Nicolas MaloExploring Analytics & AI
Nicolas Malo
On Saturday 15th November 2025, I had the pleasure of leading a session at MeasureCamp Brussels on a topic that’s becoming central in the Digital Analytics community.
As AI agents begin to take over an increasing share of analytical tasks, the role of digital analysts is evolving fast. Instead of focusing solely on data collection and analysis, we may soon find ourselves managing the agents that do this work for us.
This raises an exciting question: What new skills will we need to guide, evaluate, and even “coach” our AI-powered digital coworkers?
This session builds on the conversations I launched at MeasureCamp Paris (June 2025) with “Is Generative AI the End of the Digital Analyst?” (https://lnkd.in/eTWmC6cf) and continued at MeasureCamp London (September 2025) with “Superpowers for Digital Analysts: Can Generative AI Really Deliver?” (https://lnkd.in/eKfASgeJ)
I opened the MeasureCamp Brussels session with two quick surveys to gauge where the community stands today:
Are you currently using AI Agents to automate tasks and workflows for Digital Analytics & Optimization?
Will Digital Analysts become AI Agent Managers?
This immediately revealed a tension: most analysts believe their role is about to transform, yet very few have taken the first steps into automation. As someone in the room said right away, “We all know where this is going — but most of us haven’t started the journey.”
Which Tools and Workflows Are We Actually Using Today?When I asked participants what they currently automate or plan to automate with AI agents, the list was impressively diverse.
Yet even with all these tools, one participant put it bluntly: “We automate bits and pieces, but nobody is running a fully automated analytics pipeline yet.”
What’s Blocking Full AI-Agent Automation?This was the most passionate part of the session, with dozens of contributions. Below is the consolidated view — enriched with several quotes captured in the room.
Many shared that “AI is powerful, but unreliable — you need a second agent to check the first.” Common challenges included:
Another participant added: “Tools still live in silos — they don’t talk to each other well enough to automate anything end-to-end.”
The strongest blockers came from security and compliance concerns.
One attendee explained the discomfort clearly: “Even when vendors swear the data is shielded, none of us are completely sure.”
This is where many nodded in agreement.
Someone summarized it powerfully: “Everyone wants to use AI, but nobody has the time to learn how.”
One comment captured the root issue: “If you automate everything, your entire operating model changes — and that scares organizations.”
Despite increasing automation, humans remain critical.
A participant expressed the paradox perfectly: “AI saves time only after you spend a huge amount of time learning to use it.”
What Skills Will We Need to Guide, Evaluate, and “Coach” Our Digital Coworkers?This question sparked one of the richest conversations of the day.
Participants agreed that analysts will evolve from operators to orchestrators, requiring a new blend of technical, analytical, and human skills.
These are the skills no AI can replace:
Someone summarized this perfectly: “Critical thinking is the number one skill — everything else builds on that.”
To supervise AI, analysts must understand how it behaves.
As one participant put it: “To evaluate AI, you must understand how it thinks — and why it sometimes thinks wrong.”
Despite rumors that prompting is becoming obsolete, the room disagreed.
A participant captured this sentiment: “Prompt engineering isn’t dead — it’s becoming the new analytics literacy.”
AI cannot replace domain judgment.
As someone said: “You still need to know how things should work. AI won’t tell you when it’s wrong.”
Managing agents means designing systems.
Even with automation, humans still make decisions.
What Should We Do on Monday Morning?I closed the session with a practical question: “What should we actually start doing next week?”
Here’s the consolidated roadmap — enriched with participants’ own words.
The strongest message: “Block time. Schedule learning. If we don’t make time, we’ll never catch up.”
AI adoption must be responsible.
As someone said: “Compliance isn’t a blocker — it’s the guardrail we need.”
Prompts are now the interface between humans and agents.
Move from prompts to full workflows.
Not just the ChatGPT UI — the underlying mechanics.
One participant noted: “If you don’t know how AI works, you can’t manage it — only consume it.”
Hands-on experience matters.
Don’t try everything — start with the right things.
Start with high-friction tasks:
As one participant said: “If the task bores you, an agent should probably do it.”
Conclusion: The Analyst Role Isn’t Dying — It’s EvolvingOur surveys say it all:
AI agents won’t replace us — but they will reshape our profession.
We will move from 
doing the work to 
managing the agents that do the work.
MeasureCamp Brussels showed what makes this community so special: we learn, experiment, and evolve — together.
A big thank you to everyone who joined and openly shared their knowledge and experiences!
