Ascendea, a business process automation firm, said it achieved a 90-fold increase in productivity after deploying a custom AI agent named 'James' built on the Manus platform. The company created 303 standard operating procedures in a single day, a task that would typically take weeks.
303 SOPs in one day
The company used the Manus AI agent to generate and document step-by-step workflows for various client processes. According to Ascendea, the agent 'James' automated the creation of SOPs, reducing the time from days to hours. The 303 SOPs were produced in a single working day, a pace the company says would have required a large team of human specialists.
Workflow automation for 112 clients
Beyond documentation, the AI agent also handled the actual automation of workflows for 112 clients. Ascendea integrated 'James' with its existing systems to carry out repetitive tasks, from data entry to compliance checks. The company did not disclose the specific industries or the size of the clients, but said the 90x productivity gain was measured against its previous manual processes.
What Manus AI 'James' does
Manus is a platform that lets businesses create custom AI agents for specific tasks. Ascendea's version, named 'James', was trained on the company's own SOP templates and client data. The agent can read existing process documents, interview subject matter experts, and output a complete SOP with approval workflows. It can also trigger automations in third-party tools like Salesforce and Slack, according to the company.
Ascendea said the agent now handles the bulk of its onboarding and compliance work, freeing human staff to focus on client relationships and complex problem-solving. The company did not provide a timeline for when the agent was deployed or how long the 90x improvement has been sustained.
Whether other firms can replicate Ascendea's results with Manus AI will depend on the complexity of their own processes and the amount of training data available. The company said it plans to share more detailed case studies in the coming months.
