“Change—relentless, game-changing, no-looking-back change—is the single most important factor [impacting Professional Services]. AI and automation are rewriting the playbook daily. The pace of innovation is forcing the industry into two camps: adapt or become irrelevant. ”

Andrew Nelson, President at Silverback Strategies

If you run a professional services business in 2025, you’re likely thinking about AI. The promise is systemic efficiency. AI is expected to transform how professional service firms do business, enabling greater automation to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks, improve service delivery for a better customer experience, and enhance decision-making. 

Overall, the outlook for AI is positive. Back in 2023, 67% of professional service employees predicted AI would have a transformational or high impact on their industry. And last October, 63% of tech executives said in a CNBC survey that new investments in AI are accelerating, while 79% of respondents said their companies are using Copilot, Microsoft’s AI companion product.  

To learn more about the way AI is reshaping professional services, we spoke with three agency leaders. Their insights make one thing clear: AI is not only an enticing promise—it’s already impacting how firms operate and service customers, and improving their ability to compete. 

Professional Service Firms See Efficiency Gains with AI, Shift Team’s Time to Strategy

“AI eliminates the grunt work.”

Andrew Nelson, Silverback Strategies

Perhaps the most obvious application of AI is to increase efficiency and productivity. AI can be used to automate mundane, repetitive tasks that would otherwise require hours of manual work. Adnan LaPumuk, founder and strategist at Konsist, describes how AI has improved his firm’s speed and efficiency by automating tasks like project reporting summaries, early content draft generation, and creative testing. 

The time saved on these kinds of tasks can now be used for high-impact creative or strategic work. Andrew Nelson echoes this sentiment: “Routine tasks are faster and sharper, letting our team focus on high-impact strategy instead.” 

That said, AI isn’t limited to merely eliminating the grunt work. As professional service firms save time with automation, AI is also facilitating better communication and decision-making. Tools like “real-time dashboards and automated reporting [are making] collaboration smoother and more transparent,” Adnan tells us.

The combination of these factors helps professional service firms ultimately better serve their clients. AI allows them to devote more time to their core needs and develop more impactful strategies, which in turn leads to more impactful work and happier clients. 

“AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a complete paradigm shift,” says Harrison Blum, co-founder and CMO of Social Revolt. “It’s driving cost efficiencies, enabling hyper-personalization, and reshaping how businesses operate from the ground up. The firms that understand how to harness AI effectively—while still maintaining a human-first approach—are the ones that will separate themselves.”

As powerful as these AI tools are, it’s less about completing jobs that would otherwise be done by humans, and more about amplifying the value that humans already bring to their work. “AI is just a tool—valuable only in the hands of people with the creativity and strategy to use it effectively… it’s not about replacing human creativity—it’s about augmenting it to create more meaningful and efficient outcomes”, adds Adnan.


AI Augments the Value Professional Services Firms Can Offer Their Clients

“We’re helping our clients integrate AI into their marketing operations, ensuring they use these tools effectively to transform their approach and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.”

Andrew Nelson, Silverback Strategies

While AI impacts how PS teams execute, it is also shifting the type of value that they’re providing to clients. 

For Konsist, AI has opened new opportunities in data synthesis and analysis—enabling their clients to gain insight and impact from data that was previously siloed. 

“One of the biggest challenges we see is that clients’ data often lives in fragmented silos, limiting its potential. By leveraging AI, we can unify this data to create impactful audience personas, drive strategic branding decisions, and prototype smarter, faster solutions tailored to our clients' needs.” 

This capability transforms how firms advise clients, shifting engagements from transactional to deeply consultative. It’s not just about efficiency—it’s about helping clients make better, more strategic decisions that drive long-term value and build lasting relationships.

For example, Andrew Nelson and Silverback are using their own internal AI expertise to help clients transform their own operations. “We’re helping our clients integrate AI into their marketing operations,” says Andrew Nelson. “This ensures they use these tools effectively to transform their approach and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.” 

This type of support for clients is new for agencies like Silverback, but shows how agencies can leverage their own knowledge to help their clients be more successful.

The Adoption and Application of AI tools Is No Longer Optional

Our panelists consider adopting AI essential for remaining competitive and meeting the evolving expectations of clients. 

For all of our panelists, AI is improving the efficiency of their service delivery, thereby boosting their ability to compete. For example, Social Revolt, uses the efficiencies gained with AI to “do more with less, and that’s an advantage that compounds over time.”

Clients are seeking partners who can navigate the AI landscape and demonstrate how these tools can be leveraged to achieve specific business goals. While the industry is generally optimistic, doubts still linger. For clients to trust AI as an investment, it has to prove its business impact. 

This is the opportunity for professional service firms. 

“It’s about helping clients navigate this change confidently and proving to their bosses that these shifts drive real bottom-line impact,” Andrew says. “The ability to show measurable value—revenue growth, efficiency gains, and ROI—separates those thriving in this environment from those falling behind.”


While new promises are enticing, the reality is that AI is no longer the technology of the future. The application of AI is already transforming how professional service firms operate. AI is a boon to productivity and strategic decision-making. The more firms can harness AI’s capabilities, they can not only improve their own internal efficiency, but also uplevel the quality and differentiation of their service for their clients.