Illustration: Katmandu Journal
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a big consultancy in possession of a good client must be in want of a new piece of jargon. The latest is “reinventors”. This is what Accenture, a giant of the industry, now calls many of its staff. The label is part of a big internal reorganisation: merging strategy and technology, as well as operations, into one unit named Reinvention Services. The moniker is a signal to the market and to its own workforce that the firm is being upended by artificial intelligence. Behind the verbal flourish, moreover, a reset of the entire consulting world is under way.
For a long time the industry’s economics have rested on a pyramid. A broad base of junior analysts performed labour-intensive, repetitive tasks: cleaning data, crafting slides, conducting market research, building financial models. Their work was billed out at rates far higher than their salaries, generating profits that supported a smaller layer of expensive partners above them. This leverage model is now being dismantled. Generative AI excels at automating precisely the grunt work that justified hiring armies of bright graduates. It can produce first drafts of reports, summarise data, create market maps and even assemble presentation decks. The pyramid’s base is contracting.
The initial effect is a squeeze on entry-level jobs. Several big firms including PwC and Accenture have cut staff in back-office and IT functions. Graduate hiring is being pared back. Salary growth for newcomers has stalled. Firms anticipate they will need fewer juniors to deliver the same output, and are adjusting hiring plans before the full benefits of AI have materialised. The work that remains for humans is moving upstream, towards more senior tasks like problem-framing and client guidance.
In response, new organisational shapes are being trialled. Some experts envisage an “obelisk”: a structure with far fewer juniors and a greater proportion of senior specialists, suited to AI-heavy projects. Others describe an “hourglass”, where demand stays for both juniors and seniors, but middle managers are squeezed as AI takes over oversight of mundane analysis. A “box model”, senior-heavy and with juniors only in specific technical roles, may suit boutiques. Accenture’s reinvention and similar moves by McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group are experiments within this spectrum.
The skills consultancies seek are changing accordingly, meanwhile. There is less appetite for generalist analysts adept mainly at PowerPoint and Excel. Demand is growing for AI engineers, cloud architects, industry experts and professionals who can integrate systems. Clients, weary of years of sluggish growth and vague digital promises, now demand proof that consultants use AI themselves. Layoffs serve a dual purpose: cutting costs and marketing a firm’s AI credibility by showing it is transforming from within.
This transition favours scale. Large practices like the Big Four and major strategy houses can afford billion-dollar investments in proprietary AI tools and training. Smaller rivals may be pushed towards niche specialisation or AI-native boutique models. A winner-take-most dynamic could emerge, where technology amplifies the advantages of size. For all the talk of reinvention, the industry’s old habit of concentration may intensify.
The journey will be messy. Corporate jargon about “reinventors” serves to smooth over internal insecurity as well as justify retraining and put a brave face on job displacement. It papers over the gap between rhetoric and capability. Yet the direction is unambiguous. The consulting pyramid will not vanish, but its base will shrink and its apex expand. New AI-specialist roles will emerge. The transformation parallels earlier technological revolutions: losses precede gains, and the eventual gains are captured by those who adapt fastest. For an industry that has sold advice on change, managing its own is the ultimate test. ■
