Future of Consulting

Question

How do you foresee the future relevance of big consulting firms, especially MBB and the Big Four, considering the following trends:

Increasing Capability of AI: As AI becomes more advanced, do you believe it will threaten the traditional consulting model, and if so, how? Will these firms remain relevant as AI-driven solutions become more prevalent?
Shift Towards the Gig Economy: With predictions suggesting that traditional 9-to-5 jobs may be fully transformed by 2034, how might this shift impact the talent pool and employment structures of major consulting firms? Will they be able to adapt and stay relevant in a gig-oriented workforce?
Rise of Specialized Boutique Consultancies: Given that many specialized boutique consulting firms can deliver more impactful results faster and at a lower cost, what strategies do you believe MBB and the Big Four will adopt to stay competitive and relevant in this evolving landscape?

Looking forward to hearing your insights!

Answer 1

Hi there,

1. As with everything, there are ups and downsides to it. I read that around 40% of recent revenue in MBB is coming from AI adaptation needs of clients. Check the NYT article on that!

2. I believe the gig economy talent pool and the consulting talent pool have hardly any overlap so I don't see any big impact here.

3. I don't agree with this point (lower cost, maybe yes, faster and more impactful, probably not). If you have seen the speed at which a McKinsey team works with a significant support organization in the back, proprietary data, researchers, and experts, no boutique firm could match that.

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 2

1. No, it doesn't threaten consultants, not at all, and it threatens less MBB than Big4. Strategy consulting firms always need to develop custom approaches to complex (and new) problems. AI needs significant amounts of data to develop statistical models that will deliver most common answers / responses to a specific problem. As such, it is the opposite of what strategy consultants do. It will help with accelerating productivity on certain lower value add and high time consuming tasks - but not with the core of strategy consulting. If anything, it will make strategy consulting more accessible to smaller firms.

2. Consulting firms are already resorting more and more to experienced freelancers. This trend is likely to continue in the near future.

3. They will continue acquiring some of those specialized boutique firms to strengthen their own offer and limit competition growth.