Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! There definitely have been easier years than 2022 for trying to start a business. Compared to larger firms, smaller companies have a harder time absorbing shocks like inflation changes, supply chain disruptions, and changing demographics in the workplace. We see evidence that investors are starting to prefer to see proof of profits, rather than growth, an anathema to the startup founders of only a few years ago.

Agencies spend too much time doing manual work. One of the biggest time sucks? Max Cheprasov, now an exec at the Dentsu Aegis holding company level, recognized these inefficiencies while working at Dentsu agency iProspect starting in 2011. He set out to document and standardize processes while outsourcing inefficient tasks so that employees could focus more on strategic client work. Eventually, he brought artificial intelligence into the agency's workflows, specifically natural language processing and machine learning, which helped accelerate the ability to interpret data, derive insights and generate reports.