Working at top consulting firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain & Company is a dream for many business school graduates, and it’s not hard to see why. Rapid career growth, diverse learning opportunities, high salaries and access to high-level decision-makers, make consulting truly a global profession. Yet, there are challenges.
Redefining the consultant’s role
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the consulting industry rapidly and redefining how consultants are delivering insights, strategy, solutions, and ROI for clients. The consulting business model is shifting from just people-based to talent plus AI-powered software, as consultancies are leveraging their knowledge, IP, and deep expertise into software products that can be recurring revenue streams on top of the human-led experience they provide to clients. Tasks that once took days or even weeks to do can now be executed within a matter of minutes.
“Most of the large, reputed consulting houses have either begun deploying or are piloting AI agents built on large language models to support research, test logical flow of arguments, and even writing in the organisation’s signature style,” said Soumyakanti Chakraborty, professor, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. “This shift means management consulting is increasingly going to be less about human headcount and more about humans augmented by smart AI tools,” he added.
Traditionally, junior consultants or managers did the heavy lifting i.e. crunching spreadsheets, running regressions, and generating decks. Today, AI is doing this faster, more reliably, and at scale.
Evolution of Business School Education
It is no secret that consulting firms are now using generative AI to scan regulatory filings, competitor earnings calls, and customer reviews within hours, tasks that earlier consumed weeks of analyst time, said Rajendra Kumar Srivastava, Novartis professor of marketing strategy & innovation, Indian School of Business (ISB).
Few questions arise. Will AI replace management consultants? What does it mean for business school graduates? Are the business schools recalibrating their curriculum to keep pace with advancements in technologies? “Thanks to the innovation capabilities of humankind, the world undergoes a transformational phase every few decades, and the rise of AI is one of those phases that the world is witnessing at present,” said Bharat Bhasker, director, IIM Ahmedabad.
“In the consulting field, AI will help to simplify some of the time-consuming and routine tasks like data collection and preliminary analysis so that consultants spend more time in building effective strategies. AI can also enhance the capability of the consultants by providing them with large data sets from a wide range of sources,” Bhasker said. “AI and data analytics are already an integral part of our academic offerings, and we continue to expand our portfolio. The number of courses in this domain has been consistently growing across our flagship two-year and one-year MBA programmes, as well as our PhD programme,” he informed.
At its core, the role of a consultant is about solving complex problems. They work with organisations to understand their challenges and develop strategies to address them. According to Sumit Sarawgi, India head, Oliver Wyman, management consultants are hired for various reasons – to provide objective advice, to help implement change, to bring in expertise-based critical thinking to management problem solving. “AI will impact the management consulting industry positively by making some of the relatively repeatable skill jobs more efficient or automated, thereby allowing consultants to spend time on the real reasons why clients hire them,” he said.
Interestingly, this view is also reflected in the workforce at large. A recent IBM report found that 89% of consulting buyers expect consulting services to incorporate AI for improvement results, and as many as two-thirds will stop working with providers that don’t. “AI-enabled tools and assistants help service delivery become quicker through automating routine tasks such as data analysis, financial modelling, and performance tracking. Organisational leaders expect consultants to tackle complex challenges, accelerate outcomes, and deliver with utmost precision,” said Rishi Aurora, managing partner, IBM Consulting India and South Asia.
According to Chakraborty, AI will not wipe out management consultants but it will surely reshape how work is done and which skills are valued. There will be fewer repetitive tasks, so entry-level jobs will evolve. Hiring is likely to become more selective and skills focussed. “The repeat tasks that are often given to fresh graduates will be increasingly automated, so recruiters will look for graduates who can combine AI fluency with judgment and client skills,” he said.
Indian graduates entering consulting jobs can leverage AI for research, but it is their ability to frame insights aligned with the aspirations of growth-hungry Indian companies that creates real differentiation, said Srivastava at ISB. Business schools must teach students to integrate AI-driven insights with human creativity, ambition, wisdom, and purpose. “We also need to focus on critical and systems thinking so students can explore solutions for the future, not just dwell on solutions from the past,” he summarised.
