As Artificial Intelligent (AI) Chatbots and Agents become increasingly adopted and as enterprises increasingly look for better value for money from their creative, healthcare, professional and tech services providers, the linear billable people hours business model is under threat from AI.

Knowledge-intensive services firms have long relied on a linear revenue model where income is directly tied to hours worked. However, the advent of AI has disrupted this structure. Tools like generative AI can draft documents, analyse data, and streamline workflows in a fraction of the time once required, reducing billable hours.

This AI challenge applies to creative agencies; healthcare services (including the NHS in UK); IT services firms; lawyers; management consultants; and, recruitment agencies. The threat of AI commoditisation impacts every organisation that operates with billable people hours.

For creative firms - digital agencies, advertising agencies and PR firms, there is a more detailed explanation of how a Non-Linear transformation can work, step-by-step. Firstly, let's look at the principles applied to all knowledge-intensive organisations.

While AI enhances efficiency, it paradoxically squeezes profitability as fixed costs (e.g., salaries, overhead) do not scale down proportionally. A study by McKinsey & Company (2023)² highlights that AI could automate up to 30% of tasks in professional services by 2030, amplifying this trend. The result is a shrinking margin where revenue growth cannot outpace cost increases.

Traditional knowledge-intensive services operate on a fundamentally linear business model: more clients require more billable hours, which necessitates more staff (Susskind & Susskind, 2015¹⁴). Hence a linear (straight line) relationship between sales and costs.

In an increasingly competitive and dynamic market landscape, organisations, who are inherently knowledge-intensive services operations (e.g. digital agencies), face inherent limitations tied to the linear model of hourly-based services, where costs simply grow linearly with revenue.

To transcend these constraints and unlock sustainable, scalable growth, Going Non-Linear offers a transformative strategy that leverages your organisation's existing expertise - a brainware-to-software digital innovation - resulting in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ventures emerging.

Knowledge-intensive organisations can leverage AI-powered technologies, in the form of SaaS apps, to move beyond linear operational models and adopt strategies and initiatives that allow for exponential growth¹. This means encountering and overcoming several challenges:

• Geographical Constraints. Expanding to new regions increases workforce costs.
• Customer Dependency. High reliance on fewer customers means delays and losses.
• Resource Allocation. Fluctuating demand leads to inefficiencies in resource utilisation.
• Competitive Pressures. Increasing competition drives down rates, eroding value.

These challenges necessitate a strategic pivot towards more scalable, predictable and recurring business model. Hence, Going Non-Linear.

Who?

With the emergence of AI and a growing questioning of the billable hours business model, any creative, professional or tech services firm is facing a significant decline in business¹. As AI Agents become Copilots augmenting human labour, whilst this increases productivity per person, in the absence of organic growth of business-as-usual, it will inevitably lead to job cuts.

When you look at the trajectory of innovation, AI Agents will emerge as Coworkers: not merely augmenting, but also replacing human labour. Although this may start with low value, repetitive tasks, over time, this AI Automation will eat further into higher-value knowledge worker roles.

So, if you lead a knowledge-intensive services firm, now is the right time to embark on a Going Non-Linear transformation. The next section of this post provides a compelling argument for doing this now. As noted above, this is expanded upon in more detail for creative industry firms.

Why?

As a creative, healthcare, professional or tech services firm, with a SaaS venture you can achieve 5-10x annual revenues⁶ as an exit valuation of the firm, versus <1x annual revenues with a linear, billable hours services firm. Add to this limitless expansion of a SaaS business versus constraints of a billable hours model and you have a compelling reason to embrace Going Non-Linear!

By harnessing the power of Design Thinking³ and Value Engineering⁴, at Being Guided we can help you to build a solid case for transformation to Going Non-Linear and getting beyond a linear revenue model. This is a surprisingly easy and low risk move to make, as you will see below.

How?

As market demands evolve and technology advances, there is now a pressing need for knowledge-intensive services firms to innovate beyond linear hours. This means embracing a combination of AI and No-Code digital innovation. At Being Guided we see this as being underpinned by Design Thinking and Value Engineering.

As the name implies: Design Thinking³ is thinking (and acting) like a designer. Being curious, restless and constantly challenging business-as-usual. It is all about solving problems in a human-oriented way. In order to generate receptivity and rapport, empathy is the key to success.

Design Thinking is strengthened by Value Engineering⁴: mapping out a solid use case, financial justification and technology preferences for high-value products and services.

Going Non-Linear presents a strategic, safe pathway to transform your organisation's intellectual capital into scalable SaaS solutions, ensuring sustained growth, increased customer experience and competitive differentiation in the marketplace.

Going Non-Linear is a comprehensive strategy designed to unlock the hidden potential within your organisations's expertise by transforming brainware into software. This approach enables you to:

• Enhanced Scalability. Develop apps marketed globally with no increases in workforce.
• Increased Margins. Technology to deliver more efficiently, reducing operational costs.
• Improved Client Engagement. Offer innovative tools that provide deeper client relationships.
• Strengthened Position. Establishing as a leader in innovation within your industry.

By adhering to these principles, we commit to work at Being Guided that starts with identifying and engaging knowledge-intensive firms and their early adopter clients open to new, digitised services delivered on a SaaS technology. We will work with you through the entire co-design process to timely monetisation of SaaS apps.

At Being Guided we believe that this collaborative approach will lead to you achieving greater customer satisfaction, stronger product-market fit (PMF), and ultimately, greater financial success. Now let's take a look at where Going Non-Linear applies and then, what technologies we apply.

Where?

Let's consider typical knowledge-intensive services that are vulnerable to AI commoditisation.

At Being Guided we deliver No-Code innovation and SaaS solutions on a world-class technology: AI-powered No-Code Platforms. Going Non-Linear addresses the declining linear revenue challenge by introducing No-code apps rapidly and at low cost.

Creative Agencies: High Value Services

Creative agencies thrive on delivering high-value services - strategy, design, content, and campaigns - but most operate under a linear, billable-hours model. Here’s a snapshot of typical offerings:

• Creative Strategy: Crafting campaign concepts, brand positioning, or PR narratives, billed at say 10-20 hours per strategist at an agreed hourly rate. A single campaign might take say, 50-100 hours across a team.
• Graphic Design and Content Creation: Designing ads, social media assets, or press kits, often 15-30 hours per project at an agreed hourly rate, depending on complexity and seniority.
• Media Planning and Buying: Developing media strategies and negotiating placements, clocking say, 20-40 hours per campaign at an agreed hourly rate.
• Client Reporting and Analytics: Compiling performance reports (e.g., impressions, engagement), taking say, 5-15 hours per report at an agreed hourly rate.
• Account Management: Coordinating between clients and teams, averaging say, 10-20 hours weekly per account at an agreed hourly rate.

Content Generation and Campaign Planning. Advertising and marketing agencies bill substantial hours for content creation and campaign planning. At Being Guided we can work with a digital marketing agency to develop an app that helps clients generate social media content calendars and ad copy variations. The app can use AI trained on the agency's successful campaigns to suggest content themes, create draft copy, and recommend posting schedules. What once required ongoing agency involvement can now operate as a self-service tool, with tiered subscription levels (Kietzmann et al., 2018¹⁰).

See below more of what we can co-design deliver as No-Code Platform innovations for knowledge-intensive services organisations Going Non-Linear.

Here's some other industry use case scenarios:

Legal Services: Contract Analysis and Generation.
Law firms traditionally bill substantial hours for contract review and drafting. Several forward-thinking legal practices have developed Web apps that leverage AI to automate these processes. A mid-sized corporate law firm can create a Web app that allows clients to self-generate customised NDAs, employment agreements, and service contracts. The app can use AI to analyse input parameters and generate appropriate clauses based on the firm's expertise. What once took 3-5 billable hours can now happen in minutes, as the firm collects subscription revenue from hundreds of users (Katz, 2013⁷).

Architectural Design: Space Planning and Visualisation
Architectural firms typically charge hourly rates for preliminary space planning and design concepts. An architectural practice specialising in commercial interiors can develop a Web app that allows clients to input space requirements, budget constraints, and aesthetic preferences. The Web app, powered by AI can generate preliminary floor plans and 3D visualisations based on the firm's design principles and experience. This tool will serve as both a lead generation mechanism and a standalone SaaS product, creating a new revenue stream while reducing the time architects spend on initial concepts (Bernstein, 2018⁸).

Management Consulting: Strategic Analysis
Strategy consultants traditionally conduct market analyses through labour-intensive research and expert interpretation. A boutique consulting firm can create a Web app, automating competitive intelligence gathering. The app can use AI to crawl public data sources, analyse financial reports, and synthesise findings according to the firm's proprietary frameworks. Clients subscribe to industry-specific dashboards that previously would have required weeks of consultant time to produce (Christensen et al., 2013⁹).

Financial Advisory: Investment Analysis and Portfolio Optimisation
Financial advisors traditionally charge for personalised investment analysis and recommendations. An investment advisory firm can create a Web app that provides automated portfolio analysis and rebalancing recommendations. The app can use AI to apply the firm's investment philosophy to client portfolios, identifying opportunities and risks based on market conditions. This tool extends the firm's reach beyond high-net-worth clients to a broader market segment through a subscription model (Fisch et al., 2019¹¹).

When?

Converting brainware to software requires careful planning. Davenport and Kirby (2016)¹³ suggest focusing on tasks that are:

• Rule-based and repeatable: Processes with clear decision trees.
• Data-intensive: Activities requiring analysis of large information sets.
• Expertise-driven but formulaic: Work that follows established patterns.

This is when to apply Fierce Reduction: the practice of aggressively simplifying all business processes, tasks and information systems by removing redundant or non-essential elements before considering a brainware to software transformation. We always start Going Non-Linear transformation with a simplifying mindset. Less is more.

As described above, Fierce Reduction works best when embracing Design Thinking as the way to engage all stakeholders in Going Non-Linear, reinforced by the financial validation of applying Value Engineering.

What?

Simply put, Going Non-Linear means digitising your know-how (brainware) into what we call a No-Code Platform: a technology that lets non-programmers ('Citizen Developers') translate everyday processes and tasks into published software - specifically, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Web apps. So, this means co-designing apps with a broad set of stakeholders.

Again, returning to creative agencies, here are some tangible examples of brainware to software transformation. Going Non-Linear flips the linear services model by converting the agency’s brainware - expertise in strategy, design, and client engagement - into scalable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

Here’s how we transorm a creative firm's business-as-usual services:

• Creative Strategy as a Digital Workflow
  Brainware: Your process for brainstorming campaign ideas or PR angles.
  Software: Build a Web app where clients input campaign goals (e.g. boost brand awareness), and Supercog, powered by AI, generates tailored strategies based on your agency’s proven frameworks. Non-Linear Gain: Instead of 20 hours per strategy, the app delivers in minutes, serving unlimited clients simultaneously.
• Content Creation Automation
  Brainware: Your team’s sskills for crafting ads or press releases.
  Software Transformation: Use an AI-powered No-Code Platform to create a client portal where AI drafts initial content (e.g., ad copy, social posts) from briefs, refined by AI Agent contextual tweaks.
  Non-Linear Gain: Cut design time from 30 hours to a few clicks, scaling output without adding staff.
• Media Planning and Optimisation Tool
  Brainware: Expertise in selecting channels and optimising spend.
  Software Transformation: A Web app integrates your media planning logic, with AI analysing real-time data (e.g. Google Ads) and AI Agent suggesting optimal placements. Non-Linear Gain: Plans that took 40 hours now take 10 minutes, reusable across campaigns.
• Automated Reporting Dashboard
  Brainware: Your ability to distill analytics into insights.
  Software Transformation: A Web app dashboard pulls data via integrations (e.g., Google AppSheet Analytics), with AI Agent summarising trends and flagging action points. Non-Linear Gain: Reports drop from 15 hours to instant delivery, serving multiple clients effortlessly.
• Client Management Assistant
  Brainware: Your account managers’ client-handling know-how.
  Software Transformation: AI Agent, running with a No-Code Platform, acts as an AI assistant, scheduling, updating clients, and escalating issues, all informed by the AI Agent's Natural Language Processing (NLP).
  Non-Linear Gain: Frees up 20 hours weekly per account, multiplying capacity without headcount.

At Being Guided we deliver No-Code innovation and SaaS solutions on a world-class technology which addresses the declining linear revenue challenge by introducing Web apps rapidly and at low cost. Let's return to our approach, starting with the Design Thinking.

In an initial Google Meet we will introduce the 6 steps we will take together to turn your brainware into software. This is inspired by my real world experience of innovating with a diverse range of organisations - often very conservative, such as the UK NHS.

Step 1. Empathize.

We start by framing a testable idea that resonates with you. What do you instinctively view as your core competency?

Step 2. Define.

Now we explore the brainware to software journey. Your core competency digitised as a Software-as-Service outcome.

Step 3. Ideate.

Thanks to AI-powered No-Code technology, we convert brainware into software in hours and days, not weeks and months.

Step 4. Prototype.

From rapid Ideation we work with you to build a Prototype of a first brainware-to-software journey inside a maximum 30 days.

Step 5. Test.

We live in the real world. We work with you to Test the Prototype in the next 30 days to refine and ready for monetising.

Step 6. Implement.

After less than 60 days we are ready to support your launch of a new Software-as-Service venture Going Non-Linear.

Our No-Code First solutions are built on Google AppSheet or Salesforce Lightning Platform technologies. Our designers and developers are augmented by AI and we rely on the proven Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) architectures from Google and Salesforce.

From the beginning we make use of everyday technologies and tools to make the Discovery process clearer. For example, Gemini AI gives us is the ability for us and you to scope-out a Google Appsheet app, as the starting point for No-Code First innovation.

Our work embraces 'Vibe Coding'.

Vibe Coding, introduced by Karpathy in early 2025¹⁴, leverages large language models (LLMs) to shift programming from manual coding to conversational AI-driven development, reducing the need but not (yet) eliminating the need for traditional human coders.

AI then processes Instructions to generate, refine, and even debug an entire codebase as No-Code at its core, Vibe Coding lets non-programmers focus on the big picture - what they want to build - rather than getting bogged down in syntactical details

Think of Vibe Coding as communicating the essence or 'vibe' of what you want, while AI handles the technical implementation with the No-Code Platform. Rather than coding from scratch, you articulate your requirements in plain language.

The CRM Platform. No-Code Platform app, powered by Google AppSheet and Gemini AI

As shown above our approach to Going Non-Linear results in SaaS apps being delivered on proven, trusted technologies, such as The CRM Platform running on Google AppSheet.

The CRM Platform. Simple Google AppSheet Theme and Brand Setup

Google AppSheet No-Code technology builds on our Fierce Reduction mindset: keep it simple and subtract before you add.

The continuous advancements in Google Gemini AI means that Gemini for App Creation allows us to co-design apps by simply describing a business process or idea in natural language. So, this is, described above, Vibe Coding.

However, this Vibe Coding combination of Google Gemini and AppSheet is not yet replacing human coding, but does greatly reduce the time and costs. It is important to stress here that the trusted, secure architecture of AppSheet is key to success. It is much safer to gear off a proven No-Code Platform than Vibe Code a new, unproven full stack app.

Next?

Let's Meet to explore this further.

References

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