Agency margin lives or dies on the ratio of strategic work (the part clients pay for) to operational work (the part that drains it). Most agencies are slowly losing the ratio.
Proposals get longer. Reports get more frequent. Client expectations grow. Account leads spend half their week on admin instead of strategy. Margins compress.
AI workflows fix the ratio. The repeatable 60–70% of agency ops becomes automated; senior people get their hours back for the work clients actually pay for.