Consulting Firms Embrace AI to Rein in Costs and Reshape Workforce
Consulting firms are now practicing what they have long preached: leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to control costs. However, this cost reduction has come at the expense of employees, especially those in entry-level positions.
To accelerate and diversify their services, consulting firms are investing heavily in AI, gradually phasing out the practice of increasing headcount to drive business, particularly for routine tasks that emerging technology can handle.
For instance, Uniqus Consultech is raising $10 million from its partners to expand into technology consulting. “Our business measurement is not solely based on the number of partners and directors but on how quickly we can increase revenues without adding headcount,” said Jamil Khatri, co-founder and CEO of Uniqus.
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As consulting firms adopt AI for routine tasks, several employees, especially those performing tasks that can be automated, will need to upgrade their skills.
Uniqus offers a free AI assistant for financial reporting and ESG functions to its clients and the public. It also has a tech platform for ESG data management and reporting. According to Khatri, the consulting firm’s greenhouse gas accounting platform also employs AI.
Global consulting firm Deloitte is also using AI to improve productivity and ensure regulatory compliance. Nitin Kini, chief operating officer of Deloitte South Asia, stated that embracing AI and generative AI (GenAI) is a key growth area for the firm, with nearly half of the company’s professionals having engineering and technology backgrounds.
However, Kini emphasized that this is accompanied by upskilling the firm’s employees to work with emerging technologies. “While acknowledging the transformative impact of AI on job dynamics, we firmly believe in the irreplaceable value of human expertise. Accordingly, we are prioritizing investments in reskilling and upskilling initiatives to equip our people for the evolving landscape,” said Kini.
Delivering more with less
The tax function of consulting firms is a suitable use case for AI. Industry experts have observed that while audit teams traditionally comprised only chartered accountants, professionals with technology backgrounds are increasingly being recruited.
Tax functions typically involve analyzing large volumes of documents and data related to law, regulations, court rulings, contracts, and financial information. According to industry executives, this time-consuming process can be accelerated and improved by using GenAI.
Pratik Jain, a partner at PwC India, said that tasks like document search, summarization, or analysis can be done seamlessly using GenAI. This efficiency saves time and enables users to focus on value-added activities.
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Suraj Nangia, managing partner at Nangia Andersen LLP, takes it a step further, asserting that AI is set to revolutionize the consulting landscape by enabling high-level cognitive processes, including problem-solving and decision-making.
“Nangia-Andersen has been proactively exploring leveraging AI-based systems of text analytics in collaboration with an AI solution provider, which would help in prediction and monitoring of audit compliances,” said Nangia. “This will reduce man hours invested in ensuring tax audits and regulatory compliances, and enable real-time monitoring of compliances within an audit cycle.”
