Sweep

Sep 22, 2025

Ido Gaver As leadership teams finalize their 2026 roadmaps, one truth is impossible to ignore: growth targets aren’t shrinking, but teams are. Growth targets are climbing. Headcounts are shrinking. The mandate to “do more with less” is no longer a temporary reaction to economic uncertainty, it’s the new operating reality. And the lever most leaders are turning to is artificial intelligence. According to Gartner , by 2027 half of all business decisions will be supported by AI agents. That statistic reflects both excitement and urgency: AI can extend the capacity of lean revenue and IT teams, but it also introduces risks leaders cannot underestimate. Recent enterprise breaches at companies like Google and Salesforce highlight that most failures aren’t the result of bad software. They come from mismanaged access, shadow workflows, and weak governance. When autonomous AI agents start acting across core systems, those risks multiply. To scale revenue securely in 2026, leaders need to be deliberate. Based on what I have seen building Sweep , where we help enterprises eliminate systems drag and automate go-to-market processes, three AI moves stand out as essential for the year ahead. 1. Automate First to See the Drag Too many organizations try to perfect processes before automating them. That instinct slows progress and hides the real problems. Start with automation. It doesn’t just speed up repetitive work, it makes bottlenecks visible. When tasks like lead routing, pipeline hygiene, or data enrichment move to AI, inefficiencies surface instantly. Leaders get clarity based on evidence, not guesswork. Take lead qualification. On paper, a manual process may look fine. Once automated, you see which signals actually drive conversion in real time. Instead of months of debate, you get immediate feedback loops and optimization grounded in data. For IT, automation also cuts backlog. Fewer ad-hoc requests come from sales ops and marketing, and it becomes clear where optimization is worth the investment. Automation should not be the last step in your GTM strategy. It is how you finally see where drag lives so you can remove it. 2. Replace Strategy Decks with Execution For years, enterprises leaned on consultants to design strategies and deliver polished decks. In the AI era, strategy without execution is a liability. The consulting industry itself is proof. McKinsey recently cut 5,000 roles while adding 12,000 AI agents . Since 2023, its headcount has dropped from 45,000 to 40,000 as AI assistants take on more work. The lesson is simple: execution speed now outpaces headcount. Leaders should be asking harder questions of their partners: Can you implement AI directly inside Salesforce or HubSpot, not just advise? How do you secure agents across workflows? Can you show outcomes in a quarter, not a year? If the answer is another deck, it is drag dressed up as strategy. The landscape is already splitting. On one side, OpenAI has launched a consulting practice with a $10 million entry point , turning “affordable AI” into an exclusive service. On the other, companies like Sweep are focused on democratizing execution, giving enterprises access to automation without Fortune 50 budgets. By 2026, the winners will be the companies that picked partners for execution velocity, not presentation polish. 3. Eliminate Shadow AI by Embedding It in the Stack Many enterprises are experimenting with AI by bolting on third-party tools outside of core workflows. The result is duplication, governance blind spots, and data risk. When every rep uses their own AI copilot, IT loses control. The stronger move is embedding AI directly into systems of record like Salesforce and HubSpot. This centralizes governance, keeps data secure, and accelerates adoption because AI is native to familiar workflows. Embedded agents also create compounding value. Inside Salesforce, they can manage pipeline hygiene in real time, enrich accounts with data, and flag risks for managers, all without spinning up disconnected tools. That means time saved and revenue that grows predictably, because intelligence lives where decisions are made. For IT, embedding simplifies security. Identity and access management extends naturally to AI agents when they are inside the stack, instead of requiring ad-hoc integrations. In an environment where most breaches stem from mismanaged access, this is a safeguard no enterprise can ignore. The Path Forward AI cannot be treated as a side project. Growth targets are aggressive, teams are lean, and drag compounds faster as innovation cycles collapse from years to overnight. The next 24 months will define who adapts. Enterprises that act now will enter 2026 with AI not as a novelty but as infrastructure: exposing drag, creating clarity, and building momentum. In the AI era, it is not the companies with the most tools that win. It is the ones with the fewest blockers, the clearest visibility, and the speed to stay ahead, by design.