Consulting Industry at a Crossroads: Transformation Underway

Artificial intelligence is edging out junior staff, partners are leaving major firms, and tech-driven competitors and private equity are rapidly reshaping the market once dominated by familiar names. Consulting is entering a new era, where the brand is no longer the main asset.

The global consulting industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation driven by multiple pressures. Leading consulting firms are being forced to rethink established models: AI is automating many routine tasks, clients are demanding faster and more tangible results, and new competitors — from tech giants to private equity-backed players — are entering the scene.

At the same time, internal dynamics are shifting: the traditional «pyramid» model, reliant on mass recruitment of graduates, no longer guarantees success. Below is an overview of the key shifts shaping the new consulting landscape and their impact on the industry.

GK&P partners Yodgor Gafurov and Alexander Kardash, from an investment banking and business consulting firm, shared their perspective on the market.

Yodgor Gafurov

This article explores:

• AI is replacing junior consultants
• AI enhances the human element
• Global labour markets are moving towards offshore hubs
• AI and Big Tech pose a challenge to traditional consulting
• Private Equity Eyes Consulting
• Labour Market Shift: A Surplus of Candidates and New Hiring Rules
• Personal Brands vs Corporate Logos
• Consulting Without Monopolies Is the Industry’s New Face

Paradigm Shift: AI Replaces Junior Consultants

Team size no longer matters — skills and technology do. Top consulting firms are overhauling the legacy recruitment model that once relied heavily on hiring waves of young analysts. Under pressure from AI and client expectations for speed and efficiency, the traditional pyramid structure with its wide base of interns and graduates is becoming obsolete. In its place are compact, cross-functional teams, where every consultant combines deep expertise, digital fluency, and product thinking.

Knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint is no longer a competitive edge. The market now expects fluency in language models, BI tools, and automation platforms. Training pathways are shifting from MBAs to intensive courses in AI and analytics. Flexibility and tech adaptability are increasingly valued in current employees.

Retraining has become the norm, and the classic junior consultant role is becoming a thing of the past. Today, it’s not the size of the team that delivers results but its technological agility and cross-functional capacity.

AI Enhances, Not Replaces: The Human Role in Consulting

AI boosts the strong but does not save the weak. Algorithms take over routine tasks, but the consultant’s true value lies in interpretation, judgement, and trust. With widespread access to similar tools, those who can embed them into client workflows and communicate meaning effectively are the ones who win. Machines can model a scenario but they can’t grasp internal politics or convince an owner or board.

AI has become a catalyst for change: it hasn’t replaced consultants but raised the bar. According to the Financial Times (June 2025), over 70% of consulting firms have adopted AI tools, yet only 19% have seen productivity gains. Technology alone does not work without cultural and skill shifts. Consulting remains a human-driven field, only now augmented by algorithms.

Global Labour Market: From Local Offices to Offshore Hubs

Geography no longer defines the model, AI tools and access to talent do. As team structures evolve internally, consulting is undergoing a geographical overhaul. Rather than concentrating resources in London, New York, or Frankfurt, top firms are actively building hubs in India, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. These aren’t just offshore back offices — they’re full-fledged centres of expertise, capable of delivering both analytical and technical support.

Early-career teams in these hubs are trained in AI from week one, mastering generative models, automated visualisation, and low-code solutions. The team assembly logic has also shifted: instead of forming around an office, teams are now built around a task, regardless of location.

This allows firms to scale flexibly based on demand, avoiding dependence on overheated local job markets while ensuring 24/7 access to expertise. In this new environment, global human-AI capital becomes the new operational core of consulting.

AI and Big Tech: A Challenge to Traditional Consulting

Consulting is shifting from selling ideas to delivering indispensable solutions. AI and Big Tech are redrawing the industry’s power map. While traditional consultants still pitch abstract «AI strategies,» firms like OpenAI are diving straight into business operations, embedding their tools directly into client processes. OpenAI’s new consulting division takes on projects worth $10 mln or more, sending engineers straight into client teams.

Here, value is created not through presentations, but implementation. If nothing changes after the consultants leave, the engagement was pointless. That’s why Big Tech is blurring the lines between consulting and IT services: they leave behind systems that actually work.

In response, traditional firms must shift from slides to products, from giving advice to embedding solutions, from external analysis to being embedded in the client’s business.

New Players and Deals: Private Equity Eyes Consulting

Private equity is no longer watching consulting — it’s reshaping it. Investment funds have become increasingly active in the professional services sector. Since the start of 2025, nearly 200 deals have been announced involving consulting and adjacent firms (see Table 1). Investors are drawn by high margins, undervalued European and Asian markets, and opportunities to quickly add value through operational and technological upgrades.

New teams formed under PE umbrellas are building businesses from scratch: hiring high-profile partners, introducing CRM systems, boosting marketing, and packaging services into scalable products. It’s performance-based motivation over tenure, and tight operational discipline over bureaucracy.

These firms scale rapidly, not through personal networks, but business model efficiency. Unsurprisingly, many consulting entrepreneurs now prefer PE over IPOs, gaining capital, structure, and a 5–7 year time horizon without the burden of public reporting. Analysts predict that by 2028, most independent players outside the Big Four will be PE-controlled.

Table 1. Largest transactions 2024–2025

Labour Market Shift: A Surplus of Candidates and New Hiring Rules

A glut of equally qualified candidates has turned hiring into a marathon where visibility, not merit, wins. Industry restructuring has transformed the job market. Following rounds of redundancies, there’s now a large pool of qualified professionals, especially from the Big Four. Many are smart, well-trained, and similarly experienced, but now they’re competing against each other for fewer roles. Dozens, even hundreds, may apply for a single position.

This presents challenges for employers too. Faced with a stream of near-identical candidates, selection takes longer: long shortlists, drawn-out interviews, and excellent applicants left in limbo. Those who stand out have not just experience, but tangible achievements, leadership, and distinctive case histories.

Consulting firms must define what “top talent” means to them. Candidates, meanwhile, must articulate their real value clearly and confidently. Today, it’s not modesty, but a compelling, well-framed value proposition that makes the difference.

Personal Brands vs Corporate Logos: The New Rules

In the era of social media and content leadership, consulting influence is shifting from firm logos to individual names. Experienced consultants and industry experts are becoming media personalities: publishing insights, sharing case studies, and commenting on trends. They’re turning their expertise into personal capital.

Clients increasingly choose consultants based on individual competence, not firm branding. Strong, practice-backed public content often convinces more than abstract reputations. Market leaders note that growth now hinges on personal visibility and trust. A senior expert’s personal brand is becoming just as valuable as the company name. The trend is evident: more and more partners are leaving global firms to build boutique consultancies around their own name and expertise (See Table 2).

The new generation of consultants actively chooses employers who support their public professional identity. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for firms: those that encourage personal brand-building expand their reach and strengthen their market position. Strict communication controls, on the other hand, repel talent and hinder growth.

Table 2: Examples of partners moving from large firms to boutique consulting

Conclusion: Consulting Without Monopolies Is the Industry’s New Face

AI has democratised access to information but not to trust. AI, personal brands, partner departures, and client demands for results are transforming the industry at its core. The market is shifting from large, resource-heavy structures to compact, agile, and tech-savvy teams.

For clients, it’s a chance to hire for competence, not branding. For consultants, it’s a call to continually upskill, build trust, and stay visible. And for firms, it’s a challenge to overhaul internal processes, culture, and staffing models.

While some firms spend millions building proprietary AI platforms, others win projects simply by using available tools better than anyone else. Competition is intensifying not just between companies, but between individuals within the industry. In this new reality, tradition matters less than speed of adaptation and the ability to evolve.