Leading Transformation in the Age of Intelligence: How Publicis Sapient is Rewriting the Consulting Playbook Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz on transforming the consulting industry by blending deep industry knowledge with AI-powered innovation in order to reimagine what modern consulting can be for an intelligent age.

According to your website, Publicis Sapient is "on a mission to reimagine impact" - can you expand on what that means?

Publicis Sapient (then called just Sapient) was founded in 1990, in the early days of the internet, on the belief that technology would fundamentally transform how businesses operate. Today, that transformation is broader and faster than ever, encompassing AI, driven by evolving customer expectations and the need for organizations to become more adaptive and resilient.

Our purpose is that "we help people thrive in the brave pursuit of next". This reflects our commitment to delivering digital business transformation that is not just technologically advanced, but deeply human, sustainable, and aligned with long-term business goals. So when we say that we're on a mission to reimagine impact, we're describing an ambition far greater than delivering incremental improvements. It's about helping organizations fundamentally rethink and realize how they create value – whether through entirely new business models and customer experiences or radically impactful operational efficiencies.

We do this by focussing on organizations' SPEED capabilities – Strategy, Product, Experience, Engineering, Data & AI – which allow us to address transformation holistically and accelerate client transformations. Whether we're helping Goldman Sachs launch new digital banking capabilities, working with Renault on EV charging innovation or partnering with Marriott to personalize travel experiences using generative AI intent-based search, we bring together technology, insight, and creativity to deliver superior business outcomes.

You say Publicis Sapient is helping "companies survive and thrive in a world that is increasingly digital" - Do you feel many companies either are not surviving, or in danger of not surviving?

Technology, and the rise of digitally native organizations it enables, has long represented existential risk to established businesses. That risk has only intensified with advances in AI. What we're seeing is a profound shift: AI isn't just another technological trend; it's a fundamental accelerant of digital business transformation. Companies that are not including the role and implementation of AI in their broader transformation plans are in real danger of falling behind and losing relevance.

At Publicis Sapient, when we say we help companies "survive and thrive" in a digital world, we mean supporting them in profoundly rethinking how they create value, combining technology and human talent to guide them through the AI era. It's a moment of exponential change and, blinkered by short-term considerations, many businesses struggle to respond to such rapid and radical upheaval.

The way for enterprises to make the most of AI is to get their data in order and keep testing what's working and what's not. Embed AI in decision-making, empower your teams with intelligent capabilities and redesign services around real-time insight and automation. It's a key aspect of digital business transformation, not just a tech upgrade.

Survival is no longer about scale or legacy; it's about adaptability. And those who understand how to use AI to unlock agility, relevance, and speed will not only survive, they'll lead the way. Our job is to help them get there with clarity, confidence, and impact.

Can you expand on AI-powered innovation in this region - what are the key trends you are seeing? How does the MENA region compare to the rest of the world in this field?

The Middle East is a critical player in the future of AI and digital business transformation. What we're seeing in MENA is a region that's moving with real intent and pace when it comes to AI-powered innovation. There's a deep recognition – at both government and enterprise level – that AI is a generational opportunity to leapfrog traditional transformation curves and build digitally native economies. Take both Saudi Arabia and the UAE: governments are making significant infrastructure investments to foster innovation. Importantly, the region also has a strong commitment to developing local talent to drive these initiatives. That's a powerful message about the long-term vision.

In many ways, the region is less constrained by legacy systems and thinking, which means organizations are often more open to bold, structural change. Whether it's national AI strategies, future-focused investment funds, or mega projects that integrate smart infrastructure and services, the ambition is very real.

From a business transformation perspective, we're seeing AI being applied in ways that are highly strategic: from intelligent customer experiences in retail and banking, to predictive healthcare, to public services that are increasingly citizen-centric. The integration of AI into broader digital business transformation efforts is happening faster here than in many more mature markets, simply because the appetite for disruption is higher and the barriers to change are lower.

Where MENA stands out is in its willingness to scale – to not just pilot AI, but to embed it across entire systems. That's critical, because AI's value comes not from isolated use cases, but from reimagining how organizations operate end-to-end. The next frontier is moving from experimentation to industrialization, and in that regard, this region is positioning itself as a global leader.

Publicis Sapient continues to expand its footprint in the Middle East and our role is to help translate that ambition into action, ensuring that the impact of AI isn't just technological, but meaningful and measurable across people, performance, and purpose.

What does modern consulting look like to you in ten years' time?

We're already in the midst of a massive shift in consultancy work. Ten years from now, consulting as we know it will look fundamentally different because the problems we're helping clients solve will be fundamentally different. Modern consulting will be defined by its ability to deliver impact at speed, not through scale of people, but through scale of intelligence. AI, data, and engineering will be at the core, enabling firms to move from advising to actually building and evolving solutions in real time. It will be less about projects, and more about continuous transformation – embedded, adaptive, and outcome-led. That's the model we're already shaping at Publicis Sapient.

At its core, consulting will be deeply intertwined with technology: particularly AI, but also with data, product and experience design. It won't be enough to tell clients what to do; we'll need to help them build it, run it, and evolve it in real time.

We are already seeing a consulting shift from a project-based engagement model to long-term, platform-based partnerships, where value is delivered iteratively, in cycles of experimentation, learning and scale. It will be more multidisciplinary, more hands-on, and much closer to the operational heart of the client's business. In that future, the most valuable consultants won't be the ones with the best frameworks – they'll be the ones who bring the right mix of empathy, engineering, and entrepreneurship.

So, for me, modern consulting is not about advising from the outside; it's about transforming from within. It's bold, it's real-time, and it's measured not by recommendations, but by results.

What are the main risks you see with AI innovation in the coming years?

AI holds enormous potential, but it comes with risks that businesses, governments, and society must navigate thoughtfully. One of the biggest risks isn't technical, but organizational. Many companies are rushing to adopt AI without first understanding what problem they're solving, or how to embed it responsibly into their operations. That leads to fragmented use cases, ethical grey areas, and often, missed opportunities. The risk isn't that AI will fail; it's that it will fail to be implemented with purpose.

There is also the very real concern around bias, privacy, and transparency. AI systems are only as good as the data and governance behind them. If we don't put the right safeguards in place and ensure AI is explainable, accountable, and inclusive, we risk eroding trust before the technology even reaches maturity.

And finally, there's a cultural risk. AI is often framed as a replacement for human capability, when the true opportunity lies in augmentation. The organizations that will thrive aren't the ones using AI to replace people, but the ones using it to elevate them – freeing teams from repetitive tasks and empowering them to focus on more strategic, creative, and value-driven work. It's about investing not only in your people, but in the tools that amplify their potential. Think of it like Iron Man and the suit: the real power doesn't lie in the technology alone, or the individual alone, but in the combination. When human ingenuity meets intelligent systems, that's when you get truly transformative impact.

So, the challenge ahead isn't just to build powerful AI; it's to apply it in ways that are human-centric, ethically sound, and aligned with long-term impact. That's where real leadership will lie.

You have worked with so many different clients in different sectors. Which have been the highlights?

Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working with a diverse array of organizations across sectors including financial services, retail and consumer products, automotive, hospitality, and the public sector. Each has brought unique challenges and opportunities. My book Digital Business Transformation: How Established Companies Sustain Competitive Advantage From Now To Next, elaborates on my experience in partnering with clients on how to take a holistic and multidisciplinary approach that infuses digital into superior business outcomes.

Publicis Sapient is a digital native organization that built some of the first online banks, share-trading platforms and content-rich paywall platforms for media organizations. The first airline seat-selection tool was built by Publicis Sapient, a digital product that, even today, represents the second largest generator of revenue for airlines. For more than 30 years, Publicis Sapient has helped many Fortune 50 organizations to transform their businesses. Today it continues to chart the course for how technology can be harnessed to make a positive difference in the world, through innovations such as 'Plug Inn' – the award-winning, peer-to-peer electric vehicle charging platform for Renault.

We've helped financial institutions modernize their infrastructure and reimagine customer experiences through AI and data. In retail, we've led large-scale digital business transformation, from platform migrations to supply chain reinvention. In automotive, we've developed new service-based business models around emerging mobility trends, while in travel and hospitality, we've used AI to make experiences more personalized and intuitive.

What unites all of this work is a shared commitment to transformation that delivers real, measurable impact – not just through technology, but by reshaping how organizations create and deliver value in a digital world.

You have been named as a Top 25 Global Leader - what are the key attributes needed for successful leadership?

The recognition is an honor but, for me, leadership has never been about titles or accolades. It's about creating the conditions for others to succeed. The world we operate in today – fast-moving, unpredictable, and increasingly shaped by technology – demands a very different type of leadership than it did even a decade ago.

The most important attribute is clarity of purpose. Leaders need to provide a clear sense of where the organization is headed and why it matters. That clarity becomes a compass in moments of change or ambiguity – and there will always be plenty of both.

Second, empathy is non-negotiable. In a world being transformed by AI, automation, and complexity, the human element becomes more – not less – important. Leaders must be able to understand and respond to the emotional and psychological needs of their teams, customers, and communities.

Third is the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. The power of being able to learn on an ongoing basis means you can let go of things that you learned yesterday to learn new things today. You have to actively unlearn the things you learned yesterday, because what made you successful back then is likely not going to make you successful now.

And, finally, resilience. Transformation at any scale – whether it's personal, organizational, or societal – doesn't happen in a linear fashion. The ability to stay grounded, navigate complexity, and adapt in real time is what separates good leaders from truly impactful ones.

In the end, leadership today isn't about having all the answers. It's about empowering others to ask the right questions, and creating a culture where those answers can emerge, evolve, and scale.

Is leadership something that can be taught to anyone - or do they need specific qualities in their DNA?

I believe leadership is absolutely something that can be developed, but it has to be intentional. There's often this myth that leadership is something you're born with, that it's about charisma or command. But the reality is that great leaders are shaped by how they respond to challenges, how they grow, and how they bring others along with them.

Of course, certain qualities help – curiosity, resilience, empathy – but I see those less as fixed traits and more as muscles that can be strengthened over time. The best leaders I've worked with are the ones who are constantly learning, listening, and evolving, not the ones who think they already have all the answers.

In today's world, especially in the context of AI and digital business transformation, leadership is less about control and more about clarity and culture. Can you create an environment where others thrive? Can you give people a clear purpose, and then the space to innovate around it?

So no, I don't think leadership is limited to a select few. But I do think it demands a commitment to self-awareness to feedback and to growth. Because the moment you stop evolving as a leader is the moment your organization stops evolving with you.

Can you tell us how you see Publicis Sapient in the next decade? Will it be a very different company to what it is today?

Over the next decade, Publicis Sapient will continue to evolve – not in identity, but in capability. The pace of change in technology, particularly with AI, means we must constantly adapt to remain the kind of partner our clients need: one that not only helps them navigate disruption, but actively leads them through it.

What will remain constant is our purpose: to drive meaningful digital business transformation, powered by AI, and "help people thrive in the brave pursuit of next". But with AI advances now firmly part of clients' broader digital business transformation requirements, how we deliver on that purpose is already evolving.

Publicis Sapient has recently evolved itself to focus on three business areas: Core Digital Business Transformation, Legacy Modernization, and AI for Marketing.

To power these focus areas, Publicis Sapient has developed proprietary AI platforms and accelerators: Bodhi, our enterprise-scale agentic AI platform; Sapient Slingshot , an AI software development platform accelerator; and CoreAI, created by Publicis Sapient with our parent company Publicis Groupe, to connect marketing and commerce with real-time intelligence, creating new levels of relevance and efficiency for brands around the world.

Publicis Sapient believes that the company's business focus areas, underpinned by proprietary AI tools that empower clients to accelerate transformation through growth-oriented value creation, cost-out innovation or both, reflect the client demand-led shifts that will come to reshape our industry.

Whether it's building the world's first digital trade finance bank Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB) from scratch, based on simplifying and supplying client-centric trade banking and facilitating digital ecosystems through efficient data operations, reimagining retail for Carrefour and Walmart, or reducing software development timelines for large healthcare systems, our focus is always the same: to get to the core of how these enterprises are driving growth, reimagining and taking cost out of their businesses to create measurable impact.

So yes, we will be different in form. We'll be more AI-native, more embedded in our clients' operating models, and even more focused on delivering value at speed. But in terms of who we are and what we stand for – we'll be exactly the same: a digital business transformation partner that's deeply committed to helping clients lead in a world that never stops changing.