DUO | Primacy

Clients are experimenting with public AI tools, often with unpredictable outcomes and little strategic direction that wastes time and risk. Internally, we saw both the promise and the pressure of leveraging the power of AI to deliver better service faster and more cost effectively. We needed to future-proof workflows while addressing real concerns from employees: Will AI replace me? How do we use it safely? Where does it create value?

Our challenge was clear: leverage AI to improve output and margins, without compromising security, team morale, or our competitive edge.

Digital United spans a range of business models: a full-service agency (Primacy), a SaaS platform (ZenSource), a performance media firm (Mediately), and an internal operations platform (OpenBook). We built a unified AI strategy to:

Increase productivity and empower teams to do better work in less time
Safeguard IP and migrate institutional knowledge into secure, trainable AI systems
Deliver measurable ROI and client value—fast

We evaluated two paths: private plug-and-play models vs. enterprise-grade AI stacks. For security, scalability, and control, we chose AWS Bedrock and invested in training and certifications across ZenSource infrastructure and Primacy development teams.

Choosing an Enterprise-Grade, Scalable AI Tech Stack.

The critical first step was selecting the best AI tech stack. Because we work in heavily regulated industries, our solution needed to adhere to our SOC-2 compliance certification. There were two paths in front of us. The first one, private ChatGTP-type platforms offered ease-of-use and speedy implementations, however this option lacked scalability, security and control. The other path was enterprise AI platforms like AWS Bedrock. This option offered significant capabilities, scalability and security features. The downside to AWS Bedrock was a steeper learning curve and the specialty skill sets it required. After extensive consideration, we chose AWS Bedrock as it aligned better with our strategic needs. Investments in training and certifications for Primacy developers and ZenSource Cloud infrastructure team began.

Experience, Brand, and Bots

To alleviate staff concerns and improve adoption, Primacy Creative teams created the DUO brand and positioning, essentially making something new and complex feel familiar and less threatening. To maximize productivity, the experience framework had to be optimized for how AI works. DUbots are branded, special purpose AI agents that execute deliverables based on proprietary workstreams. The experience team needed to support a holding company and 3 unique entities to build a sense of team pride and cross team collaboration.

With no shortage of ideas, the team defined a scoring model to prioritize highest impact, least effort, and greatest span of control. Execution was driven by quick-win sprints focused on strategy, tech stack, brand, experience, and a continuous feedback loop. DUO is more than a chatbot. It’s a modular, multi-tenant AI framework customized for each entity.

The system includes:

Private, secure AI cloud-based framework with Single Sign-On (SSO) integrated into our existing authentication model, ensuring security and ease of access across the organization.
Entity-branded experiences with tailored navigation and built-in feedback mechanisms for ongoing questions, requests, and feature improvements.
Generative AI using Large Language Models (LLM) with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to support internal, proprietary knowledge bases and institutional IP (ensuring relevance, accuracy, and security).
DUBot-branded AI agent architecture: a network of autonomous, entity-specific bots designed to work independently and collaboratively across tasks and workflows, performing proprietary work at scale.
Kickstarters: Guided starting points that pre-fill common tasks to help users get going faster

How each entity uses DUO today:

Primacy: Accelerating go-to-market deliverables like site maps, creative briefs, and campaign strategies, cutting manual effort and increasing strategic quality.
ZenSource: Helping developers and content authors quickly access component documentation, authoring tips, and publishing best practices, which reduces dev time and minimizes handoffs.
Mediately: Empowering performance marketers with centralized access to ad specs, optimization strategies, and reporting templates. New hires ramp up faster through access to SOPs and onboarding guides.
OpenBook: Enabling teams to navigate OB tools more efficiently by logging time, creating projects, and managing tasks without interruption or reliance on coworkers.
HR (DU-wide): Freeing up HR time by answering routine but often complex employee questions about PTO, benefits, and internal policies through an always-on, AI-driven support agent.

Since its internal launch, DUO has become a transformative force across Digital United, streamlining onboarding, accelerating deliverable creation, and increasing consistency across teams and workflows. From developers building websites in ZenSource to marketers optimizing campaigns in Mediate.ly, DUO is actively reducing friction and helping teams produce higher-quality work, faster.

By offering secure, centralized access to institutional knowledge and proprietary tools, DUO has aligned five distinct entities around smarter, more efficient processes. As adoption grows and more DUBots and Kickstarters roll out, DUO continues to evolve, shaping how teams work today and laying the foundation for scalable, AI-driven growth tomorrow.

The real-world experience significantly increases our client value added, regardless of which path is optimal for their situation, resulting in a growing number of new engagements.

Secure AI. Empowered Teams. First-Mover Advantage.

The rise of generative AI presents a dual reality: massive opportunity, and massive risk.

A smart AI strategy goes beyond just tools. It centers clarity, control, and ROI.

Discovering what works best

DUO and the DUbots: 12 Weeks From Concept to Launch

Major Productivity Gains. Major Future-Proofing.

Dropping Some Data