Marketers have made enormous strides with generative AI (GenAI) over the last year, moving from experimentation to large-scale deployment. But the next shift in AI maturity – agentic AI – is already underway.
This shift will push organizations beyond prompt-based productivity and into a world where AI can act, learn and optimize autonomously.
The Marketers and AI: Navigating New Depths report classifies marketers into three distinct groups based on their readiness for this shift: Observers, Planners and Adopters. The research reveals significant adoption gaps across the three categories and it also makes something unmistakably clear: Your AI maturity today determines what’s possible for you tomorrow.
So … which one are you?
Observers: Early-stage learners with untapped potential
Observers have embraced GenAI, but their agentic AI journey is just beginning. Many have experimented, but most lack the infrastructure, governance or internal confidence needed to adopt autonomous systems. Observers intend to use agentic AI within the next two years, which puts them well behind the curve in comparison to Adopters.
Although they’re using GenAI, they’re realizing a lower return on investment than both Adopters and Planners. Challenges to adoption include fragmented data, uneven AI skills and uncertainty about where agentic AI fits within their current workflows.
Observers typically begin with conversational agents, a natural extension of the chatbot experiences they’ve already delivered with GenAI. It’s a safe first step as they continue to build foundational readiness across data infrastructure, skilled teams and governance.
The turning point for Observers is building AI literacy and strengthening data practices. Once Observers establish these basics, they can move beyond passive use cases and adopt a more integrated approach to AI across campaign channels to support real-time decisions and more dynamic customer interactions.
Planners: Equipped with strategy, ready for agentic AI action
Planners are further along the AI maturity curve compared to Observers. They understand agentic AI conceptually, see the value and are preparing to deploy it within the next year. The strategy is in place, but the challenge lies in operationalizing it consistently across the organization.
Many Planners are already identifying increasingly advanced use cases such as automated journey design, always-on performance reporting and real-time personalization. These practical starting points deliver measurable lift while building confidence for moving toward highly advanced capabilities and use cases.
Planners still often face varying degrees of organizational readiness for the adoption of agentic AI. While some teams are ready to adopt agentic workflows, others remain dependent on manual processes or lack clarity around governance.
The turning point for Planners is adopting a unified enterprise AI strategy that brings together a solid data and technical infrastructure, teams skilled in active and semiautonomous AI use, and processes that ensure trustworthy AI. When these pieces connect, progress accelerates quickly.
Adopters: Operating in the agentic zone
Adopters are already using agentic AI in production environments, and the gap between them and the other groups is widening quickly.
These marketers have strong data foundations, mature governance, solid experimentation practices, and teams with a high level of AI literacy. They use agentic systems not only for automation but also for real-time decisioning, including continuous learning, dynamic offer optimization and journey orchestration.
Adopters almost universally see measurable ROI from GenAI. They are significantly more likely than Observers or Planners to succeed because they have moved from reactive use of AI to embedding it into the core of their marketing operations.
Their next step is scale. Adopters are preparing multi-agent ecosystems and quantum-ready architectures that support more advanced customer engagement models.
Why does it matter if you’re an Observer, Planner or Adopter?
These groups represent different paths – and you want to make sure you’re on the right one. As marketers progress from GenAI to agentic AI, quantum computing moves within reach. Adopters already see this connection, with nearly half incorporating quantum topics into innovation road maps and many expect to have marketing applications within the next two years.
Agentic AI is the point where marketing shifts from reactive to autonomous. Organizations with strong data practices, thoughtful governance and teams ready to collaborate with AI will advance the fastest.
So if you are an Observer or Planner, here are four steps you can take to accelerate your agentic AI journey.
Four steps to move you forward
- Build the foundation: Reliable data, skilled teams and strong governance must work together.
- Deploy agentic AI strategically: Begin with high-impact use cases such as automated journeys and performance reporting.
- Go beyond governance: Focus on transparency, explainability and internal trust.
- Keep humans in the loop: Human oversight is essential to creating trust in AI-driven decisions.
Beyond agentic AI: Quantum is on the horizon
As organizations progress on their AI journeys, they’ll become more attuned to adjacent and future-facing technologies. Quantum computing offers new possibilities, including real-time journey simulation, faster and more secure data processing and advanced predictive analytics.
Adopters are already moving in this direction. Planners and Observers can prepare by following the four steps listed above to ensure they’ve built a strong GenAI and agentic AI foundation in preparation for what’s next: Quantum.
So … Where do you stand?
Whether you are observing, planning or adopting, you are part of a rapidly evolving MarTech landscape. The choices you make now – think infrastructure, AI-skilled teams and trustworthy AI – will determine how quickly you move into the next era of customer engagement. Agentic AI is not the end state. It is the bridge to what comes next.
