In the hushed world of strategy and technology consulting, a revolution is underway. It makes no noise, but it profoundly reshapes the relationships between companies, their data, and intelligence. This revolution is that of AI agents—autonomous systems capable of reasoning, planning, memorizing, and interacting to accomplish complex tasks, far beyond simple chatbots or assistants.
According to CB Insights, the AI agent market generated over $10 billion in 2024, a figure expected to double in 2025. Faced with this transformation, consulting firms must ask themselves: what happens to their business model when their clients have direct access to automated expertise?
From Consulting to Technology Orchestration
The first response from consulting firms is strategic: orchestrate technologies, rather than simply recommend them. The integration of AI agents into business workflows—often hindered by technical complexity, security, and vendor fragmentation—becomes the new playing field for the Big Four.
EY, for example, deploys its own agents via the EY.ai platform, developed with Nvidia, for use in taxation, risk management, and finance. KPMG offers its Workbench, a multi-agent architecture governed by an Agent Control System. Accenture goes even further with its AI Refinery, combining no-code agents, SDKs, and multi-platform orchestration systems.
Building the Agentic Technology Stack
In this new era, consulting firms position themselves at both ends of the value chain: designing what agents should do, and ensuring what they have done. The emphasis is on orchestration: it’s no longer just about “plugging in” an AI tool, but mastering the complete architecture, from infrastructure to governance.
CB Insights identifies four strategic priorities for professional services:
Orchestration of the AI agent technology stack
Activation of proprietary data
Transformation of services into scalable AI products
Building a human-agentic workforce
Agentic AI, Catalyst for a New Ecosystem
The landscape is no longer made up of 1:1 relationships between firms and technology providers. An interoperable ecosystem model is emerging. Accenture collaborates with OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, and Cohere simultaneously. EY combines its sector expertise with IBM’s AI to build specialized agents in taxation.
Partnerships extend to the software layer (Salesforce, SAP, Workday), cloud infrastructures (Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure), and next-generation AI/ML platforms (Voltron Data, Aaru, LlamaIndex, etc.).
Governance and Reliability: The Friction Zone
AI agents are powerful, but still imperfect. Their errors—hallucinations, drift, non-deterministic behaviors—generate immediate business risk. In response, a new “agentic governance” industry is developing. Startups like Cekura, Coval, and Larridin are raising millions to offer observability solutions, voice testing, or performance measurement.
Firms that integrate this reliability layer into their offerings will gain a competitive edge.
The Key Asset: Proprietary Data
In this war of agents, the difference lies in the quality and exploitation of data. Consulting firms possess an invaluable asset: thousands of documented projects, sector-specific corpuses, and accumulated tacit expertise.
Deloitte speaks of “knowledge of backend processes across thousands of clients,” a source of strong differentiation. EY takes the concept further with its “AI-ready data flywheel,” combining synthetic data, data products, and consent frameworks.
Toward Services Transformed into AI Products
The transformation is not limited to internal operations. Firms are now seeking to “productize” their expertise. Gone are one-off engagements, replaced by platforms. EY uses its Agentic Platform not only for its own teams, but also as an engine for packaged services for clients.
Deloitte has partnered with HPE to create specialized agents in finance. Accenture is co-developing with L’Oréal an “AI Beauty Trust Agent” for the personalized beauty market. The boundary between consulting and software is blurring.
New Business Models: Consulting in SaaS Mode
This transition pushes firms to rethink their monetization model. Some are testing usage-based or performance-based pricing. The startup Gruve.ai, for example, only charges when its agents detect incidents or create measurable value. Accenture is also exploring this path with Ecolab.
But challenges persist: variable costs (API, compute), difficulty proving value, confusion with traditional automation. A consensus is emerging: hybridize models, test, iterate.
Reinventing the Consultant’s Role
The agentic revolution doesn’t just disrupt services, it redefines professions. The traditional pyramidal model (junior/senior/partner) is inverting. Automation of repetitive tasks reduces the need for juniors. The typical profile sought: creative, curious, adaptable talents with comfort in managing agents.
KPMG now speaks of “agent bosses”: professionals capable of designing, directing, and orchestrating hybrid human+AI teams. EY, for its part, has trained over 240,000 employees in generative AI via its EYQ tool.
A Human/Agent Co-Evolution
Contrary to fears, AI doesn’t eliminate humans—it shifts them. Salesforce describes its agents as 24/7 collaborators who free up time for strategic missions. Palantir insists on the need for “mixed teams,” combining human supervision and automated execution.
Value doesn’t come from the number of agents, but from their effective orchestration in complex ecosystems.
The Example of AI-Native Startups
Startups like Lovable or Anysphere are leading the way. With fewer than 50 employees, they generate over $2M in revenue per employee, thanks to systemic use of AI. Their organization, without heavy hierarchy, allows them formidable velocity and efficiency. This model foreshadows what high-performing companies will converge toward.
A New Frontier: Humanoid Robots
The next step? Physical agents. In 2025, the humanoid robot developer market is attracting the most investment in tech, ahead of voice or legal AI agents. CB Insights anticipates that firms will need to help their clients integrate these entities into their operational flows. Managing a hybrid human/agent/robot workforce becomes a key challenge.
Toward a New Role for Consulting Firms
This role is no longer limited to consulting. Firms are becoming architects, integrators, trainers, guarantors of compliance and trust. They no longer just sell strategy, but the ability to master algorithmic autonomy in critical environments.
What’s Really at Stake
Behind the tools, platforms, and architectures, a new work culture is emerging. A culture where human expertise doesn’t disappear, but reinvents itself. Where value is no longer in analysis, but in orchestration. Where consulting firms, far from being obsolete, become catalysts for transformation.
