By Nathan Simon, Partner at Kennedy Intelligence - Consulting Industry's Trusted Partner for Research and Advisory Services. I Co-Author the Consulting Navigator.
We are currently advising leadership teams of major global consulting firms on how the industry is changing and what to consider in 2025 on the basis of our pulse on latest consulting industry drivers. One of the ways we at Kennedy Intelligence assess what is driving consulting markets is through our extensive engagement with consulting buyers those spending on consulting services within clients of consultancies. This enables us to uniquely understand their overall appetite for consulting services, enabling us continuous proprietary intelligence on the latest demands for consulting services, the results of which we report in the Kennedy Consulting Index (KCI). The KCI is a diffusion index computed based on buyers’ plans to expand or contract their consulting spending.
During the Covid years, the KCI peaked in 2021 before declining modestly in 2022. At the same time, uncertainty increased as buyer spending plans diverged, with some sustaining relatively high spending growth while others retrenched. We have observed historically that higher spending uncertainty usually presages a change in trend.
Over the past two years, a new consulting spending trend emerged. Not only did buyers report plans to substantially restrict their spending growth, but they also were much more consistent in their plans. This declining uncertainty surrounding the growth trend tells us the new trend is more than just a reaction to the Covid spending boom. Something else is going on that has re-anchored consulting demand.
We believe 2021 marked the peak of a two-decade-long cycle of consulting demand driven by digitization and the explosion of private capital.
If you’re interested in learning more about our views on this new normal for consulting and discussing the latest consulting industry intelligence that Kennedy Intelligence is monitoring and analyzing in the context of your own strategic objectives, please get in touch.
Please note: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. The intelligence has been gathered from a variety of public and non-publicly available sources. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of any affiliate organization.
Any opinions or views expressed are as of the date written and are subject to change without notice and may be updated or modified at any time.
