13 Big Hunches On AI And Consultants

Forbes

2 days ago

The Scream', 1893. The Scream is one of four versions painted by Edward Munch in 1893. The ghostly, ... More agonised figure against the background of a red sunset is one of the most well known images in the world of art - a symbol of despair and alienation. From the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Artist Edvard Munch. (Photo by Art Media/The)
Nathaniel Whittemore has some thoughts about consulting in the AI era.
For those who might not know, Whittemore is the intrepid host of AI Daily Brief, a podcast I tend to pay attention to as we move through a profound technological shift that has most of us looking for answers.
In a rare episode of the podcast where he acknowledged being on the road, Whittemore went through his own LinkedIn post about consulting companies, to glean some predictions and insights (13 of them) on how these firms will work as AI continues to take hold.
Chunks of legal and accounting work, he suggested, will get sent to AI (that's #1) calling them 'total bye-byes.' Consulting, he said, will 'distill' things into a targeted set of realities around AI. He described a kind of musical chairs (that's #2) where companies will move into other market areas, big firms to mid-market, etc. as the change happens.
As for the displacement of humans, Whittemore spoke to a demand for external validation that, he suggested, will keep the HITL (human in the loop) in play. Enterprises will divide into two categories, either slicing headcount, or use a 'flexible roster' of partners, consultants and fellow travelers.
'Personally, I'm pretty inclined towards smaller, more liberal organizations powered by a flexible roster of partners and consultants,' he said, 'because I think it aligns also with people's (takes) on their professional services, figuring out how far they can take it with AI.'
Then there's Whittemore's theorization of new products and new lines of business, as well as 'new practices' (that's #4 on the list, read the list for the others.)
His caveat: these predictions are 'ridiculously generic' and nobody really knows what the future holds.
'I think the way that this plays out is going to be pretty enterprise by enterprise,' he said.
In the second half of the podcast, he suggested that business people are going to be 'Jerry Macguiring,' where they start to have a different picture of enterprise value.
He talked about small teams of consultants managing large swarming agents as a 'default model' and suggested that 'pricing experiments' are going to become common. Buyers, he concluded, are going to prioritize intangibles.
Here's another of Whittemore's points: people want to work with people who they like working with, or, in the parlance of his list, 'j𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗘𝗤𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀.' (That's #10).
More from Whittemore: the value of prototyping, a prediction of companies operating in what he called 'iteration-land,' and an advantage to parties who can build frameworks for the AI future.
'Continuous iteration requires data measurement, analytics, and systems,' he said, 'to make sense of it all: I think these are table stakes aspects of engagements, now that consultants and professional services firms just have to build in an understanding and an expectation of how they're going to measure their impact.'
There's a lot of insight here, and if you want to go back and read the whole thing over again, I wouldn't blame you. Whittemore goes over a lot of his analysis at lightning speed. But you do see certain things crop up time and time again – The idea that rapid change is going to shake out in certain ways, and that companies and people need to pivot as our AI revolution keeps heating up. Check it out.