What is a digital employee

Definition

A digital employee is an artificial intelligence system that holds a specific job inside a company. Like a new hire, it has defined duties, tools it can access and limits: what it can do on its own and what it has to check first.

Unlike a traditional program, it doesn't follow a fixed script. It reads an email, understands what is being asked, decides which steps to take with the capabilities it is allowed to use and carries them out. Unlike a chatbot, it doesn't stop at answering: it finishes the job and keeps a record of it.

It is also called a digital worker, an AI employee or an AI agent with a role. The name matters less than the idea: a role, not a tool.

How a digital employee works

This is how an Amud digital employee works under the hood. It isn't a marketing description: it is the design behind the ones we run in production.

1. 01

   It receives a request

   Through the channel you already use: an email from a client, a WhatsApp message, a request in the portal chat. First it works out who is writing and which area the matter belongs to, and the request goes to that area's employee.

2. 02

   It sets what done well means

   Before starting, the request is described with a written success criterion: what has to be done and how it will be checked. That is the yardstick for the result.

3. 03

   It gathers the data it needs

   It reviews the case file, the history with that client and the connected systems: the CRM, the ERP, the HR software or the documents received.

4. 04

   It picks and uses its capabilities

   For each step it looks for the right capability among those it is allowed to use (drafting a document, calculating an amount, updating a record, replying to a client) and runs it. It only sees the capabilities of its role.

5. 05

   It asks for approval on anything important

   If a step has consequences (sending something to a client, recording a change, communicating a decision), it stops and presents it to you to approve or reject. The action runs once, and only if you say yes.

6. 06

   It checks its own work and leaves a trail

   When it finishes, an independent step checks the result against the initial criterion and decides whether the request is resolved or needs review. Everything goes into the case file: what happened, who did it and with which data.

The case file: the digital employee's memory

Every case lives in a case file: an employee's, an estate's, a vehicle sale's. It holds what is known, what has happened and what is still missing.

Each fact is recorded with its author, who can be the client, a third party, someone on your team, the digital employee or the system itself. So when a new email arrives, the digital employee decides whether to open a new matter or continue one already under way. And if someone asks in three months why something was done, the answer is written down.

What the model doesn't decide

Some decisions shouldn't depend on a language model, however good it is. A severance amount, a count of holiday days or a tax settlement is calculated with deterministic rules, programmed and tested, and the digital employee uses them like any other tool. The model decides what needs calculating; the system does the calculation.

What a digital employee can do today

These are real examples of the kind of work the digital employees we build take on.

In a law firm

• Receive requests from client companies by email, identify which employee or file they refer to and open or continue the matter.
• Prepare an objective dismissal: gather the contract data, calculate the severance with the rules of the Spanish Workers' Statute and leave the letter ready for review.
• Handle holidays against each company's work calendar and public holidays, keeping the balance of days up to date.
• In estates, collect each heir's documents, value the assets and prepare the inheritance tax settlement for the relevant region.

More detail in automation for law firms.

In car sales and leasing

• Answer every lead that arrives by WhatsApp, email or from the listing portals, at any time and with the vehicle's real data.
• Verify a leasing client's documents and flag what is missing before the file reaches the finance company.
• Keep vehicle listings on the website and the portals up to date when stock or prices change.

More detail in automation for car dealers and leasing.

In accounting firms and real estate

• Request, receive and sort each client's documents, and remind them of what's missing without anyone having to chase them.
• Qualify people interested in a property and propose viewings based on the agent's calendar.

See all industries.

Digital employee, chatbot, RPA and automation

They aren't mutually exclusive. In many projects, process automation moves the data and the digital employee handles whatever needs reading, interpreting and deciding. We explain it more calmly in digital employee, chatbot, RPA and AI agent: how they differ.

Security and control

• Isolation per client. Each company has its own data, credentials and capabilities. A digital employee can't see what doesn't belong to its company or use capabilities outside its role.
• Human approval. Actions that affect clients, employees or third parties wait for someone on your team to review them.
• Traceability. Each action is recorded in the case file with its author and data, which makes it easy to audit and correct.
• Regulation. The design takes into account the GDPR (including the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions with significant effects) and the obligations of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, such as telling people an AI system is involved when required. We go through it in AI agents in business: risks, human oversight, GDPR and the AI Act.

How a digital employee joins your team

Like any new hire: by defining the role well.

1. Free audit. We measure how many hours the work it would take on consumes today and whether it pays off.
2. Job description. Which requests it receives, through which channels, which capabilities it needs and what a person must always approve.
3. Connection to your tools. Email, CRM, ERP, HR or document manager, with minimum permissions.
4. Trial period. It works on real cases under close supervision until the results are as expected.
5. Follow-up. We measure the hours recovered and adjust its capabilities when your way of working changes.

The detail of each phase is in how we work.