Panel: From E-Business to Agentic Business: Opportunities and Challenges
As AI agents evolve from passive tools into proactive, goal-driven entities, they are redefining the modern enterprise. This panel convenes two leading academics with industrial expertise and two seasoned industry practitioners to dissect the rise of "Agentic Business." Moving beyond simple automation, the discussion will focus on defining robust conceptual frameworks for deploying autonomous agents across online shopping, internal process orchestration, and human-AI collaboration. Panelists will evaluate emerging technological trends—such as multi-agent systems and reasoning engines—while confronting the hard realities of implementation, including system integration hurdles and ethical governance. By bridging theoretical rigor with practical application, the session aims to chart critical research agendas in engineering and management, providing a roadmap for organizations transitioning from digitization to true autonomy.
Key Discussion Questions:
Where does "Agentic AI" cross the threshold from advanced automation into genuine autonomous decision-making, and how does this redefine accountability in business?
Beyond efficiency gains, what novel business models or revenue streams become possible only when we deploy multi-agent ecosystems?
What are the primary last-mile challenges preventing enterprises from moving agentic pilots from the lab into core business operations?
How must organizational structures and talent strategies evolve when humans transition from operators to supervisors of AI agents?
Moderator
J. Leon Zhao
J. Leon Zhao is a Chair Professor of Information Systems at the School of Management and Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, where he also serves as Director of the Center on Blockchain and Intelligent Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and previously held faculty positions at the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Arizona. He has served as a founding co-editor of Financial Innovation and co-edited special issues for leading journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Operations Management. He is also the founder of the International Conference on Smart Finance and a co-founder of the China Summer Workshop on Information Management. Professor Zhao received the IBM Faculty Award in 2005, was appointed a Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professor at Tsinghua University in 2009 and again at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen in 2022, and was elected an AIS Fellow in 2025.
Panelist Biographies
Andy Chow
Andy Chow is Head of Customer Solution Architects for Hong Kong in Google Cloud. In his current capacity, Mr. Chow is responsible for advising customers with their digital and AI transformation journey to improve business outcomes by leveraging the latest innovations from Google. He is currently an adjunct professor at City University, teaching Generative AI in business courses. Prior to his tenure in Google Cloud, he was Senior Director at Symantec focusing on strategic accounts and solutions. He was also the Head of Sales Consulting for Oracle Asia Pacific Middleware Division. He also worked at Deloitte Consulting focusing on the communication industry and led several large-scale projects from start to conclusion. Mr. Chow has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry. He has an MBA degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a Bachelor of Math from University of Waterloo in Canada.
Zizhuo WANG
Zizhuo Wang is a Professor and Associate Dean of School of Data Science at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Operations Research from Stanford University. His research mainly focuses on data driven decision making problems in operations problems and is currently the Director of Guangdong Key Lab for Mathematical Foundation for Artificial Intelligence. He is also the co-founder and CTO of Cardinal Operations, a leading analytic company based in China.
Tongpeng Yang
Tongpeng Yang is a senior digital transformation consulting expert at Kingdee. He previously served as CIO of Huawei China, Head of Huawei’s Second Data Management Department, CIO of Megvii, Director of Digital Consulting at PwC, and CIO of Kingdee Group.
Liangjie Zhang
Liangjie Zhang is a Distinguished Professor at the College of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Shenzhen University, Director of the Center for AI Services Computing, and Head of the Department of Software Engineering. He also supervises doctoral students in Computer Science and Technology and in Electronic Information (Artificial Intelligence). His current research and industry practice focus on Agentic AI, next-generation Internet software and service architectures, ultra-high-definition interactive networked audiovisual technologies, photonic AI, the Industrial Internet, and enterprise digital and intelligent transformation. Professor Zhang is an IEEE Fellow (2011), an ACM Distinguished Scientist (2009), a National Distinguished Expert, a Guangdong Provincial Leading Talent, a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Ukraine, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS, 2025).