2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born

Journey to the Frontier Firm

We see the journey to the Frontier Firm playing out in three phases. First, AI acts as an assistant, removing the drudgery of work and helping people do the same work better and faster. In phase 2, agents join teams as ‘digital colleagues’, taking on specific tasks at human direction – for instance, a researcher agent creating a go-to-market plan. These agents equip employees with new skills that help scale their impact – freeing them to do new and more valuable work.

In phase 3, humans set direction for agents that run entire business processes and workflows, checking in as needed. Just as we’ve seen the role of AI in software development evolve over the past three years from coding assistance to chat to – now – agents, the same pattern will apply to knowledge work.

Picture how a supply chain role may change: agents handle end-to-end logistics, while humans guide the agent system, resolve exceptions and manage supplier relationships. The journey to the Frontier Firm is not a strictly linear progression – in many cases organizations will be in all three phases simultaneously.