Nintex has released two tools to build and manage AI agents within business workflows as organizations look to bring AI into production without losing control of monitoring and compliance.
New tools, Nintex Agent Designer and Nintex Orchestration, are available natively on Nintex CE to select customer groups. This release is aimed at organizations that are testing agent-based automation but struggle to tie it into their daily processes and governance.
Companies are quickly evaluating AI agents that can interpret information and take action. However, many teams are realizing that standalone deployments can create new risks when they fall outside of established process controls, approval procedures, and audit trails.
Nintex is positioning this release as a way to incorporate AI agents and rules-based workflow logic into the same process framework to provide visibility into human decision points and apply structured controls when needed.
blend execution
In fact, this tool aims to combine two styles of automation: deterministic rules and structured workflows, and non-deterministic agent behavior that applies judgments based on context and acquired information.
Arnal Dayaratna, IDC Research Vice President, Software Development, said buyer expectations are changing. “Rather than replacing structured processes with fully autonomous systems, today’s organizations are looking for platforms that support both deterministic and agentic approaches across a single orchestration framework,” he said.
He added that the mixed model supports governance and operational requirements. “The blended approach allows organizations to apply agent AI that adds value through judgment and interpretation, while maintaining conditional workflow controls that require accuracy and compliance. This ability to orchestrate both models within business workflows is a key requirement for scaling AI adoption,” he said.
what will change
Nintex Orchestration introduces a phase-based model for process execution, dividing large end-to-end processes into modular phases. Workflows can dynamically move between phases based on context, including repeating and escalating phases, and rerouting work.
Agent Designer is positioned as a way to incorporate AI agents into these phases and coordinate agents, talent, and core systems within the same operational flow. It also provides a single place to design how work transitions between automation and human review.
Nintex describes the integrated model as a way to apply AI that adds value through interpretation and judgment while maintaining conditional control over riskier steps. It also highlights the need for visibility across long-running processes that span days or weeks and move between teams, systems, and decision points.
agent pattern
Agent Designer supports adaptive AI agents and includes supervisor and multi-agent patterns. According to Nintex, agents can plan and execute multi-step actions, obtain contextual information to inform decisions, and escalate to humans when definitive control is needed.
Orchestration also supports automation components such as RPA, document processing, and system connectors. This is consistent with many organizations building automation assets over time and wanting AI agents to work in conjunction with, rather than replacing, existing tools.
For operations leaders, a central issue is exception handling. Agent-based systems can produce variable results, especially when inputs are incomplete or when decisions must take policy, risk appetite, or regulatory requirements into account. According to Nintex, a phase-based approach treats exceptions as a natural part of execution and manages them within the broader process lifecycle.
Governance focus
Niranjan Vijayaragavan, chief product and technology officer at Nintex, positioned this release as an attempt to bring autonomy and control into the same design environment. “AI in modern business cannot be purely agentic or purely deterministic; it must support both,” he said.
He linked that perspective to monitoring and compliance in operational environments. “Our agent business orchestration vision is built on enabling deterministic workflows and adaptive agents to operate alongside human oversight within the same process framework. Agent Designer and Orchestration enable organizations to apply value-added AI through judgment while maintaining control where accuracy and compliance are paramount,” he said.
Nintex also pointed to the AI UNLESS report. The report found that 64% of business leaders are incorporating or integrating AI into broader automation strategies to create unified platforms that coordinate people, systems, and AI agents. The company claims that orchestration will become even more important as AI moves from isolated experiments to core operational processes, where governance requirements and system integration are typically more stringent.
Partner’s reaction
Nintex partner AiGS – Ai Global Solutions described this release as a change in the way AI is incorporated into workflow automation products.
Kevin Schall, CEO of AiGS – Ai Global Solutions said: “With features like Supervisor Agent, Nintex enables organizations to deploy advanced AI-driven automation while maintaining the oversight and trust users expect from agent AI systems.”
Agent Designer and Orchestration are available in beta for select Nintex CE customers and are expected to become more widely available as testing progresses.
