Artificial intelligence is projected to add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Yet, despite this promising future, fewer than half of organisations are seeing a positive return on investment from their AI investments today -- even as 89% plan to increase spending.
Amid this disconnect, the consulting business must chart a new course -- not just by adopting AI, but by rearchitecting how consulting operates in the age of AI.
Many organisations see AI as a tool for automation and cost-cutting, but the real value lies in augmenting human talent. As the only consulting firm at scale within a global technology company, IBM Consulting, for example, has flipped the paradigm -- turning its 160,000 consultants across 75 countries into AI creators rather than mere users. Imagine 160,000 consultants today enhanced by 1.6 million AI-powered digital workers.
This transformation isn't just a shift -- it's a reinvention. An AI-powered delivery platform today allows consultants to integrate AI seamlessly into their tasks, from refining business cases to generating code, thus delivering faster and smarter solutions.
PRODUCTIVITY BOOSTER
Rather than replacing consultants, AI makes them even more essential. Today, more than 2,000 AI assistants and agents have already been created by IBM consultants, supporting tasks from project management and software testing to industry-specific problem solving.
With this transformation, productivity gains of 50% have been achieved across core consulting tasks, accelerating time to value for clients and ushering in a new era of consulting delivery.
The journey doesn't stop here -- the goal is to move beyond traditional consulting towards a more scalable, technology-enhanced service delivery model in which AI plays a central role in shaping the services provided.
Consultants as AI creators mark a fundamental shift from traditional consulting to a "people plus AI" model -- paving the way for a service-as-software approach.
DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CONSULTING
Businesses are increasingly seeking consultants who can use AI to deliver greater precision and speed in problem-solving. Consulting firms that integrate AI are well-positioned as trusted partners to help organisations navigate transformation.
In fact, organisations are demanding AI-powered consulting, and they are voting with their wallets. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), 75% of consulting buyers expect AI to positively impact their consulting engagements, while 86% report they're actively looking for services that incorporate AI and technology assets.
As AI becomes more transformational, it is also growing increasingly specialised -- particularly in areas like human resources, finance and customer service. As the future lies in seamlessly blending people and technology, fostering collaboration across domain-specific AI, consulting firms that integrate AI are positioned as trusted partners who can help organisations navigate transformation.
Rather than replacing consultants, AI is complementing human expertise. The human+digital labour model highlights how AI can amplify consultants' capabilities, as seen in our work with Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia's new, digitally born national airline.
Using AI agents, pre-built industry accelerators and proprietary methods, the team rapidly built a cutting-edge mobile app that enhances customer experience while reducing time to market. AI agents also played a key role in helping IBM consultants; defining app requirements, coding functionalities and conducting rigorous testing.
Other success stories illustrate the tangible value of AI-powered consulting. In a recent call centre transformation, AI-powered digital workers now handle five million out of 45 million annual customer interactions -- significantly improving customer satisfaction scores while reducing operational costs.
In Asia Pacific, AI agents is also being piloted with a government's technology arm to enhance service delivery and citizen experience.
THE FUTURE OF CONSULTING
Whether it's accelerating time-to-value, improving customer acquisition, or reducing operational overhead, the consulting industry is shifting towards prioritising AI-driven business outcomes. By combining industry expertise, scalable IP assets and AI-powered delivery, organisations can drive speed, scale and repeatable transformation that deliver measurable results.
As consulting firms continue to support clients around the world -- from global banks to major players across automotive, telecoms, local consumer goods, healthcare, and beyond -- the message is clear: the future of consulting is not about replacing human consultants, but unleashing a new class of hybrid consulting engagements where humans and digital labour work side by side -- accelerating innovation while maintaining the human touch that clients still value.
Juhi McClelland is managing partner of IBM Consulting Asia Pacific.