Consulting services have just begun to stop relying on human beings for research, analysis, processes, management and facilitation. This trend will transform consulting from its current business model based on billable hours and time into a flat-rate system. Currently, only a limited number of consulting jobs can be produced, but that will change as consultants develop new intellectual property. New intellectual property leads to new sets of tools and frameworks, which in turn lead to more automation and technology products.
We expect that, as artificial intelligence and big data capabilities improve, the pace of production will increase. The business environment is becoming increasingly digitized, information and transactions are moving faster, and manual tasks are being automated. With the right mindset and the right tools, consulting professionals will be well-equipped to address the challenges of the modern business landscape. In the future, most consulting firms will have to reorient their business models, organizational structures, value propositions, proposals and project plans.
Reforms, but now they are being brought up to date and are starting to assert themselves in the management consulting business with higher margins. However, this is a clearly outdated way of offering consulting that cannot meet the demands of modern businesses. Because of the number of opportunities that exist for both graduates and experienced consultants, if a company fails to advance its career, this can cause problems in retaining staff. Some AI technology companies can't so easily break the trust that customers place in consultants, many of which will be acquired by large consulting firms anyway.
If you work for any of the major consulting firms, rest assured that your company will find a way to stay in business and continue generating billions. PwC reports noted that the number of joint ventures and alliances is increasing year after year with consulting firms and, due to the amount of benefits offered by strong partnerships, this trend is likely to continue in the future of management consulting. Establishing and encouraging complementary open consulting partnerships must be a key priority for modern consulting. The unique approach of traditional consulting is a model woefully inadequate for any company that strives to be genuinely innovative.
Ultimately, the real value that consultancies must offer is to allow clients greater access to their experience and knowledge in the field, either through the greater participation of senior partners and industry specialists or through an open consulting ecosystem and a network of associations. Surveys over the past two years have revealed that consulting leaders consistently cite customer expectations as their main business pressure. In addition, since machines will collect and analyze a large amount of data, which is one of the main value propositions of the consultants mentioned above, the duration of consulting projects is likely to be reduced in the future. For example, the nature of consulting work has always involved spending a lot of time away from the office at the client's premises, but it's not sustainable to try to move this part of the work entirely to the Internet; building face-to-face relationships with clients will continue to be an important aspect of what consultancies do.
