From Skeptic to Alchemist: A Practical Guide to AI Maturity for Agencies – Part 3 – Business Model and Org Implications

One of the most common questions we hear from agencies is, “What is everyone else doing with AI?” But the question behind the question is: How are we doing compared to our peers?

And right now, that question is getting louder. AI has become a bit of an arms race in advertising. Some agencies are pulling ahead—redefining roles, amplifying output, and unlocking new forms of value. Others are stumbling, unsure how to integrate AI meaningfully or struggling with internal resistance. This isn’t about company size or throwing a lot of money around. It’s a moment where leadership, strategy, culture – and a willingness to experiment – will separate the fast movers from the left-behinds.

To navigate it all, we need a new kind of map—one that charts not just where we are, but how to move forward. Enter the 4As AI Maturity Map, designed to do exactly that.

Business Model & Org Implications

According to our 2025 State of GenAI Adoption survey, nearly 70% of agencies expect AI to change their business models and organization composition in the next two years. We believe this is driven by a recognition that the efficiency gains of AI will be the final nail in the coffin of the time & materials model. Selling time in a world of AI augmentation is not a recipe for growth. Instead, many agencies are exploring alternative compensation models, and the 4As is in the process of releasing several resources on this complex topic:

• Preserving Agency Value in the Era of GenAI Transformation
• Decoding Compensation Models & Implementing the Right Model, in partnership with the ANA
• A Guide to Recouping Tech Costs – Coming Soon
• A Custom GPT Trained on These and Other Materials to Help Provide Conversational Guidance in an Easy-to-Digest Format – Coming Soon

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and it will take time to arrive at the best solution for your agency. But the time to begin experimenting is now.

If You Want to Go Deeper

Our GenAI Blueprint includes a more rigorous AI readiness framework (a customizable Excel template with six dimensions). If you want a companion to the Maturity Map that helps with deeper diagnostics, that’s a great place to start.

Final Thoughts: Leading Agencies Will Do Three Things

1. Evaluate efficiency: experiment with AI use cases to determine the impact of efficiency gains on common work flows, and examine the related implications for your pricing model.
2. Redefine organizational collaboration: treat AI as a teammate more than a tool, lean heavily into human PLUS machine, and focus on the unique strengths of each.
3. Reinvent the work: AI can do more than accelerate our current work; it can enable fundamentally new kinds of work in service of achieving client business goals. Embrace that opportunity for innovation and the business model evolution that goes along with it.

AI is moving incredibly quickly, and the questions it raises are profound. Use this Maturity Map and the tools within to help lower barriers to adoption and plot a course toward AI-powered business growth.

GenAI Maturity Assessment

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.