Building AI Agents without Rewriting Your ERP: A Practical Guide

Many institutions rely on deeply embedded enterprise systems such as PeopleSoft, Banner, or Workday—but replacing them is costly and complex. So how can higher education still take advantage of AI innovation? This session provides a practical, implementation-focused guide to building AI agents that extend—not replace—existing ERP systems. Attendees will learn how to use APIs, middleware platforms, and large language models to create intelligent automation layers that interact with legacy systems in a controlled and scalable way. Drawing from real-world patterns, this session will walk through how to design agent-driven workflows for use cases like payroll validation, employee onboarding, and service-request handling. It will also address key challenges such as integration constraints, data security, governance, and cost management. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to incrementally introduce AI capabilities into their current ecosystem while maximizing existing technology investments.