Human-Centered AI: Aligning People, Process & Presence for Future-Proof Marketing

By Loreta Tarozaite, CEO & Founder at Loreta Today

AI promises speed, but humans deliver meaning.

From the moment GenAI entered the scene, there was an allure to what could be possible with AI adoption. Saving time and money? A company’s most precious assets. But as time has passed and AI use has varied greatly from a top-down approach to a scattered bottom-up implementation, we have new data on what’s working.

While GenAI is delivering speed, the effectiveness of that AI tool relies on the humans behind it. And not just from their individual skill set, but from the systems they’re a part of.

Now that time has lapsed, we know what’s working and what’s not with the use of AI in a company.

AI ROI goes to those who have systems in place.

A recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group of “1,000 CxOs and senior executives from over 20 sectors, spanning 59 countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, and covering ten major industries” found that “seventy-four percent of companies have yet to show tangible value from their use of AI.”

And according to a Gartner study shared during the Gartner Marketing Symposium 2025, the data reveals companies must “create long-term, strategic plans that incorporate the rise of intelligent, adaptable, autonomous and nonhuman customers.”

That kind of ROI doesn’t come from tools alone. It comes from structure. The companies pulling ahead are integrating AI not just into workflows but into how they strategize, operate, and show up in the market.

This is where alignment matters. Loreta Tarozaite’s Real Relating Lens™ methodology helps leadership teams build that alignment across three core pillars: People, Process, and Presence (3Ps).

Here are the goals of each of the 3Ps:

● People: to build trust that fuels execution by clarifying leadership, strengthening teams, and streamlining internal communication.

● Process: to replace chaos with scalable structure by cleaning up workflows and tightening decision-making sequences.

● Presence: to build a brand that’s impossible to ignore through aligned messaging, brand visibility, and thought leadership.

We’ll unpack each in the sections ahead, and show how these 3Ps turn AI from an isolated tactic into a strategic competitive advantage.

H2 - Why an AI Strategy Can’t Be an Afterthought

It’s a familiar story. A CEO gets excited about AI’s potential and greenlights an AI marketing strategy without clearly defining the big picture goals. Someone on the team rolls out a tool. A few departments experiment. Some wins happen, but they’re isolated to the tech-savvy and passionate early adopters. Other teams fall behind. And before long, the organization has a patchwork of AI pilots, little alignment, and no real momentum.

That fragmented approach is costly. According to Accenture, 76% of executives say they struggle to scale AI across the business—but those who do scale it see nearly 3× higher ROI than those stuck in proof-of-concept mode.

The difference? Strategic intent.

At the recent 2025 Gartner Marketing Symposium, keynote speakers Alex De Fursac Gash and Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone broke AI adoption into three stages of AI adoption. These phases aren't really about which tools you're using. They're about having the structural foundation to support meaningful AI integration.

Here's what that looks like:

● Short-term: Experimental

AI is used in isolated ways, like automating small tasks or content creation. It's useful, but disconnected from broader strategy.

● Mid-term: Operational

AI begins informing decisions, supporting operations like forecasting, personalization, or resource planning.

● Long-term: Transformational

In this stage of maturity, AI is talking to AI, and the AI talking to humans proliferates. AI becomes embedded in strategic conversations, shaping business models, product roadmaps, and growth priorities.

Where does your company fall in those three categories? It’s important to assess where you’re at. And even more important to pinpoint what isn’t working, what’s keeping you in the short-term phase.

No organization evolves just by upgrading tools. To position your company to embed AI into your systems and maximize your company’s potential, you have to have a plan. AI success doesn’t start with tools. It starts with structure.

To do that with a comprehensive AI strategy, you need to first look internally at your People, Processes, and Presence (3Ps).

The 3Ps Alignment Framework

When AI efforts stay fragmented, so does the business. Misaligned teams, disconnected systems, and inconsistent marketing execution slow everything down and become a costly expense over time. Most companies are scaling duct-taped workflows. AI doesn’t fix that; it just makes the chaos run faster. You can’t automate dysfunction and expect clarity.

Meanwhile, the companies pulling ahead are those using AI strategically, not as a departmental experiment. These companies are operating at the highest level of AI maturity, where intelligence is embedded across functions and drives real-time decision-making and market impact.

That level of scale doesn’t happen by upgrading tools. It happens by aligning your organization from the inside out.

While many teams still refer to the traditional people-process-technology model, and companies are trying to develop an AI implementation framework (SEO KEYWORD), my 3Ps Framework focuses on the foundation first.

Here's an overview of the 3Ps Framework:

● People are your internal engine. Train, support, and empower them, and AI becomes an amplifier, not a stress test.

● Processes streamline workflows, tools, and decisions, so teams can move faster, with less friction.

● Presence turns internal clarity into external authority, aligning brand expression with business strategy across every touchpoint.

Together, the 3Ps create a marketing and communications structure that AI can accelerate, not replace. It’s about building the strategic foundation C-suite leaders don’t have time to figure out themselves, but can’t afford to get wrong.

In the next sections, we’ll break down how each “P” works and why they’re essential to leading in the age of human-centered AI.

People: Empowering Strategic Thinkers

AI tools are everywhere. Most teams already have access to embedded features like Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini, whether they’re using them or not. But access alone doesn’t lead to outcomes. In fact, many companies now face a productivity paradox, where AI promises efficiency but, in reality, creates confusion. When every team is experimenting in isolation, what’s intended to accelerate progress often just adds noise.

The real challenge isn’t a lack of tools; in fact, there are too many of them. It’s a lack of strategic marketing and communications alignment in how and when those tools should be used. Most teams haven’t been trained on how to integrate AI meaningfully into their roles. And when AI does save time, that time often gets filled with more tactical work, not higher-value thinking.

We must always lead with a human-centered approach to AI, and that includes deep critical thinking about when we do or don’t use it.

That’s where leadership must step in. To build an AI-literate organization, you need to develop strategic thinkers—people who can use AI not just to do things faster, but to think further. That shift doesn’t happen by chance. It requires intentional training, buy-in, and role design.

We’re already seeing a shift in the kinds of roles that make AI successful. Positions like AI Operations Lead, AI content humanizer, Fractional Chief of Staff to CMO, and AI Marketing Strategist are emerging as essential bridge-builders, aligning departments, identifying use cases, and driving cross-functional adoption. These aren’t just new titles; they represent a new mandate: to make sure AI is used strategically, not sporadically.

This is where the blend of CMO and Chief of Staff becomes a game-changer. Most marketing leaders focus outward—on brand, content, and campaigns. Chiefs of Staff focus inward—on structure, communication, and operational flow. Loreta brings both. She identifies where strategy breaks down between functions, aligns leadership on priorities, and ensures teams are equipped—not just with tools, but with the clarity to use them effectively. Because AI doesn’t drive alignment. People do.

Processes: From Data Silos to Dynamic Workflows

While people and processes are interconnected, the systems that support your organization must be clean, connected, and intentionally designed for AI to deliver meaningful results. To move from fragmented AI in marketing operations to scalable workflows, operating systems must be clean, connected, and intentionally designed. If your internal systems are fragmented, no amount of automation will fix the friction. Before you optimize with AI, you need to organize for it. Because you can’t scale what you can’t see.

According to Boston Consulting Group, the leaders who have seen the highest ROI with their AI use “follow the rule of putting 10% of their resources into algorithms, 20% into technology and data, and 70% in people and processes.”

In short: they create distinct processes that allow their teams to move faster.

It starts with data. Without clean, accessible, and connected data—across customer touchpoints and internal workflows and collaboration tools—AI can’t operate effectively. Yet many teams are still wrestling with content stored in five different platforms, CRM fields that don’t align, and analytics dashboards that are too complex and undigestible so they end up being ignored. AI readiness begins by simplifying your data and workflow architecture: tagging, cleaning, and centralizing what matters most.

Good processes ensure your tools and people talk to each other, follow a logic, and support your go-to-market motion. Using the 3Ps Framework, we don’t just audit workflows. We help leaders understand which systems help drive employee performance and how to structure them to reduce cross-functional friction and scale impact internally and externally.

If AI is going to be more than a buzzword in your org, you have “to be nimble, change ready.”

Presence: Authenticity and Humanness in an Algorithmic World

Ask a group of ten people what their perspective on AI is, and you’ll likely get ten different responses. Everyone has a different comfort level with AI, both as creators and consumers. As the leader of your organization, you cannot just have one single stance on AI. If you do, you’ll miss not only half the people in the room, but you’ll also miss out on future audiences as AI continues to reshape and become a larger part of the consumer economy.

At the recent Gartner Marketing Symposium 2025 Lizzy Foo Kune pointed out in her presentation that not only do companies need to address the varied AI beliefs, they also need to be prepared for “customers of the future that may not be human.”

Your brand needs to use AI to stay competitive and ready for the next iteration of AI, but you need to make sure that your executive and brand presence still feel very human. Executive presence, brand presence, and internal presence must be aligned before AI can truly reflect a brand externally.

That’s why your external presence begins with transparency.

Whether you’re building trust with customers or influence in your industry, your presence needs to feel human, especially as AI becomes harder to detect. The more artificial content floods the feed, the more we crave real people, real stories, real stakes.

That’s why video matters. It’s one of the clearest ways for leaders to show up as themselves—not just to communicate, but to connect. If you're not visible on video, you're leaving trust on the table.

The same goes for how you use AI behind the scenes. Don't copy and paste. Either train AI to reflect your company’s voice or edit outputs until they sound like they were written by someone who works there. The difference is obvious—and your audience can feel it.

To maximize your brand’s presence, and a human-centered AI approach, stories are your lifeline. Your lived experience as a thought leader, as well as the true accounts your customers share in Voice of Customer data. Use short and long-form storytelling to balance AI use and maintain deep connection to your audience. You can use AI to draft, summarize, and optimize, but you should always embed a human layer: a story, a moment, a human voice that lands. Teams can use AI for speed; you need humans to read the room, literally and figuratively, and relate

A Phased AI Maturity Model for Future-Proof Marketing

When you have your People, Processes, and Presence (3Ps) strategically aligned, then your company can join the 26% that have “developed the necessary set of capabilities to move beyond proofs of concept and generate tangible value.” This means using AI in your marketing isn't a one-off tool. It means you're, as PWC puts it, “moving beyond pilots and pockets of innovation to fully integrate AI into the core of your operations.” And as the data tells us, you can be a company who isn't just keeping pace in your industry but leading it.

To future-proof your marketing with a phased AI Maturity Model, leaders need more than experimentation. They need a phased roadmap, one that evolves with the business and keeps people, processes, and presence (3Ps) aligned at every step.

Here’s what that can look like:

Phase 1: Experimental: Practice accelerating tasks with AI Tools

This is where most enterprise AI adoption begins. AI shows up in pockets: chatbots handling FAQs, tools like Jasper or Grammarly speeding up content writing, or dashboards summarizing performance metrics. It’s helpful, but fragmented. At this stage, AI is still treated like a sidekick, not a strategic asset. Teams may be testing tools independently, but there's no shared framework or visibility across functions.

Phase 2: Operational: Streamline Operations with AI-Orchestrated Workflows

Here’s where things get interesting. AI isn’t just responding—it’s an assistant in orchestrating. It can score and route leads based on behavior, generate dynamic content sequences tied to customer data, or auto-tag and categorize incoming support tickets for faster resolution. The work shifts from doing to directing. But to get here, you need processes that are clean, workflows that are intentional, and teams that continue to train and evaluate the AI systems. Think: sales and marketing alignment through shared AI insights, or campaign launch processes that run on pre-built AI playbooks.

Phase 3: Transformational: Scale Strategy Through Intelligent Ecosystems

This is the future-facing stage. Systems talk to each other—AI-generated product feedback informs design updates, while real-time customer sentiment influences Customer Experience adjustments on the fly. Marketing AI and sales AI work in tandem (non-human to non-human interaction), while leadership focuses on vision, values, and future-proofing the company. For example, a customer journey platform might adapt in real-time based on predictive modeling across marketing, product, and support data. The value of human oversight doesn’t shrink; it becomes more essential as AI helps scale decision-making. In this maturity model, humans will co-exist with non-humans. How we interact with customers will have to change, knowing that some of those interactions may be between machines.

As the leader of your company, you have a decision to make, and it’s not about AI. It’s about your approach to innovation in general. At every phase, leadership must decide what matters, communicate it clearly, and reinforce it in how people, processes, and presence (3Ps) evolve. AI will amplify your clarity or your chaos. How far you go depends on what you align first.

The Modern CMO’s Leadership Structure

If you find your company struggling with its brand and leader presence, it might be time for an innovative approach to how you structure and build your marketing and communications department. And that starts with the department leader role itself.

You don't always need a full-time CMO. But you do need clarity on what marketing is for in your business. Is it driving revenue? Building category authority? Accelerating sales cycles? If you can't answer that clearly, no campaign will fix it.

According to research shared in the keynote given by Alex De Fursac Gash and Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone at the 2025 Gartner Marketing Symposium, "58% of CEOs cite a failure to adapt as a top reason for firing their CMO."

What they need from their CMOs is both visionary and operational. Companies need their CMO to think bigger and set a vision for the longer term vs. focusing only on short-term campaign strategy. But they also need to be able to execute that long-term vision.

Both visionary and operational skills are valuable. But most company leaders lean one way or the other. The key is knowing your gaps and understanding how to fix them.

What’s often missing, particularly in founder-led or growth-mode companies, is a hybrid version of this role. Someone who ensures that strategic vision doesn’t disconnect from day-to-day operations and the external brand message. That’s where the blend of Chief of Staff and CMO becomes essential.

Partnering with the CEO at the intersection of strategy, communication, and execution, this hybrid role ensures the company is truly built to scale and becomes AI-ready inside and out.

This dual approach activates all three pillars—People, Processes, and Presence (3Ps)—to build a marketing engine that can scale with the business.

When your marketing function has both visionary direction and organizational integration, you're building sustainable growth systems rather than just managing campaigns.

Action Plan: Bringing the 3Ps to Life

In order to lead well, you need to plan well. AI maturity isn’t achieved in one bold move; it’s built through strategic effort and thoughtful execution. Here’s how to bring People, Processes, and Presence (3Ps) to life across your organization.

Next 90 Days: Foundation Deep Dive Assessment

Think of this as a diagnostic, not a to-do list. You’re not fixing yet. You’re finding what’s broken.

● People: Are your teams clear on goals, roles, and decision ownership? Do you know where communication breaks down—and how often?

● Processes: Where is work getting duplicated, delayed, or done in silos? Are tools supporting momentum or just adding noise?

● Presence: Is your external messaging communicating a consistent brand story? Are the execs visible? Is your company building trust through consistent messaging? Would a new hire understand how your brand shows up?

You don’t need to solve it all right away. But you do need an honest picture of where friction lives, so you can decide what to clean, what to keep, and what to cut.

By Month 6: Test Something That Matters

● Pick one use case and go live. Automate a follow-up sequence, use AI to help your team produce content faster, or try internal tools like meeting summarizers.

● Track the impact. Time saved. Sales closed. Fewer handoffs.

● Ask your team what’s working and what’s not. Use it to improve the process, not just the output.

By Month 12: Build Repeatable Momentum

● Bring AI into other areas: support, product, recruiting.

● Tighten your brand presence. Update tone guidelines. Decide what should always sound human.

● Document what’s working. Not a playbook—just enough structure to help your team move faster without second-guessing.

This is a starting point. No two companies are the same. Each of these phases should be adjusted to your specific internal and external gaps. And keep the big picture in mind.

When you align the right people, design clear processes, and show up with a consistent presence, AI becomes an amplifier, not a distraction. That’s what it means to scale with intention.

To learn more about 3Ps foundation deep dive assessment, inquire here.

Because when your people are aligned, your processes are intentional, and your presence is consistent, you have a human-centered AI approach. Rooted in the human experience, both in your team and in how customers interact with your brand, you have the cohesion far too many companies lack.

Not just more tools, but a business built to scale and perform better with every iteration. You focus on the vision. Your team focuses on execution that’s connected, coherent, and customer-driven.

In a market chasing prompts and quick fixes, the real differentiator is alignment. Companies that lead won’t be the ones with the most AI. They’ll be the ones who have an intentional strategy that directly impacts how their teams work, how they operate, and how they show up.

So don’t start with the tools. Start with one area of tension: where your team is stuck, where content falls flat, where speed is costing you quality. Choose one high-impact use case—and use it to align your people, refine your processes, and elevate your presence.

AI can’t lead your business. But you can.

Lead with intention. Align what matters. And build a brand that’s ready for what’s next.

Author : Loreta Tarozaite, CEO & Founder at Loreta Today