“Agents” are often described as autonomous digital coworkers that think, plan, and act on their own. But in practice, most agents are something far more nuanced—and far more intentional.

This session demystifies what agents actually are and how Blackbaud thinks about agentic systems from a technical and product perspective. We’ll explore how agent-like experiences can be powered by deterministic workflows, LLM-driven reasoning, or hybrids of the two—and why that distinction matters for trust, safety, and outcomes.

This session is designed for developers, architects, and technically curious practitioners who want a clearer mental model for agents—one grounded in real systems, not hype.