A 50-person agency can use three kinds of AI tool. An AI assistant for each person, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot, for writing, research and spreadsheets. A shared AI agent that takes one whole job off a team, such as the weekly pipeline number or the invoice chase. And a one-page staff policy that says which tools may be used and what may go into them.
A 50-person agency usually has account teams, a studio or delivery team, and a small finance and HR function. Each layer fits a different part of that.
Layer one: an assistant for each person
This is the AI most people have already tried. It helps each person with their own work. Examples are a first draft of a proposal, a summary of a long brief, or a formula in a spreadsheet.
Which one fits depends on where your people already work. ChatGPT fits a team that wants help with its own writing and research. Copilot fits a team that lives in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. We compare each one with our own agent, and say where each one wins, on Glimmer vs ChatGPT and Glimmer vs Microsoft Copilot.
The price is a seat for each person. ChatGPT Business Standard seats are S$25 a month paid yearly, as OpenAI's pricing page shows in Singapore. The page does not say whether GST is included. More details. Microsoft 365 Copilot is from US$21 a person a month paid yearly, before GST, on top of your Microsoft 365 plan. Microsoft bills agent work separately, by use. More details.
Before you pick one, check what it does with your data. Our free Safe AI check shows where each plan keeps your data and what it may use it for.
Layer two: one shared agent for a whole job
An assistant helps one person. It does not take a job off the team. For that you need an agent that works across the systems the job touches. Everyone in the team can ask it in the chat they already use.
In an agency, the jobs that fit are the ones that happen every week and nobody owns:
- The pipeline number. In an example chat on our sales page, Glimmer reads 47 WhatsApp sales chats. It finds 19 live deals, and 6 that have gone quiet for a week or more. It drafts a nudge for each quiet one. See the example chat.
- Quotes nobody chased. Of 23 quotes sent in a month, 9 were never followed up. Glimmer lists them and drafts the first follow-up with the original thread's details in it. See the example chat.
- Overdue invoices. Every Monday, Glimmer pulls the invoices past 30 days from Xero. It drafts a reminder for each customer, firmer for repeat late payers. Read how.
- Hiring. Glimmer screens every application against the must-haves you set, and lists the few that meet them. Read how.
Each message goes out only when a person approves it. Glimmer works in Lark, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Chat, WhatsApp or Telegram. It runs in a cloud account in your agency's name, and you choose the AI model behind it.
Layer three: the rules
Clients ask where their material goes. Your staff need a plain answer before they paste a brief into a chatbot.
Our free staff AI policy tool asks which AI plans your staff may use and what they may put in. It gives you a one-page policy to copy or save. It takes about two minutes.
Which layer first
If nobody in the agency uses AI yet, start with layers one and three this week. Our hands-on workshop is one afternoon where each leader puts AI to work on a real task from their own business. Seats are from S$779, and your company gets S$500 off a first build within six months.
If one job already eats a team's week, start with layer two. We build that one job first, and it is working in the first week. See how we start.
Questions people also ask
Do we need Copilot and a shared agent?
Often yes, for different things. Copilot or ChatGPT helps each person with their own emails and documents. The shared agent does one job for the whole team, across every system that job touches. A seat suits each person's own work. A shared agent fits only where one job takes hours every week. Glimmer vs Microsoft Copilot says when.
Can one agent serve the whole agency?
Not one agent. Each team gets its own agent with a named owner, and only people in that team's channel can ask it. The account team, finance and HR each see their own work.
Is a recruitment or property agency different?
The three layers are the same. The jobs are different. See the jobs for recruitment agencies and real estate agencies.
Is there a grant for AI tools?
A ready-made AI tool from IMDA's pre-approved list is eligible for up to 50% support for an SME under EDGE. More details. A bigger build that joins up your systems can apply under EDGE's Large-scale Digital Transformation support. One agent doing one task on its own is not eligible. More details. IMDA's AI x Digital Leaders also matches companies outside the tech industry with partner vendors. More details. Apply before you sign with any vendor. Read why.
Where to start
Write down the one job in your agency that takes the most hours each week, and who does it today. Bring it to a 20-minute call. We will tell you whether it needs an assistant, an agent, or only a policy.