Source: IDC Blog

Companies around the world have recognized the transformative force that is Artificial Intelligence (AI). With almost every business looking for ways to implement generative AI and a shortage of AI experts to lead the implementation, AI consultants are more sought after than ever.

Guiding Companies into the Generative AI Era

AI, more precisely generative AI is a fairly young technology that has done wonders for companies that have embraced and implemented it. From saving time to increased productivity, to more efficient services, AI has proven its ability to elevate business operations.

Additionally, the disruption caused by generative AI is universal. For instance, according to an Ernest Young report, Upenn reported a 50% time reduction for accountants, auditors, and tax preparers on most tasks. MIT also registered a 44% time saving in professional writing tasks whereas Microsoft reduced programming time by 55% courtesy of AI.

At this point, companies are no longer wondering whether or not to apply generative AI to their products, services, or operation. Instead, they are wondering where to start and how to safely implement the technology so as to reap its benefits.

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Since most companies lack the technical know-how, this is where consultants become valuable. Consulting companies play an instrumental role in driving massive change and innovation in companies.

With the rise of generative AI, these consultants have had to hold the hands of companies as they work toward adopting generative AI. This has created a massive increase in demand for such consulting services and companies have risen to the task of either developing the solution or offering a working strategy on how to integrate the technology.

In order to get a head start on generative AI application development, Aflac U.S. insurer’s chief information officer and senior vice president, Shelia Anderson, said she is looking to outside experts. This is while the company creates its own internal team and resources.

Anderson said:

“Having our own dedicated team requires investment and time to hire, train, and retain skilled professionals. [External consulting companies] allow us to leverage external expertise on an as-needed basis as part of our ongoing strategy, bringing outside-in perspectives, creative mindsets, and surge capacity as necessary.”

Aflac is far from the only massive corporation in need of skilled AI consultants.

Generative AI Consultants Prepare the Way

IBISWorld, a research company, projects that the U.S. IT consulting market will expand 4% from last year to $665.9 billion this year. This marks an increase from the 2% average annual growth rate seen over the previous five years.

So far, the largest providers in the market for IT consulting services have been Dell Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CGI Group. Other companies have also been structuring themselves to tap into the growing demand.

Accenture, a titan of the IT consulting industry, recently announced a $3 billion investment over three years to expand its data and AI practice. Accenture aims to quadruple its AI team to about 80,000 employees through a combination of hiring, acquisitions, and training.

A few days after Accenture’s announcement, Amazon, through its cloud division, AWS, announced the launch of a $100 million program to pair its AI and machine learning professionals with businesses wishing to develop strategies around generative AI technologies.

Through this initiative, AWS is hoping to offer guidance as well as technical expertise to its clients. The company stated that the program was born out of an increase in AI consulting services hence clients and businesses that inquired will be catered to first, before the program is opened for other businesses.

A similar move has also been made earlier this year by accounting firm PWC, which has invested $1 billion in generative AI over the next three years across its U.S. operations. With this investment, the company is looking to seeking to automate aspects of its tax, audit, and consulting services.

Despite the increased interest in integrating generative AI, companies are being very cautious with their approach and objectives. According to JPMorgan, companies are starting with less complex tasks such as reducing customer service bottlenecks through things like call centers, where businesses have honed large-language models with their own proprietary data.

This trend is, however, bound to change as the more cautious businesses will be willing to follow the early adopters’ lead by 2027 or so. As a result, AI “could expand dramatically and exponentially,” predicts JPMorgan, and things such as hyper-personalized media and robot personal assistants become commonplace.

Regardless, getting started is still a difficult and costly part for the majority of businesses. The typical corporate IT network is simply too chaotic to serve as the raw material for generative AI, especially since no one can foresee or even understand what it will do with the data. For this reason, many businesses need AI consultants.

Some businesses, especially small ones, may be able to teach themselves how to best implement technology with the help of the internet and educational videos like this:

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