In a matter of seconds, artificial intelligence can generate code, create an app prototype, design an interface, analyze data, or produce marketing content.
In this context, it’s a legitimate question: Why continue to rely on digital experts when AI can already handle a significant portion of the work?
But this question is based on a significant misunderstanding: being able to produce a quick answer does not necessarily mean getting the right result.
AI is profoundly changing the way we work. It speeds up execution, automates certain tasks, and makes many technical skills more accessible. This is a real opportunity, both for businesses and for digital agencies.
But behind every digital project, there is a framework to establish: understanding the need, defining the right problem, choosing the appropriate solution, integrating it into existing systems, and measuring its impact. It is precisely these decisions that now determine the value of a digital agency’s expertise.
AI speeds up execution and improves productivity
For digital professionals in particular, AI offers significant productivity gains. It speeds up research and analysis, facilitates prototyping, allows for the rapid exploration of multiple avenues, and automates some repetitive tasks.
A developer can use it to generate certain pieces of code or identify errors more quickly. A marketing team can produce and adapt content more efficiently. A designer can explore more ideas in the same amount of time.
Certain tasks that previously took several hours can now be completed much more quickly. And certain services based primarily on execution will inevitably evolve. The value of expertise is thus shifting toward the processes surrounding production: scoping, decision-making, integration, and analysis of results.
Expertise sets the framework and challenges the requirements
Before creating a campaign, a website, an app, or an automation, you need to understand what the company is actually trying to achieve. What problem does it want to solve? For which users? What are the constraints? What tools is it already using? What data is available? How will the results be measured?
A campaign can generate clicks without attracting the right prospects. A website can look great without converting visitors. An automation can function technically while relying on poorly structured data.
In these situations, the quality of execution isn’t necessarily at fault. Sometimes the initial problem was poorly defined, or the chosen solution isn’t a good fit.
AI can provide answers based on the information it is given. Expertise also involves seeking out the missing information, comparing the request with the reality of the business, and, when necessary, questioning the solution initially considered.
“AI allows us to work much faster on certain tasks; our experts use it every day. But our role begins before production. Understanding what the client is really trying to achieve, challenging their request, and working with them to determine the most relevant solution for their business is part of our job. Entrusting this thought process to an AI, no matter how powerful it may be, remains much more complex.” — Lola Thans, Chief Business Officer at DJM digital
Complex projects rely on a variety of areas of expertise
Not all digital needs require the involvement of an agency. Today, AI offers businesses considerable autonomy, particularly for tasks related to production, analysis, prototyping, and automation.
The question is no longer really about what AI is capable of doing on its own. The challenge today is rather to determine when business context, expertise, and human guidance are necessary to take things further and achieve effective, relevant results that are aligned with the organization’s business objectives.
When a project involves multiple business functions, technologies, or systems, an agency’s digital expertise allows it to take all of these dimensions—and the interactions between them—into account. Developing a platform, for example, isn’t just about generating code. It requires understanding user needs, making the right technological choices, integrating the solution with existing tools, structuring data, planning for security and maintenance, and ensuring the product can evolve over time, among other things.
It’s this big-picture perspective that makes all the difference: every decision made at one point in the project can have consequences elsewhere. A choice made in UX/UI can have technical implications. A data constraint can alter a feature. A business requirement may necessitate a reevaluation of the proposed architecture. The challenge, therefore, is not just to produce a solution, but to ensure that the various choices are consistent with one another and truly serve the original objective.
This is one of the main reasons why, at DJM Digital, developers, UX/UI experts, marketing specialists, and project teams work together and discuss their decisions.
“AI is already accelerating certain stages of development, but writing code is only part of the job. Our teams must understand the need, make technical choices, anticipate their consequences, and build a solution that works with the client’s entire ecosystem.” — Thomas Nyssen, COO of DJM digital
Digital expertise isn’t going away—it’s evolving
AI already enables faster production and will certainly continue to take on an increasing share of the execution. For a digital agency, the challenge is therefore not to artificially preserve tasks that technology can now accelerate. It is to use these new tools to be more efficient while focusing expertise where it adds the most value. Understanding the need, choosing the right approach, coordinating expertise, integrating solutions, and measuring their results. AI is changing the way we work. It is also changing what companies should expect from their digital partners.
Do you have a digital project and are wondering how much AI can help you? Let’s talk about it.
Curious and creative, she loves to dive deep into brands to uncover their true essence — through words, visuals, and bold ideas. For her, great content is the one that makes people react, think, or smile.
