Marketing Productivity

Is marketing productivity enhanced or hindered by new technology and back to in-office mandates?

I came across this article on BBC.com recently and it led to me thinking about marketing productivity, and how it is evolving giving the rise of technology, AI, remote working, “back to office mandates”, creativity and interaction with peers.

As ease of access to marketing tools increases, and non-marketing professional access these tools themselves, and believe that it now makes them experts, is this belief actually true?  Is marketing productivity under such a scenario actually enhanced or reduced?  And what about marketers who access such tools?  Does it make them reliant on technology driving the answers, and what does it do to creativity, which is meant to spur differentiation, not sameness (the opposite of what marketing is meant to do).

Our lives, which have been trending towards instant gratification, now has the added pressure of “dumbing down to the average” as people access technology to find the answer.  Is this where AI will take us if we see it as an answer, rather than as a useful tool?  Will people be inclined to work together to utilize such tools in a creative and collaborative manner, or just be happy with the answers AI provides?

And how do we actually define productivity given this situation?  Is productivity measured by how fast you can bring something to market, or by the results of bringing to it market?

The trend today is a partial return to in-office time for workers.  Will this increase or decrease productivity?  Will it help creativity and allow companies to continue on the differentiation track rather than continue copying their competitors?

So many questions and so few answers – why not weigh in and give me your opinion?