The 7 Stages of AI Maturity
A Roadmap for Creative Leaders
If you've clicked on this link then you're probably starting to think hard about how AI is going to change your business. Trust us, it's going to change it a lot. AI is here to stay—and it's set to transform the creative industries faster than you can say "innovate."
The businesses that are set to thrive in the future are those that become AI-enabled. What do we mean by that? We mean moving beyond using ChatGPT or Midjourney in a few parts of the business, to using AI tools to augment or semi-automate everything you do, with AI embedded into the fabric of your team.
It means having a shared vision across your leadership team about where you want to go, and focusing your efforts on the areas that will deliver the most value.
It means creating a roadmap that gives you a credible path for getting there, and making people accountable for delivering it.
It means giving your team the right skills, and fostering a culture of experimentation and innovation that allows them to embrace AI without fear.
It means using the right tools for the right tasks, understanding what to automate, what to augment, and where to push the boundaries.
And finally means setting up governance processes to understand and control the risks, and managing your data and workflows appropriately.
Then, you will have become an AI-enabled organisation with the resilience and flexibility to succeed.
Here at Spark we've broken the journey down into 7 stages.
The 7 stages of AI Maturity
Stage 1
Using the AI built into your existing tools – e.g. Co-Pilot, Firefly - to do some tasks more quickly.
Stage 2
Implementing point solutions to speed up and improve the quality existing activities, e.g. ChatGPT for proposal writing, or Midjourney to generate mood boards.
Stage 3
Adapting your talent strategy and professional development to prioritise the right skills and culture.
Stage 4
Joining up point solutions using automation across your workflows, so one solution builds on the other, e.g. competitor research, or creating film concepts and illustrated storyboards.
Stage 5
Reconfiguring your processes and teams around these new ways of working, to optimise speed, quality and value.
Stage 6
Creating new services and offerings to win new clients and protect revenues – things AI can’t do or things you can only do with AI.
Stage 7
Reconfiguring your business model around new sources of value and operating as a GenAI enabled organisation.
Stage 1: Learning the Ropes, experimentation and Familiarisation
When you’re just starting out, you’ll probably dabble with the AI tools already built into your favorite software. Think Copilot in Microsoft Office to help draft presentations, or Firefly in Adobe Creative Suite to speed up retouching. These tools are great, and many might not even realise they are powered by AI. They can definitely help you do a few things more quickly, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. You'll probably also start dabbling with ChatGPT, helping you get ideas or draft copy.
The challenge:
AI use is patchy, and your team doesn't yet know how to get the best out of it. If you're not careful, disillusionment can set in, as the results don't seem worth the effort.
Spark tip:
Start experimenting to get a taste of what AI can do. This is where basic skills in learning to prompt can help people engage and create value.
Stage 2: Deploying Point Solutions: AI Assisted Speed and Quality
As you get more confident, you’ll begin to deploy other AI tools. In creative business we most often see ChatGPT and Midjourney. These can be used to greatly increase the speed and quality of specific tasks like proposal writing or creating mood boards. As you prove the value of them, you can start to apply them to more tasks.
The challenge:
Here the main challenge is finding the use cases. What can you augment with AI? Then give people the time to experiment to get the best out of the tools to augment those tasks.
Spark tip:
Focus on areas where AI can save you the most time. More time for brainstorming means more time for brilliance.
Stage 3: Skills and Culture Development: Fostering AI Excellence
This stage is all about building up the skills in your team. They'll already be reasonably proficient in using ChatGPT, Midjourney and other tools for certain tasks. But how do you really get the most out of them? How to you combine tools together to make them more powerful? How do you use no-code and low-code tools to build automations? Continuous learning is key.
To support those skills you need to foster a culture of innovation and experimentation. Let people try new things.
The challenge:
Freeing up time for people to learn new skills, try new things and share ideas is key here. You have to invest to reap the rewards later. Remember, Google gives employees 20% of their time to work on their own projects.
Spark tip:
This is cutting edge technology, and not every experiment or initiative will go right. Create a safe space where it's OK to fail, learn from it, and try again.
Stage 4: Augmented Workflows: AI Everywhere
Now we’re getting serious. At this stage, you start thinking holistically and join up your processes using no-code or low-code automation tools like Zapier or Make. You might be creating custom GPTs for specific parts of your workflow. People in your team are starting to think "AI first" and AI is built into every step of your creative process, from competitor research to developing storyboards to creating project updates for your clients.
The challenge:
Most creative teams don't have formalised processes. Being clear on how you work and putting some structure around it allows for more and more tasks to be augmented or automated.
Spark tip:
Map out your entire workflow and see where AI can slot in. The goal is to streamline everything.
Stage 5: Team Reconfiguration: New Roles, New Goals
As AI takes over routine tasks, it’s time to reconfigure your teams. Redirect the time saved from eliminating 'cognitive manual labour' into higher-value areas. This stage is all about maximising the human-AI collaboration. This additional capacity can help you deliver projects more quickly, and protect your margins as pressure on pricing increases. It also unlocks one of the holy grail of agency growth - being able to scale up your business without taking on more staff.
The challenge:
By this point the way you work has changed substantially, but the work on the business is just beginning. These changes will be disruptive and leading your team through them will be your principal challenge.
Spark tip:
These changes will unshackle your team from the mundane work and free them up to have big ideas and work closely with their clients. What is good for the business will also be good for them.
Stage 6: Invent New Services: Join the AI Pioneers
This is where things get exciting. You’re no longer just using AI to enhance existing tasks—you’re inventing new services. Think about AI-generated avatars or personalisation at scale. What are some of the things AI tools allow you to do that simply weren't realistic before, because they would have been too time consuming or too costly.
The challenge:
Up until now we have been automating the 'cognitive manual labour' or using AI tools as creative copilots, helping flesh out our ideas faster. This stage is where you build on the capabilities if those tools to create new forms of creative messaging and wow your clients. The learning curve is steep but the rewards are great.
Spark tip:
This is where you get to dream big. AI is your playground, so use it to create something truly groundbreaking.
Stage 7: Business Model Reconfiguration: The AI-Enabled Organisation
Finally, you reconfigure your entire business model to focus on new areas of value. Step away from low-value work and embrace the high-value opportunities AI presents. We're a long way from where we started, with new skills, new ways of working, and new services we provide to our clients. It's been a white knuckle ride and taken leadership, investment and entrepreneurship, but the journey has worth it. You now have an AI moat around your defences that protects your pricing power, differentiates you from your peers and makes you a magnet for the best talent.
The challenge:
How do you price new services? How do you pass the cost of innovation onto your clients? How do you shed your legacy work that has become commodified? This stage is all about re-shaping your business to focus on the new sources of value you have created. It requires vision, leadership, and nerve.
Spark tip:
Now you have the world at your feet. But keep evolving. The landscape is ever-changing, so stay flexible and remain ready to adapt.
Transforming your creative business into an AI-enabled powerhouse is not just about getting a few good prompts out of ChatGPT—it’s about building AI into the very fabric of how you work.
Be realistic about where are you today, and think about where you want to be in a year or two. Build the journey and stay on it.
Whenever you're ready, here are 3 ways we can help you:
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