ChatGPT moment" of 2022, everyone from CEOs and enterprise designers to line-of-business employees and programmers is asking—among other things—how their company can derive maximum benefit from AI.
Generative AI promises a massive corporate transformation. Yet, the "how" can often feel like navigating through a fog—a concept reflected in this book’s cover image, which shows someone standing atop a golden sphere, partially obscured by mist. New models, agent frameworks, and product announcements appear daily. CEOs ask when "this AI" will finally be deployed, development teams push for the latest tools, and consultants sell visions of autonomous systems capable of making decisions without human intervention.
This book is aimed at IT-focused leaders—such as project managers, enterprise architects, and solution architects—who want to turn the promises of generative AI and AI agents into reality.
Different industries and regulatory environments present unique challenges. You will find considerable discussion in this book regarding regulated sectors like banking and insurance; the healthcare industry faces similar, if not stricter, constraints. While these sectors offer promising approaches, one cannot simply unleash an AI agent naively and expect a windfall of riches to rain down on the company.
This book will help you identify challenges that the people trying to sell you products or projects often either fail to recognize or deliberately overlook.
Consequently, this book is not an introduction to the "engine room" of AI—such as the mechanics of machine learning or the deep technical intricacies of agent technologies. It goes as deep as necessary to explain key management issues. It is a guide for people who have already lived through more than one of the hypes that regularly sweep through the IT world.

Current state: 2 of 15 chapters (8 and 14) are waiting for confirmation by chapter authors - hence price is reduces compared to German version. If you buy now you will automatically get the full version the moment the chapter authors have given their OK

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Artificial IntelligenceVibe EngineeringLarge language modelsDigital TransformationBusiness ArchitectureBusiness AnalysisEnterprise Architecture

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This book is a translation into English of Generative- und Agentic-AI für IT-Manager which was originally written in German

Author

About the Author

Wolfgang Keller

Wolfgang Keller describes himself as a “trained custom software developer.” He has more than 30 years of professional experience working with large-scale software systems as a developer, solution architect, enterprise architect, line manager, and interim manager, primarily in the insurance industry - a regulated environment. Since the ChatGPT moment, he has been delving more deeply into AI and is, among other things, the author of various IT books.

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Contents

Table of Contents

Before We Begin

  1. About the Author
  2. Acknowledgments to the Guest-Chapter Authors
  3. Preface to Version 1.0

Introduction and Overview

  1. The Fog of Hype
  2. Who This Book Is For
  3. Structure: Who Should Read What, and Why?
  4. What Happens Next?
  5. Why This Book Isn’t Free
  6. How AI Was Used for This Book
  7. Part A — Fundamentals

AI That Works - No New Directors

  1. AI and the Hype
  2. Agents Explained
  3. Directors Not Wanted
  4. How Claims Processes Already Work Today
  5. Director of Marketing
  6. Conclusion and Recommendation
  7. References

AI and EAM: The Wrong Questions

  1. The Seductive Illusion of Intelligent Agents
  2. The Limits of Today’s AI Agents
  3. What Actually Needs Cleaning Up?
  4. Experience Meets Hype: The Current Debate on AI in Companies
  5. Conclusion: Asking the Right Questions
  6. References

Agent Gateways: The Revenge of SOA in the Age of AI

  1. Where It Starts: AI Gateways
  2. What AI Gateways Do
  3. The Upshot: AI Gateways Are Necessary, but Not Sufficient
  4. Agent Gateways: The Great-Grandchildren of SOA
  5. Compliance and Governance
  6. How Mature Are Agent Gateways? — An Emerging Market
  7. Summary: Why There’s No Getting Around Agent Gateways
  8. References

In the Land of Lies: LLMs and Hallucinations

  1. Why hallucinations are a risk for you and your company
  2. Intro
  3. Hallucinations and bullshitting
  4. Business risks from hallucinations
  5. Detection and countermeasures
  6. Personal countermeasures
  7. Vendor countermeasures
  8. Conclusion and outlook: implications for using LLMs
  9. Epilogue
  10. References

How AI Accesses Enterprise Knowledge

  1. Mountains of Knowledge, Just Out of Reach for LLMs
  2. The Problem, Stated Precisely
  3. The Solution: RAG—From Simple to Complex
  4. How Do You Fill the Vector Database?
  5. Improvements and Variants
  6. The Consequences: Why RAG Changes the Rules of the Game
  7. Conclusion: RAG Makes AI-Powered Knowledge Management Accessible
  8. References

It’s a Model and It’s Looking Good

  1. How IT managers arrive at the right model for an AI project
  2. Why AI model selection isn’t a purely technical question
  3. Why benchmarks and marketing mislead
  4. Yet another selection process
  5. Why flexibility matters more than the perfect choice
  6. Epilogue
  7. References

Coding with LLMs and Agents

  1. wait for check and release by the chapter authors
  2. Part B — Compliance and Security

AI-Relevant Regulation: The Financial Sector as an Example

  1. An Overview of the Rules
  2. Profiles of the Rules
  3. The EU AI Act
  4. ISO 42001 as an Aid for Implementing the EU AI Act
  5. References

The Inherent Risks of LLMs

  1. Why Large Language Models Need Safety Containment
  2. The Inherent Risks of LLMs
  3. The Safety Architecture of LLMs
  4. Conclusion
  5. References

Securing Applications Built on LLMs

  1. Risks You Want to Avoid When Deploying LLMs and AI Agents
  2. Possible Attack Vectors Specific to AI Applications
  3. How to Arrive at a Reasonably Secure AI Application
  4. Threat Catalogs
  5. Conclusion
  6. References

Why AI Forces Us to Rethink IT Security From Scratch

  1. From Easing the Work to Delegating the Action: When “Human in the Loop” Becomes a Fiction
  2. The Democratization of Criminal Capability
  3. Stealth Adoption: When AI Use Devalues the Rules
  4. The Devaluation of Knowledge Work
  5. Conclusion: How the Fault Lines Reinforce One Another–and Why Security Must Be Rethought
  6. About the Author
  7. References
  8. Part C — Practice, Not PowerPoint

Imagine It Is the Age of AI and Nobody Shows Up

  1. Two Stories: Morgan Stanley and Klarna
  2. Why Many Studies Are Already Out of Date a Year Later
  3. The Amplifier Effect: Why AI Makes the Strong Stronger and the Weak Weaker
  4. Why Top-Down Training Programs Almost Never Work
  5. What Works Instead: Inspire People, Don’t Just Train Them
  6. The Work-Intensification Trap
  7. What the Regulator Requires—and What That Really Means
  8. Conclusion: Something Has to Happen from the Bottom Up, Too
  9. References

AI That Works — Practice, Not PowerPoint

  1. wait for check and release by the two chapter authors

Not Every Project Is the Same

  1. The Problem with the One-Size-Fits-All Slide
  2. Four Types Worth Knowing
  3. These Four Types Exist in Every Regulated Industry
  4. Regulatory Complexity Determines Your Room to Maneuver
  5. A Different Project Type Means Different Costs and a Different Calculation
  6. Different Metrics, Different Truth
  7. Different Time Frames, Different Expectations
  8. Lessons from Practice
  9. Calculate ROI Honestly — By Type
  10. Why a Domain-Agnostic Project Lead Has No Chance
  11. What This Means for Your Next AI Project
  12. References

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