Marketing and business development is facing its clean-up, shape-up and skill-up moment if it is to guide AI strategies, says Lindsay Ryan.
The AI era is redefining the boundaries of marketing and business development. From predictive insights to hyper-personalised content, the opportunities feel limitless. Yet, the real revolution isn’t just in what we deliver, it’s in how we collaborate, adapt and build resilience for a future that demands agility and imagination.
As the Marketing and BD Operations Manager at Cripps, my focus over the past year has been less on ‘doing AI’ and more on getting ready for it. Putting in place strong operational foundations, automating processes and structuring data so that the AI tools we’re adopting have something meaningful to work with.
This work has reshaped both our marketing function at Cripps and my own role. I’ve gone from being a traditional marketer to something far more hybrid: part strategist, part technologist, part problem-solver.
And I’m convinced that this blurring of boundaries will define the next era of BD and marketing.
AI and the marketing function
At Cripps, we’ve taken the approach that AI shouldn’t be seen as a separate initiative or a new project to bolt onto existing operations. It’s a layer that will soon underpin everything we do, supporting and streamlining our processes, from client listening and data analytics to campaign planning and relationship management.
This led us to an important question: Who owns AI strategy?
Traditionally, technology decisions have been led by IT. Yet, marketing and BD teams are uniquely positioned to guide how AI is applied. We sit at the intersection of client insight, business growth and firm strategy.
We understand how data flows through the client journey, and where the gaps and inefficiencies lie.
That perspective makes us natural bridge builders between business needs and technical capability.
By leading on workflow design, data quality and process automation, marketing and BD can ensure that AI for marketing and BD truly enables client growth rather than simply adding new systems to manage.
So, while IT provides the tools and governance, marketing and BD must shape the vision and use cases. The best AI strategies will emerge from this partnership between IT and marketing and BD.
Foundations for the AI future
For us, AI readiness began not with technology pilots, but with data discipline. It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was transformational.
We spent the past year re-engineering our systems using Microsoft’s Power Platform, SharePoint, Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI to centralise information and automate our workflows. Historically, much of our marketing intelligence lived in people’s heads, and valuable data on pitches, campaigns, events, and client engagement was scattered and inconsistent.
Now, through automated forms, triggers, and dashboards, we capture structured data at the source. Our activities are logged, categorised, and visible across the team. Fee earners can view live marketing and BD activity and access key resources, while the BD team can analyse performance trends without chasing updates.
The firm is now a daily user of a solution that offers searchable, dynamic content and triggered reminders for our BD and sector action plans, pitches and credentials, events and awards. It simplifies and automates our legal directory submissions and marketing and BD requests whilst building a library of experience and testimonials, key BD information and templates.
By getting serious about our data, we challenged ourselves to do better and think wider to improve our processes, working on the premise that AI will only ever be as good as the information we feed it. Because if the data isn’t recorded, AI can’t use it.
My journey from marketer to hybrid technologist
As we began this work, I realised the shift wasn’t just technical; it was personal. My role evolved from campaign planner to systems designer. I’ve learned to build automations, map processes and create low-code apps. I’ve had to understand how marketing data is structured, how systems talk to each other and how to design workflows that reflect business logic.
I believe tomorrow’s marketing leaders won’t just manage campaigns; they’ll orchestrate the processes that make those campaigns possible,
and AI is accelerating this shift.
It’s pushing us all to skill up, to think more analytically, and to embrace the tools that will make our functions faster, smarter and more connected.
Preparing teams for change
We regularly discuss AI through our team action group ‘AI of the Tiger’, which includes members from BD, marketing, internal comms and client insights to keep clients central to AI conversations. The themes that matter most to us reflect our shared values and B Corp status, focusing on how we stay authentic, responsible, ethical and considered in our use of AI.
There are many tools and tech solutions available, and it can be overwhelming. As with any strategy, we first need to understand what the problems are we need to solve before considering the role AI or tech plays in solving them. The challenge is building confidence and curiosity. When people understand why we’re digitising processes and how it benefits them, they lean in. Continuous learning becomes part of the culture, not a reaction to disruption.
The future marketer
So what comes next?
I believe the marketing and BD functions of the future will look very different. They’ll be data-literate, technically fluent and strategically connected to IT. AI will handle reporting, pattern recognition and admin, giving us time to do what humans do best: think, interpret, use our creativity and build relationships.
But that future depends on the groundwork we do now. This is our big clean-up, shape-up and skill-up moment, the operational transformation before the AI transformation.
This shift calls for more than technical know-how; it requires cultural change. We believe that the firms that succeed will be the ones whose marketing functions are ready, not just with the right tools, but with the right mindset. Teams must embrace curiosity, foster trust and create space for experimentation. These foundations will determine whether AI becomes a true enabler or just another tool in the kit.
With over 23 years’ experience in marketing across IT and legal sectors, Lindsay Ryan is Marketing and BD Operations Senior Manager at Cripps. Focused on driving operational excellence and passionate about technology and AI, Lindsay has led firm-wide initiatives to improve efficiency and prepare teams for the future of AI-driven solutions.
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