Key takeaways
The “AI bottleneck“: Many teams are stuck in the augmentation (creation) stage. They are creating content faster, but it’s hitting the same manual approval and distribution bottlenecks.
The real value: The goal is to move from creation to coordination by progressing to automation (automating tasks) and agentic (executing goals).
The next step: Moving to these higher stages requires an integrated, cohesive platform, not just more fragmented AI features.
Your teams are creating content faster than ever, using powerful AI tools to generate copy and images. But are you launching that content any faster?
If your process is still running on email chains, spreadsheets, and manual checks, the answer is likely “no.“ This is the challenge of the early AI maturity stage. You’re just feeding a manual, inefficient content supply chain at a faster rate.
The real, transformative value of AI isn’t just in creation. It’s in coordination.
AI is a journey, not a single tool. This path is the 4 As Maturity Journey. Think of it as the roadmap from that first creative spark to a fully autonomous operation. In our previous article, From Content Chaos to Automated Flow, we explained how this framework supercharges your content. Now, this guide is your “you are here“ map.
Let’s find out which stage you’re at and how you move to the next level.
1. What is the assistant stage?
How to know you’re here: Your teams use AI primarily as a passive, “ask-and-answer“ tool. It’s a “finder“ that helps you search your existing content.
What it looks like: Using AI-powered search (like auto-tagging or natural language) to find images in a digital asset management (DAM) system, search for product information, or answer simple questions.
The limitation: The Assistant stage is helpful, but it’s passive. It doesn’t do any work. It just helps you find the work that needs to be done.
How to move to the augmentation stage: The next step is to move from finding content to actively creating it. This requires giving your teams creative tools that integrate generative AI directly into their authoring and design workflows, allowing them to brainstorm and produce first drafts with AI as a partner.
2. What is the augmentation stage?
How to know you’re here: This is the “bottleneck“ stage, and it’s the most common place for teams to be today. Your teams are actively using generative AI to create new content, but this has created a new traffic jam.
What it looks like: Writing first-draft product descriptions, creating campaign slogans, or generating images with various generative AI tools.
The limitation: This is the “faster creation, same manual process“ problem. You’ve simply added a high-speed on-ramp to the same gridlocked highway of manual reviews, localization, and approvals.
How to move to the automation stage: The only way to clear this bottleneck is to stop thinking about features and start building a foundation. This leap requires an integrated, cohesive platform where your content, assets, and workflows are all connected in a single source of truth. This is the foundation for automating tasks, such as media optimization, which can save thousands of hours.
3. What is the automation stage?
How to know you’re here: You’ve started to connect your systems. You’re using AI and workflows to handle simple, repetitive operational tasks, not just creative ones.
What it looks like: A content flow automatically triggers a translation task after a product is approved. Or, a simple rule auto-resizes images for a specific channel.
The limitation: This is a huge leap, but the automation is often task-based (if X, then Y). It still requires a human to manage the overall goal and connect the different automated workflows.
How to move to the agentic stage: The final leap is from automating single tasks to automating entire goals. This requires a new, autonomous layer that can be given a complex business objective, such as “launch this product”, and be trusted to manage the entire multi-step process from end to end.
4. What is the agentic stage?
How to know you’re here: You have reached the highest stage of maturity. You give AI a goal, not just a task, and it autonomously manages the entire complex process.
What it looks like: A merchandiser has a goal: “Launch this new product in all European markets.“ They don’t send 10 emails. They approve the product, and an autonomous AI agent takes over. It manages the entire content flow: commissioning transcreation, managing compliance reviews by market, optimizing all 50 image variants, and publishing the entire suite of assets.
The foundation for the agentic stage: This stage is only possible with a cognitive content management system where AI is the native operational layer, not a bolt-on.
What is the business value of improving your AI maturity?
Solving this operational drag isn’t just a small win. McKinsey estimates generative AI could unlock $240 billion to $390 billion in value for retailers.
According to the report, this massive value is unlocked by boosting productivity and efficiency across the entire retail value chain. This includes everything from marketing and commercialization to distribution and streamlining internal operations.
This is the value locked inside your manual processes. The purpose of moving from the augmentation stage to the automation and agentic stages is to unlock that value.
How does an integrated platform help with AI maturity?
We believe that technology doesn’t scale businesses. People do. This principle guides our entire approach to AI.
The goal of this maturity journey isn’t just to buy more technology. It’s to amplify your people. The market is full of AI tools that promise to help you create more (augmentation stage). Our cognitive content management system is built to help you execute more (automation and agentic stages).
This is our cohesive platform in action. It’s the single foundation that integrates Content Hub (DAM) and Dynamic Content (CMS), automates operations with Dynamic Media, and delivers the autonomous agentic stage with Workforce.
This is the platform that frees your teams from the repetitive constraints of the content supply chain, so they can finally focus on strategy and innovation. That is how content moves at the speed of ideas.
To see the platform that can take your team to the next stage of AI maturity, book a demo today.