In last week’s session The Need to Know on AI, Humans and Work, futurist Rishad Tobaccowala predicted that by the end of ‘25, AI will perform 50% of the tasks that agencies are doing today.
He warned that technology doesn’t care about our business model, citing an urgent need to create new models. The challenge, which is top of mind for agency leaders, is how do you profitably satisfy clients today while you reinvent your firm to be able to profitably satisfy them tomorrow?
According to Rishad, the solution is to divide talent into two teams. The best and brightest should be on Team Tomorrow. Their role is to reimagine and reinvent how the agency operates to deliver future value to clients. Everyone else is on Team Today. Their focus is to deliver excellent work and keep clients happy in the present.
That’s a tough pill to swallow if you need every available billable hour to deliver revenue. However, the alternative – the potential to lose 50% of your revenue – or worse, to be made irrelevant, is an even more devastating outcome.
Team Tomorrow doesn’t have to be huge, but it needs to be cross-functional and potentially multi-level. And it must feel the urgency and need for focus; straddling both teams is not a workable solution.
We will be bringing a huge focus to value in ’25, which ultimately will help pricing, but we would also like to explore how we support your Team Tomorrows. Is it through our CEO Cohorts, where trust has already been established? Is it an opt-in group by agency size? I’d welcome your perspective and want to reassure you that I feel the urgency.