POC Prison: Why agentic systems never escape the lab and how to fix that in 90 days
Most organizations experimenting with agentic AI aren’t blocked by models, frameworks, or orchestration. They’re blocked by something far more basic: the everyday realities of how enterprises actually work.
Agents look brilliant in controlled demos, but the moment you try to plug them into real systems (legacy data, governance, identity, compliance, and unclear ownership) they collapse into the same pile of abandoned POCs as everything else.
My talk cuts through the hype and gets straight to the uncomfortable truth:
- why agentic systems end up as flashy prototypes instead of production tools,
- how Excel-based “data estates” quietly choke autonomy before it even starts,
- why most so-called “AI use cases” are still rule-based automation wearing an AI sticker, and
- how to build the minimal delivery backbone needed for any intelligent agent to run safely in a real enterprise.
This isn’t yet another vision talk, but the reality check most teams never get: the engineering and organizational work required to move agents from the lab into the world where the constraints are real and the stakes are even higher.
Care about getting agentic systems running rather than demoing? This session gives you the hard truths and the practical steps to finally make that possible.
About the speaker
Luise Freese
Luise is an Azure & Power Platform Architect based in Germany. She is an awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) working with organizations that want to move beyond digital theatre. Her focus is on AI-enabled solutions that are designed to last in real-world environments. She helps teams build accessible apps, robust data models, and automation that respects governance, compliance, and human effort. A recurring theme in her work is making the invisible visible: unmeasured work, emotional load, operational friction, and the real cost of “quick wins”. Her motto "Changing the world one app at a time" stems from her extensive work with non-profit organizations.
Alongside client work, Luise writes and speaks about productivity myths, pseudo-agile practices, AI readiness, and why many digital initiatives fail long before technology becomes the problem. She is known for combining clear technical guidance with a sharp eye for organizational patterns; and for asking the uncomfortable questions others tend to avoid.
When not working and traveling, she is a runner, a mother of (teenage) dragons, a LEGO-builder and a lover of the number 42. Her favorite color is #ff69b4.