Impact of AI on Client/Consultant Engagement
1 Introduction
There is a great deal of speculation about the way that AI is likely to change the way in which management consultants operate their businesses and deliver their services. There is less consideration being given to the way that the increased use of AI by clients
is likely to impact the relationship between clients and consultants.
As part of its work to investigate the Future of Management Consultancy, the Centre for Management Consulting Excellence (CMCE) recently organised a discussion group to consider the potential impact of AI on the way that clients engage with consultants. This
paper highlights the potential impacts together with the barriers that may prevent this happening.
2 Current Situation
One of traditional ways for a client to engage with a consultancy is to start by discussing a business issue or challenge with an individual that David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford called a “Trusted Advisor”. A client who does not know what
consultancy service that they require or the potential business impact of dealing with their issue or challenge is most likely to engage with a trusted advisor from an established “Full Service” consultancy that has the capability to provide a wide range of services and to manage any business risk. The trusted advisor is able to determine the services that the client needs and then arrange for suitable consultants with experience of the relevant services to work with the client organisation to analyse the problem and define a potential solution. During this period, the consultant and the consultancy are likely to build a strong understanding of the client organisation making it highly likely that the consultancy continues to be engaged to support the adoption of the solution that is defined.
3 Potential Developments
Client organisations may consider that, by using AI to analyse a business problem, they can develop a much better understanding of their requirements before looking to engage a consultant to provide services. At that point, they are likely to have a better
understanding of the problem in terms of the service to be provided by a consultant and the business risk and impact of the problem. The client could already have defined a solution and be looking solely for validation by an expert. In this situation, the client is less likely to engage with a “Trusted Advisor” from a “Full Service” consultancy than with a consultancy that specialises in the service that the client has determined that it requires.
As it is likely that the selected consultancy will have had a more limited role in defining a solution to the client’s business problem the client is likely to have less reason to continue using the same consultancy to support adoption of the solution. Engaging with alternative suppliers to support implementation should also provide the opportunity to ensure that consultants work with client staff to transfer skills: one of the principal ways that consultants can deliver value to their clients.
4 Potential Impacts
In the discussion group, to consider these developments:
• 77% of participants considered that they would lead to clients considering a wider set of consultancies to support them;
• 92% considered that it would lead to clients being more likely to consider specialist consultancies;
• 64% of the participants considered that this would provide clients with a wider range of options to support solution adoption;
• 77% considered that it would provide a greater opportunity for the selected consultancy to transfer skills.
The client’s analysis of their business problem is also likely to provide a better understanding of the business value of resolving the problem. We asked participants in the discussion group whether this would result in the client being prepared to increase their budget for a project. None of the participants thought that this would happen.
The conclusion from the discussion is that it should provide clients with the opportunity to consider a wider range of consultancies to provide services and to realise increased value from their consultancy spend.
5 The Barriers
However, many UK organisations are a long way from realising these opportunities. AI Adoption Research published by the UK Government in February 2026 highlighted the following:
• Adoption of AI is currently still modest among businesses in the UK. Around 1 in 6 businesses (16%) are currently using at least one AI technology;
• A further 5% said they plan to adopt AI in the future, but the majority are neither using nor had plans to adopt AI;
• Among those currently using AI, the vast majority are using natural language processing and text generation;
• In businesses using AI, an average of 30% of staO are currently using AI;
• 54% of organisations already using AI feel ready to scale their use, 13% describing themselves as completely ready and 41% as fairly ready;
• In organisations that were planning to adopt AI, 34% feel ready, 33% are unsure and 32% said they are not ready.
