Summary: Consulting tech is redefining how strategy firms operate. From AI copilots inside McKinsey to new startups automating market research and analysis, the consulting model is shifting from human leverage to digital scale – changing how firms grow, hire, and deliver.
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A new wave of startups is reshaping how strategy consulting gets done. Firms hiring partners and directors across the UK, Germany, and Switzerland need to understand what’s shifting: consulting is moving from PowerPoint and people to platforms, software, and prompts.
The question is no longer whether AI will change consulting, but how firms will integrate it into their operating model.
The market opportunity is expanding fast
→ The global AI consulting services market is forecast to grow from $11 billion in 2025 to $91 billion by 2035, a 26% CAGR.
→ The wider AI consulting ecosystem is projected to reach $59 billion by 2034, driven by automation, data, and software-led delivery.
→ The AI agents market – tools acting autonomously on analytical and advisory tasks, is expected to hit $50 billion by 2030, up from $5 billion today.
For strategy firms, this means more opportunities, not fewer. Consulting tech isn’t a threat; it’s an infrastructure shift that rewards firms able to scale expertise through software.
Consulting firms are being rebuilt around AI
→ Harvard Business Review notes that AI is re-architecting consulting firms by automating research and analysis, pushing value toward judgment, integration, and change leadership.
→ Firms are now structuring work around “AI analysts” and “agentic consultants” – modular pods that blend human judgment with digital delivery.
→ The result: a leaner, faster, tech-enabled model where partners act more like product owners than traditional team leaders.
For hiring, that means new partner profiles: leaders who can govern digital pods, manage AI workflows, and commercialise IP through software; not just sell bespoke strategy projects.
Consulting tech has two paths
→ Enablement tools: software that helps consulting firms work faster and smarter. Copilots for research, analytics, and workflow automation (like McKinsey’s Lilli).
→ Disruptors: AI platforms that automate parts of consulting delivery, from benchmarking to strategy design, selling insights directly to clients.
Both play in the same value chain, structured thinking, analysis, and advice, but the key question is who they empower: consultants or clients.
Firms adopting enablement tools will gain efficiency. Those that ignore the shift risk being bypassed by the very tech their clients start to use directly.
The mid-market is the new frontier
→ AI consulting startups are targeting mid-market firms, companies under $100 million in revenue, who want structured advice without the MBB price tag.
→ This creates an emerging client segment between “too small for McKinsey” and “too complex for self-service AI.”
For consulting leaders, this means segmenting delivery models. Partner-led advisory will remain for complex transformations, but productised consulting, modular, repeatable, and tech-enabled, will dominate mid-tier growth.
Regional nuance matters
→ North America currently leads AI consulting share, but Europe is catching up, driven by demand for regulatory expertise under the EU AI Act and GDPR.
→ Firms in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland that can combine strategy, technology, and compliance will have a competitive edge.
For European hiring, fluency in AI governance, data regulation, and platform-based delivery is now as important as sector expertise.
Big firms are already moving
→ One Big Four firm reported a 30% increase in AI-related revenue in 2025, while traditional consulting grew just 5%.
→ McKinsey has become one of the largest global users of OpenAI’s API tokens. Through Lilli, QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and Agents at Scale, it’s proving that AI isn’t a rival, it’s the next layer of consulting infrastructure.
The disruption isn’t coming for McKinsey. It’s coming through McKinsey.
What this means for firms and leaders
→ For firms: Future-ready consulting models blend human judgment with AI scale. Hiring needs to reflect that, partners fluent in productisation, data strategy, and AI-driven delivery.
→ For candidates: The differentiator isn’t just selling projects. It’s leading teams that combine people, code, and clients into one continuous delivery loop.
Consulting’s future isn’t being staffed, it’s being built.
The question now is who’s building it.
This post comments on:
Business Insider: ‘Inside the AI startups reinventing consulting: ‘It’s not as good as McKinsey, but it’s instant’
19 October 2025
Ben Appleton is the founder of Strat-Bridge, a specialist executive search partner to the strategy consulting industry. He works with global consulting firms and senior leaders across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond — helping them build capability at the Partner and Director level.
