Survey of digital agencies reveals 100% integration of AI into their workflow but also concern about keeping up with the pace of innovation
Duda released survey results that shows digital agencies are looking forward to greater adoption of AI in 2024. The survey of over 200 digital agency leaders shows that they anticipate an increase in AI-driven savings, particularly with content-related abilities of AI but the results also indicate a concern about keeping up with the pace of innovations.
Agencies generally look forward positive outcomes but also anticipate some challenges. The survey also reveals a rising interest in AI for code and content generation.
Optimism is driven from embracing AI for savings with many foreseeing transformative impacts on workflows and the scaling of business processes.
Agency Adoption Of AI Is 100%
An interesting insight from the report is that there’s a 100% adoption of AI of all agencies surveyed. Another trend is concern about keeping up with the pace of innovation.
According to Duda:
“While 100% of agency owners surveyed are already using AI and seeing savings from AI-driven efficiencies, there is still concern about keeping pace with AI developments in 2024 as the digital landscape evolves.
84% of agencies express concern about keeping pace with AI developments in 2024, with 58% being slightly concerned and 26% being very concerned. Only 16% of agency leaders remain unworried.”
Optimism for 2024: AI-Driven Savings
Agencies cite increases in efficiency, including faster turnarounds and reduced costs as strong drivers for acceptance of AI as a business tools.
Large agencies, in particular, anticipate strengthening of their bottom line financial, with expectations as high as tenfold increase compared to the previous year.
AI Spend in 2024: Content Is Key
Agencies look forward to 2024 and expressed planned AI investments, with a focus on content-related AI capabilities. The survey results indicate that agencies are planning to increase use of AI for content strategy, editing, and writing in order to scale and improve the content creation process.
Larger agencies are taking a proactive approach, signaling a strategic commitment to adopting AI in 2024.
Current AI Tools and Agency Sentiments
The survey found that while agencies are already leveraging AI tools and experiencing savings, they are also concerned about keeping pace with future AI developments.
Results of the survey indicate high expectations that AI will significantly optimize content workflows and scaling but there are also conflicting opinions regarding AI’s impact on high-level decision-making, with many agency leaders expressing the low expectations on delegating managerial-level control to AI.
AI Usage At Agencies
Digital agencies reported positive outcomes from current AI usage. Popular uses for AI are updating existing content and content generation. There is some concern expressed about scalability and data privacy.
The report indicates minimal concern about AI’s impact on creativity, with agencies reporting wins from cost savings to client satisfaction.
Reinvestment in AI and Other Sectors in 2024
Agencies are planning investing 2023 savings into AI, focusing on image creation and AI-assisted SEO.
Investment related to code generation, UX/UI design, and translation are less important that image, content and SEO investments and are projected to receive less investment focus in 2024. Nevertheless there is a rising interest in exploring AI for code generation in 2024. This may be a trend to watch as more agencies consider the potential of AI in automating and optimizing coding processes.
