How AI is Impacting Agency and Consultancy M&A
SI Global brought agency leaders and investors together for our latest Stories from the Deal Room series event. The panel discussion focused on how is AI changing agencies and consultancies and what does that mean for M&A?
Here are the key insights from the panel.
AI is a competitive necessity, not a choice
The debate about whether to adopt AI is over. The question facing organisations now is a harder one: how much disruption are you willing to absorb in order to take full advantage?
The firms that are making headway are thinking like technology businesses and treating AI adoption as a strategic priority.
Judgement is the new scarcity
AI removes the time constraint but the new scarcity is judgement and how this is scaled across an organisation. The risk of teams producing low-quality, undifferentiated "AI slop" is real, and organisations need to actively think about how to scale oversight and critical thinking across AI-augmented workforces particularly at mid and junior levels.
Business models and org structures are changing
The traditional agency pyramid, a broad base of junior talent supporting a smaller layer of senior expertise, is contracting. The shape the panel kept returning to was a diamond: fewer entry-level roles, a larger and more empowered mid-level, and senior talent focused on strategy, relationships, and accountability.
A single person with the right AI tools can now achieve what required a full team twelve months ago. This has profound implications, not just for hiring and training, but for how businesses price their work, structure their margins, and articulate their value to clients
Proprietary data is becoming a meaningful valuation consideration in M&A processes
As AI tools commoditise, the question of what separates one business from another becomes more pointed and the panel's answer was consistent: data. Specifically, proprietary data that others cannot easily replicate.
Whether that is audience insight built over years of client work, campaign performance data across a particular sector, or intelligence gathered through a unique market position, the businesses with genuinely differentiated datasets are in a fundamentally stronger position.
Trusted relationships remain a core component
Across both agency and investment contexts, the panel kept returning to the same point: AI builds on what is already there. Client trust, long-standing relationships, and a black book cannot be replicated by technology. These remain the core of any credible investment or acquisition case.
This matters particularly in an M&A context. The businesses commanding the strongest interest from acquirers and investors are not those with the most sophisticated AI stack. They are those with deep client relationships and a loyal revenue base that AI can be applied to.
AI readiness and a culture that embraces change
Acquirers have become more sophisticated about what AI-readiness actually means in a target business. If AI is not embedded within the business now, they are looking for the conditions in which AI can be applied post-deal to create meaningful value. That means deep sector expertise, loyal client relationships, and critically a management team and culture that is genuinely capable of embracing change.
Cultural resistance to adoption is increasingly being treated as a risk factor in the same way client concentration or revenue unpredictability would be. The readiness to change is as important as the change itself.
Technology roadmap items that once took two years are now being delivered in weeks. The competitive window for organisations to adapt is compressing in ways that most strategic planning cycles were not designed to handle.
The panel reflected a genuine and shared sense of urgency. The future of the agency business and transformation is being measured in months, not years.
Investors are scrutinising AI claims
The investment community has moved beyond taking AI narratives at face value. Businesses that can demonstrate measurable, AI-driven operational gains in delivery speed, margin, or client outcomes are seeing that reflected in how acquirers think about value.
But the panel was clear that the bedrock of any deal has not changed. Revenue predictability, client relationships, and management quality remain the primary drivers of investment decisions.
The businesses that will command the strongest outcomes are those that have done the fundamental work first, and can then show AI sitting credibly on top of it.
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About SI Global
SI Global is a global advisory firm that offers trusted, insightful, and actionable M&A advice to entrepreneurs, corporates and investors across the globe. SI provide sell-side and buy-side advice on Strategic M&A and Private Equity investments, as well as growth consultancy; advice on preparation for sale; and acquisition strategy & research.
