Why Expertise Is No Longer Enough | Commercial intelligence
INTELLIGENCE AND CAPABILITY
Mia Mohamed
7/29/20264 min read
In its 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, Edelman and LinkedIn found that 56% of decision-makers use thought leadership content as part of their supplier evaluation process. The finding is significant because it reflects a broader shift in how buying decisions are made. Expertise still matters and in many sectors, it matters more than ever. The difference is that expertise alone is no longer enough to create understanding, build preference or influence buying decisions.
Over the past several months, I've found myself working with two established businesses operating in very different markets. One sits within payments. The other operates in the insurtech space. Different industries, different customer needs and different growth ambitions. Yet despite those differences, both organisations were wrestling with a remarkably similar challenge: the market’s view of the business had not kept pace with what the organisation had become.
It’s a pattern I’ve seen many times. Businesses evolve. They expand their capabilities, enter new markets and solve more complex customer problems. But the story the market associates with them often stays stuck in the past.
Internally, the evolution feels obvious because the business has lived it. Externally, customers, prospects and partners rarely see that full picture. The result is a gap between the value a business knows it can deliver and the value the market immediately understands.
AI is only amplifying this challenge. According to Visionary Marketing’s 2026 State of B2B Marketing, 91% of B2B marketers now use AI, but 68% still say proving ROI is their biggest challenge. In other words, more teams can produce content and insight faster, but many still struggle to turn that activity into commercial impact.
The visibility challenge
Much of the discussion around AI has focused on productivity, automation and content creation. Those are important developments, but I believe something else is happening that deserves greater attention. AI is exposing weaknesses that already existed within many organisations. It is making it easier for buyers to compare suppliers, analyse information and form opinions long before they engage with a sales team.
That means businesses can no longer rely on expertise remaining hidden beneath the surface.
If a prospective customer asks an AI tool to compare providers in a particular market, the response will be shaped by the information available. If a business struggles to clearly articulate its value proposition across its website, content, thought leadership and market presence, AI is unlikely to solve the problem. More often, it simply reflects it back.
The organisations that benefit most from AI will not necessarily be those producing the greatest volume of content. They will be those that have already done the harder work of understanding who they serve, the problems they solve and the position they want to own in the market.
Recently, I came across an observation that has stayed with me. The argument was that the next generation of platforms won't compete on features, rewards, products or even pricing in the way they once did. They will compete on intelligence.
Not intelligence in the sense of adding another AI feature or chatbot. Intelligence in the sense of understanding customers, markets and behaviour more effectively than competitors.
It's an idea that extends far beyond loyalty, customer engagement or any single industry.
For years, businesses have focused on improving efficiency and scale. How do we acquire more customers? How do we launch more campaigns? How do we generate more leads? How do we increase engagement? Those questions still matter, but they are increasingly being joined by a different set of questions about insight, understanding and decision-making:
Which customer relationships are most at risk over the coming months?
Where should you be investing ahead of your competitors?
Which messages are strengthening commercial conversations?
What emerging customer needs should shape your next move?
What decisions should leadership be making before the numbers force them to?
Turning signals into intelligence
This is where I believe AI has the potential to create genuine value. Not because it replaces expertise, but because it helps organisations spot patterns, behaviours and opportunities they might otherwise miss.
The businesses that gain the greatest advantage over the next decade are unlikely to be those that simply produce more content, automate more processes or deploy more AI tools. They will be the organisations that combine deep expertise with a stronger understanding of customers, markets and commercial signals.
In that sense, intelligence becomes the multiplier of expertise.
The problem is that many organisations are treating AI as a solution before they have defined the problem. They are experimenting with tools before getting clear on the outcome they want to achieve. As a result, the technology becomes the focus rather than the business challenge.
The organisations making the most meaningful progress are approaching it differently. They are using AI to accelerate insight, improve decision-making and strengthen existing expertise rather than replace it.
This brings me back to the original point.
Expertise remains one of the most valuable assets any business has. But expertise alone no longer guarantees market understanding. Buyers have more information than ever, more suppliers to compare and more channels through which to research and evaluate options.
In that environment, expertise must be visible, understandable and commercially relevant.
The businesses that thrive over the next decade will not simply be those with the smartest people or the most advanced technology. They will be the organisations that can consistently translate expertise into clarity. They will understand their market, communicate their value effectively and ensure that the perception of the business keeps pace with the reality of what it has become.
Because in an AI-shaped market, expertise is still essential. It just isn't enough on its own.
Commercial clarity before momentum
If your business has evolved significantly over the past few years, a useful question to ask is whether the market's understanding of your organisation has evolved with it.
If not, the next growth opportunity may have less to do with generating more activity and more to do with creating greater
commercial clarity.
ASSESS YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Use this practical guide to review the areas where a growth gap most commonly appears. It will help you examine whether your customer focus, positioning, messaging and commercial activity still reflect the business you are today.
The guide helps you assess:
Has your GTM kept pace with your business?
ICP clarity & prioritisation
Positioning relevance
Messaging consistency
Marketing impact
AI-driven activity vs clarity
Messaging consistency
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