Laying the groundwork

We recently surveyed 200 senior buyers of consulting in the US, as part of our Market Trends programme. These clients are clearly interested in the application of new and emerging technologies, such as GenAI, with 55% of them saying that they intend to make significant investments in this area in the next 18 months.

However, our data shows that clients are more likely to be focused on holistic digital transformation across their business. Sixty-nine percent of clients in our survey said that this was a priority for them over the next 18 months—the most popular response.

This signals intent from clients to lay the digital groundwork so that new AI models can be integrated successfully into their businesses. In our recent Planning for Growth report, we explored how helping organisations build the foundations of AI is a crucial area of opportunity for consulting firms—in the US and globally.

Getting an edge on the competition

What’s driving US clients’ interest in AI?

Our data shows that 39% believe that there is a compelling use case for GenAI and that it can offer them a significant competitive advantage. This feeling is much stronger in the US than in other major markets, such as the UK, France, and the GCC, where less than 20% of respondents said the same thing.

However, the data also indicates that this competitive advantage has not yet fully manifested itself: Only 7% of respondents said that they currently needed to invest in their technology to keep up with their competitors.

Instead, respondents focused on the improved productivity (21%) and growth (20%) that they believe investment will provide. Transition, when it comes, is likely to be rapid, and smart firms can capitalise on this.

A significant—and growing—opportunity

Spending on GenAI technology is likely to be significant. Thirty-eight percent of clients from our survey said that spending on AI technology implementation would make up over 30% of their total spend on consulting over the next two years, and less than 1% said it would be below 10%.

And, with this technology evolving rapidly, new opportunities are certain to appear in this sector. For instance, in recent years clients have been making a move towards the use of proprietary models to ensure data security. In turn, they will want to integrate new developments from advanced models made by market leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and work is likely to emerge from this complex process.

The people question

In the long term, as the capabilities of such models expand, it will be hard to ignore the impact of AI on organisational structure. The impact of AI on the workforce is a subject of debate, but for the consulting sector, the crucial aspect is organisational. As Matt Clifford, the co-founder of Entrepreneur First, puts it, currently “there are no AI-shaped holes lying around”.

Businesses will have to be willing to invest in restructuring their internal systems to allow AI to reach maximum efficacy. Therein lie numerous opportunities for firms offering restructuring and technology implementation work.

Donald Trump’s announcements signal a push for the US to be at the forefront of technology developments. Consulting firms in the US can’t afford just to keep up—they need to lead the way.

 

Our upcoming Market Trends report on the US Consulting Market in 2025 explores these survey findings and more, drawing on insights from top consulting firms operating in the US market and our wealth of market sizing data. Head to our website to be notified when the report is released.