The margin isn’t where it should be. People are working too hard for the revenue you’re generating. You’ve got a feeling that the way things work could be better, but you can’t always name exactly what’s wrong. You want to do more with the team you have, not replace anyone.
You probably already know what’s broken. You’ve lived it long enough to have a diagnosis. What you don’t have is a clear path to fixing it without stopping everything else. You’ve tried new tools. You’ve tried new processes. The friction moved but it didn’t go away.
The admin is relentless. Status updates, timesheets, chasing approvals, reformatting things that should have been right the first time. You’re hearing about AI from clients and from the industry, but mostly through a creative lens. Nobody is talking about what AI could do for the operational layer. You’ve got a feeling it could do a lot.
Most agencies that come to me think they know what they need. Sometimes they're right. Often, the diagnosis surfaces something different.
One agency came to me asking for automations. What they actually needed was an agent that could make decisions on their behalf. Another came asking for AI training. What they actually needed was a structural fix to how work was briefed and resourced. The AI came later, and it landed because the foundation was ready.
The technology is never the starting point. The workflow is.
Name what is wrong before you name the fix. The fix is the easy part.
I spend time with the team understanding how work actually moves. Not the official process. The real one. Where the workarounds are. Where senior knowledge lives that should live somewhere else. Where things slow down or fall apart.
I tell you what I found. Sometimes the fix is structural: a process that needs to change before any technology gets involved. Sometimes AI is exactly the right answer. Usually it’s both, in a specific order. You get a clear picture of what’s actually wrong and what to do about it.
I build what’s needed for that specific part of the process. One piece at a time. Teams see it working in one area before we move to the next. The agents I build typically go live in around 4 weeks, and they get used because they fit the way the team already works.
A 380-person creative team. 27 brands across 5 locations. Up to 15,000 asset requests a month. The diagnosis pointed to structure, not people. We built an AI-backed automation system that let marketers self-serve within brand guardrails. Turnaround dropped to under 10 minutes for self-service requests. More than £20 million in combined savings by year 2.
Operational infrastructure that hadn’t kept pace with the business. I restructured how work was scoped, resourced, and tracked. Within a year, 80% of projects were landing on time and on budget. Profit jumped 2 points. By year 2, they were the most profitable part of the group.
4 regional studios across 3 continents, each working in isolation. No shared process. No cross-regional visibility. I mapped how each studio actually worked before recommending anything. Then built the common operational foundation, integrated the financial and resourcing systems, and once 2 years of structured data existed, built the AI on top. The AI is only as good as what sits underneath it.
2 separate creative operations that had never worked together. I built the strategic blueprint and presented it to the executive board. 2 years later they came back and asked me to build it. What gets delivered during an engagement matters. What the team can do independently afterwards matters more.
They needed a content studio. I started with 1 person and built it to 20 within 12 months, covering creative services across online, offline, and moving image. 42% profit margin by year 2. Then expanded the model across EMEA.
Tabitha is a wealth of knowledge and can turn the scarily fast-paced developments in the world of AI into guidance which is digestible and actionable. I came away with a much better grasp on how to cut through the noise and ensure AI solutions fit our unique challenges as a business.
Tabitha has brought structure, clarity, and momentum to some genuinely complex organisational challenges. She has a strong ability to combine strategic thinking with practical execution, helping turn ambiguity into clear, workable systems that improve both efficiency and creative effectiveness. What sets Tabitha apart is her tenacity and the way she challenges constructively. She has also adapted impressively to the rapid evolution of AI-enabled creative workflows, embracing new ways of working with curiosity and pace. I would happily recommend Tabitha to any organisation looking to strengthen their creative operations capability with someone who brings expertise, resilience, and strong leadership.
Most projects start with a call. No deck, no pitch. A conversation about how the work moves and where it is costing you.
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