Last week, I came across a post that made some good points: “Accenture Is Doomed.”, but…
Anytime you get over 100 responses, you’re hitting on something people are thinking about and the fact that it was based on an article by The Economist gives it more credence: “Who needs Accenture in the age of AI?” The piece highlighted how Accenture’s market cap currently sits at $177.35 billion, down from peaks earlier this year, though the exact $60 billion loss figure appears to reference broader market volatility rather than AI-specific concerns. The author’s central thesis was stark: semi-autonomous AI agents capable of diagnosing problems, generating strategy, and kicking off execution will render traditional consulting firms obsolete.
The article’s strength lies in recognizing a genuine inflection point. McKinsey data shows AI adoption in business jumped from 20% in 2017 to 50% by 2022, and 93% of executives expect AI to impact their strategy by 2026, suggesting rapid transformation ahead. The piece correctly identifies that Accenture’s model, built on armies of junior consultants conducting research and analysis, faces direct competition from AI tools that work faster and more cost-effectively.
However, the article oversimplifies the complexity of strategic work and underestimates human adaptability. It also overlooks that Accenture generated $3 billion in GenAI-related bookings in fiscal 2024, suggesting established firms aren’t just sitting idle. The “doomed” framing misses how disruption often creates new opportunities even as it destroys old models.
While I don’t fully agree with the “doomed” part, I also don’t think the threat is overblown.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the kind of consulting that’s long relied on abstract slide decks, slow-moving diagnostics, and vague handoffs is already dying. And AI is speeding up the funeral. But that doesn’t mean strategy consulting as a whole is on its way out. It means the bar is rising (a good thing), and those who adapt will thrive.
When the Playbook Is Free, What’s Worth Paying For?
Today, anyone with ChatGPT Plus can generate a market entry plan in minutes. Tools like Claude can produce pricing strategies that would have taken junior consultants weeks to research. I recently tested this myself, asking an AI to create a go-to-market framework for an AI health and wellness startup. The output was structured, well-researched, and better than what I’ve seen from some $300/hour consultants.
But that’s precisely where the opportunity lies.
An effective strategy must account for the human elements that AI can’t quantify: the CEO who’s genuinely excited about innovation but terrified of making the wrong bet after a previous failure; the engineering culture that celebrates perfectionism but struggles with rapid iteration; the finance team that’s risk-averse after last quarter’s budget overrun. These psychological and cultural nuances don’t appear in data sheets, but they determine whether even the most brilliant strategy will succeed or fail. Consider how fear of change ripples through organizations. AI might recommend “implement agile methodologies,” but it takes human insight to recognize that this particular company’s middle management sees agile as a threat to their authority, or that the last consultant who pushed “transformation” left behind such chaos that the word itself triggers eye rolls in meetings. Understanding these undercurrents—the excitement, the skepticism, the hidden alliances, and unspoken concerns—is where human strategists become irreplaceable.
AI excels at pattern matching and optimization. It struggles with stakeholder dynamics, organizational politics, and the messy reality of competing priorities. Most importantly, it won’t be on the hook when things go sideways.
What Clients Actually Want Now
After more than 20 years in specialized open-source strategy consulting, I’m seeing a fundamental shift in client expectations..
Clients don’t want 80-page decks. They want momentum.
Modern clients expect a strategy grounded in their unique context, but they also want to see it in motion immediately. This means jump-starting implementation from day one: building working models, setting up real systems, and integrating with their teams rather than just advising from the sidelines.
This shift is accelerating. Recent data from management consulting firms indicate that implementation-focused engagements are growing at a rate of 40% year-over-year, while traditional strategy-only projects are in decline. Clients increasingly view pure strategy work as a luxury they can’t afford in a fast-moving market.
The New Consulting Model: Context + Traction
The consultants who will thrive aren’t those with the best frameworks—AI will democratize those. They’re the ones who can deliver what I call “context + traction”: deep and rapid understanding of the client’s unique situation combined with the ability to drive immediate progress.
This means developing new skills:
Rapid Prototyping: Instead of recommending a customer portal, build a working version in the first week. Show, don’t tell.
Systems Integration: Connect disparate tools and data sources to create immediate value while the broader strategy unfolds.
Change Facilitation: Guide teams through actual implementation challenges, not just change management theory.
Stakeholder Navigation: Read between the lines of organizational dynamics to identify real barriers and accelerators.
Outcome Accountability: Take responsibility for results, not just recommendations.
The billing model is changing too. Fixed-fee projects with success metrics are replacing time-and-materials arrangements. Clients want partners who share the risk and reward of outcomes.
Why Large Firms Face Bigger Threats
The Medium article specifically targeted Accenture, and there’s strategic logic to that choice. Large consulting firms face unique vulnerabilities in the AI era:
Scale Dependencies: Their business models rely on armies of junior consultants doing research and analysis, exactly what AI does best and cheapest.
Bureaucratic Speed: While AI can generate insights in minutes, large firms often take weeks just to staff a project correctly.
Generic Solutions: Their strength in standardized methodologies becomes a weakness when clients can get the same frameworks instantly from AI.
Cost Structure: They can’t compete on price with AI tools that cost $20/month instead of $2,000/day.
Smaller, agile practitioners actually have advantages here. We can integrate AI tools to enhance our capabilities rather than compete with them. We can pivot quickly to new models. We can offer the human insight and implementation support that AI can’t provide—at price points that make sense.
Some Suggestions
These are actions I have taken myself for the last six months.
Now: Start integrating AI tools into your current practice. Use them to accelerate research and analysis, freeing up time for higher-value activities. Personally, I use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Deepseek, Manus, Sesame, and Leonardo, all for slightly different activities.
Next Quarter: Redesign at least one client engagement to focus on implementation from day one. Measure the impact on client satisfaction and repeat business.
This Year: Develop a signature capability that combines human insight with AI-enhanced delivery in a particular domain or technology. Specializing in open source strategy has helped differentiate me for many years. Build a reputation for driving outcomes, not just providing recommendations.
Beyond 2025: Position yourself as the consultant who thrives in the AI age—someone who combines strategic depth with implementation speed.
The Bottom Line
AI won’t kill consulting, but it will kill consulting that doesn’t provide substantive, ongoing value. The firms and practitioners who survive will be those who embrace a fundamental truth: in a world where information is free, insight is valuable, but outcomes are everything. Consultants delivering commodity insights will be replaced. Those providing irreplaceable human value will be essential.
The article was right about one thing—the old model is doomed. But for those of us willing to evolve, this isn’t the end of strategy consulting. It’s the beginning of something better: faster, more effective, more accountable, and ultimately more valuable to the clients we serve.