I worked in management consulting for 25 years.
I vividly remember the boom of “web consulting” in the early 2000s. Many specialized consulting firms popped into the market to help clients build sites and e-commerce stores. Over time, these tasks became DIY.
A similar trend is happening with AI, now referred to as “Consulting 2.0”. AI driven consulting firms are now securing VC funding, such as the recent $15M seed round of Quantum Rise, to “handhold” companies through their AI transformation.
These AI-driven consulting firms promise to deploy AI within companies to automate everything.
However, for the more trained eyes, numerous off-the-shelf software platforms are readily available to support companies in their AI journey:
* Robotic Process Automation (RPA): check out this video of Petrobras’ CIO announcing $120M in annual savings after implementing Automation Anywhere RPA (a Fabrica Ventures portfolio company, “FVPC”) in just three weeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHFnk5pqG7M&t=266s
* Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS): Workato, a Gartner leader and a FVPC, offers no-code/low-code integration and automation solutions that orchestrate and automate processes
* Analytics & Business Intelligence (ABI): ThoughtSpot, a Gartner leader and a FVPC, is emphasizing visual self-service for end users, augmented by AI to deliver automated insights
* Sales Engagement Platforms: Outreach, a Forrester leader and a FVPC, is embedding AI across the sales cycle, from prospecting to deal management to forecasting
* Chatbot: Intercom, a SaaS based CRM, 7 years in a row in the Cloud 100 ranking and a FVPC, is dedicating most of its resources to the AI chatbot
* AI/ML platforms: offer a broad set of tools for both data science and extended AI teams to develop, operationalize, and manage AI solutions
* And so on…
Given that AI is still something alien to most companies, it has also been a blessing for the established consulting firms. According to a recent article of the NYT ‘The AI Boom Has an Unlikely Early Winner: Wonky Consultants’, BCG now earns 20% of its revenue (from zero just two years ago) through work related to AI; about 40% of McKinsey’s business this year will be GenAI related; IBM has secured more than $1B in sales commitments related to GenAI for consulting work, etc.
Conclusion
Consulting firms always thrive in times of change, and this time is no exception.
Which is also good news for the AI feature-rich startups as they will be packed under the Consulting 2.0 umbrella.