• by Tameka Kee , March 18, 2008

As agencies continue to incorporate more automated campaign management tools into the work process, naturally some people, departments and even entire companies will get ... well canned. At least that's the concern. And panelists didn't quite assuage those fears.

In aggregate - panelists said ad networks (including broad and verticals), manual lead gen shops, and "people analyzing spreadsheets that aren't contributing billable strategy hours" would be first to go.

"The initial assumption is that tech companies like Microsoft and Google want to cut out the agency--that we see them as a middleman and want to automate everything," said Eric Picard, director of advertising tech at Microsoft. "But that's not the right way. The strategy work that's done by the agency is invaluable. There are just some processes that would be better served by automation."