Riff feels like you're talking to a business coach, but behind the scenes we have a number of agents that specialise in various business decisions or business cases, using specific tools to get the numbers right. This is what makes using Riff feel so much better than talking to GPT or Gemini when it comes to business.
What is an agent?
Think of an agent as a helpful colleague that uses AI like GPT, but they are trained on how to do more specific jobs that get you a better outcome:
Instead of just replying to whatever you ask on the surface, an agent can take on a goal (like “help me build a business case”) and know what steps it should work through to do that well.
It can decide what steps to follow based on your needs, use the right tools to get stuff done (like go and search the web, read a file or update a doc), and even ask other agents for help along the way.
The output is not just words on a screen, like draft me an email, it’s something closer to a finished task: a financial model, a draft business case or a clear decision recommendation.
Why This Matters
Generic AI tools are reactive, they wait for you to prompt them. If you're not that great at prompting, you're not going to get a great answer. Agents are more proactive. They:
Plan: break big goals into smaller steps and know what else to ask you.
Use tools: pull data from spreadsheets, APIs, or databases, not just what they “remember.”
Collaborate: interact with other agents, or with humans, to fill gaps.
Learn: improve over time based on feedback.
Example: The Business Case
Imagine your operations manager wants to know if they should extend the life of a truck or buy new. A normal AI chatbot might give pros and cons. An AI agent can:
Pull cost and usage data from your export.
Build out the financial comparison (NPV, ROI, payback).
Add sustainability factors like fuel vs. electric.
Package it into a decision-ready case you can send to finance.
Highlight the source of every number so it's easy to review and approve.
That’s more than answering a question you put in that little "ask me anything" box, that’s acting like an extra analyst on the team.
Agents vs. Chatbots
Chatbots give answers in isolation.
Agents understand the bigger goal, plan steps, and connect the dots.
What we do
At Riff, we’re building a team of agents that work together with your team. Some check numbers, some structure business cases, others nudge teams to include non-financial impacts. They’re designed not to replace people, but to give them the extra support they rarely get so decisions are faster and smarter.