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After a three-year effort to modernize core technology systems, Ulta Beauty isn’t ready to coast. The beauty retailer is using the momentum to launch into what it sees as the future of work: AI agents.  

The company is working on improving its tech foundation to enable agentic AI adoption, which it hopes will lead to enhanced employee and customer experiences, according to Mike Maresca, chief technology and transformation officer at Ulta. 

“We need to establish the foundation, but the power of agents is really going to come to life next year as part of the Ulta Beauty story,” Maresca, who has been with the company for about two years, told CIO Dive. “[Agentic] is in its formative stage here, but we’re rapidly accelerating that.”

Most businesses are in a similar spot, working out the kinks before bringing agents into production, but also bullish for what’s to come. Nearly three-quarters of senior leaders bet the technology will bring their company a significant competitive advantage in the coming year, a PwC survey published in May found.

“I don’t think you can be in my role and not think about agents and agentic AI,” Maresca said. 

AI agents sit among the fastest growing tech trends, according to a McKinsey review of scientific publications, patent filings, equity investment, talent demand, search engine queries and press reports published Tuesday. Enterprises are also grappling with vendor-led hype as agentic AI providers push their versions of tools and services onto customers. 

Ulta expects the technology will improve its marketing and digital store operations as well as enable other efficiencies. Streamlining decisions and aiding in personalized experiences are other potential use case targets.

“Some of the agents we can deploy to our associates so that they’re in the moment with our customers and we can advise them on how to best engage them, pulling up past purchases and making product recommendations,” Maresca said. 

Governance amid transformation

As Ulta continues to strengthen its technology foundation, the company has also embarked on a broader business transformation plan that centers on core business growth and realignment for the future.

The strategy was set in motion in March by CEO Kecia Steelman, who took the helm in January, after several underwhelming quarters. In an effort to align transformation efforts with cost optimization initiatives, Steelman also expanded Maresca’s title from chief technology and information officer to its current iteration. 

“They are two roles that play well together,” Maresca said. “Everything is a business project at its core because you are changing the business process — and new technologies always do that. We focus a lot on organizational change and change management training.”

For AI in particular, the company is upskilling associates in a tiered system to ensure AI systems are carefully vetted, affirm transparency, encourage ethical use and facilitate compliance. The upskilling program represents a layer of Ulta’s change management strategy as well as its governance approach. 

“Through that tiered system, as well as how we train our associates to use AI, we really have the right formula for how data governance works,” Maresca said. “We’ve embedded governance throughout our architecture review boards so that as we build capabilities, we understand what AI is dealing with in our core systems.”

An AI council helps to shore up the efforts. Made up of Maresca along with other executive members, the group works to align projects and tools with broader strategy. 

“This is a team sport,” Maresca said.