Agentic workflows in watsonx Orchestrate let builders combine tools, agents, user input, and logic into structured, repeatable flows. They are a strong fit for enterprise business processes that span systems, teams, and decision points, especially when the work needs to be auditable.

Most of those processes involve more than one person. A request might be submitted by one person, reviewed by a specialist, and approved by another. This is exactly the kind of process multi-user support unlocks. User activities can now be assigned to the person who owns the next step in the business process rather than only to the workflow initiator. This capability greatly expands the types of workflows teams can automate in watsonx Orchestrate.

Four workflow patterns that are unlocked

• Approval
  An employee can submit a request and a manager can approve it in chat before the workflow continues, bringing common approval paths into one coordinated flow.
• Review
  A contract, content brief, or exception case can be routed to the right reviewer so the workflow waits for the subject matter expert’s input before moving forward.
• Fulfillment
  A requester can start a process, then the next step can move to the person responsible for completing the work, such as provisioning access, processing a purchase, or scheduling a service.
• Escalation
  If the workflow hits an exception, threshold, or higher-risk case, the next step can be routed to a manager or specialist for additional review before continuing.

Visualizing multi-user workflow interactions

In watsonx Orchestrate, builders configure user activities to reflect real collaboration rather than single-user execution. At runtime, users receive contextual tasks with all the information they need to progress the agentic workflow. The following video illustrates how multi-user activities operate within workflows.

How agentic workflows continue to evolve

Multi-user support is one of several recent improvements that expand the range of enterprise use cases agentic workflows can support. In addition, builders can now bring agents directly into workflows, inspect run-time data to understand how a workflow behaved, and create dynamic forms that adapt based on end-user input. Together, these capabilities make it easier to support more complex enterprise processes while also improving the workflow builder experience for designing, testing, and refining workflows.

If you have not revisited agentic workflows recently, now is a good time. Multi-user support, agent nodes, dynamic forms, and clearer execution visibility make agentic workflows an even stronger fit for business processes that connect people, agents, systems, and decision points.

For readers who want to go deeper, the IBM documentation on agentic workflows and adding user activities is a good place to start.

Written by @Marc-James Abi-Jaoude