Why Consulting’s New Era is Opening Doors for Agile Boutiques

By Ramone Param, Managing Director, Kennedy Consult and M&A I Advisor to Consulting Leaders, Buyers/Investors I M&A, Strategic Advisory and Benchmarking

My colleagues at Kennedy Intelligence highlight that the industry for traditional global services continues its decline phase. Growth remains stalled, consolidation has slowed, and AI is decimating the billable hours partnership model where hours are all that's being sold. Against this backdrop, Consulting’s New Era is Opening Doors for Agile Boutiques, giving smaller firms the chance to move faster where large players cannot.

This slowdown is most pronounced among large, established firms weighed down by scale, legacy structures, and overexposure to yesterday’s tech-enabled offerings. We expect those large players that are agile to transition will find successes in the new era, but the opportunities may be easier to grasp for the innovative boutique consultancy.

The next wave of consulting growth won’t come from bolting “new offerings” onto old models. It will be built on focused integrated value propositions, which leverage new business models that boutiques can more easily reconfigure to.

Source: Kennedy Intelligence

Why Agile Boutiques Are Well Positioned

As global players defend fading models, boutiques have the ability to specialize and more quickly reinvent their consulting firm for success from the ground up with:

• Specialization Over Scale: Clients no longer want generic “big bet” programs. They want sharp, technical, and sector-specific expertise. Boutiques can deliver precise capabilities that cut through broad-stroke transformation talk.

• Proprietary, Data-Led Offerings: Boutiques can anchor their niches with proprietary research and AI-enabled IP - developing insights and benchmarks larger firms cannot replicate at speed.

• Agile Talent Models: Free from legacy pyramids, boutiques are adopting diamond-shaped delivery teams: senior leaders and advisors, supported by managers enabled by AI tools and specialist contractors. Flexible, reconfigured blended models could outperform the scale-first structures of incumbents, that are under pressure to continue layoffs presenting hiring opportunities of specialist talent for focused boutiques.

• Client Proximity & Trust: Trusted relationships will remain the consulting client currency and continue to be underpinned by specialist advice. Boutiques can thrive on senior expert relationships, where agility and accountability will further outweigh large brand names alone.

For boutiques on a value creation journey, GenAI is already being seen as a force multiplier:

• Automates low-value work, freeing scarce talent for strategic engagement.

• Enables small teams to deliver at the scale of much larger firms.

• Powers productized offerings - dashboards, diagnostics, and benchmarks - packaged as ongoing value, not one-off projects.

Key Takeaway: Why Consulting’s New Era is Opening Doors for Agile Boutiques

Large firms may struggle to shed their old skin. Boutiques can seize the breakout phase by being:

• More focused in where they compete

• More innovative in monetizing value from pricing

• More agile in structuring talent

Widespread disruption of consulting’s AI era will create opportunity for the agile boutique.

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This article is written 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, including analysis from AI tools - which have not all been verified, reviewed or approved. The views and opinions expressed 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.

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