Especially Gen-AI? For the longest time, the doctor couldn’t understand why so many Big X consultancies were training so many “consultants” on AI, especially Gen-AI. Most of their junior “consultants” can’t even use advanced functionality in today’s analytics applications (as you need advanced degrees in mathematics, computer science, data science, and/or Operations Research to do so) or deliver significant value on traditional analytics and advisory projects relative to the price they charge (unless they are being led by a more senior person with the analytics knowledge and real-world experience). (Read our previous articles and comments on where this talent ends up [which is typically not a Big X] and where these Big X firms offer unparalleled value [and where you should be using Big X].)
But it was recently all made clear to me. These consultants, who struggle with basic projects (as reflected in the high tech failure rates they are regularly a part of as the typical first choice for a third party implementation team when the vendor does not provide them adequate training and support on the platform they are implementing), are barely up to doing the work (as they are usually straight out of school with no real world experience or deep knowledge of anything not taught in a textbook MBA program), and definitely not up to doing strategic engagements out of the gate!
However, with companies wanting to rapidly digitize across the board (which they need to, but, not all digitization requirements should have equal priority), they need strategic advice and direction, and these firms just don’t have enough senior consultants to handle all the engagements and, most importantly, do the work required to put those book-sized briefs and presentations together.
But the one thing Gen-AI can do is take in millions of pages of strategic plans and presentations, take in instructions of what is desired, then generate pages of text from bits and pieces of these historical plans and presentations for each instruction, amalgamate them all together, and produce a detailed report and presentation that they can present to the client. And do this in a few hours under the guidance of a junior analyst with a (Gen-) AI playbook! Then all the senior person has to do is a quick tweak and review!
We’re not joking! The crazy thing is, with so much free material on the internet, with a little bit of elbow grease, and some very creative prompt engineering, you can do this yourself. And someone on LinkedIn already showed you how — giving you this information for FREE in this LinkedIn article. (And should that article disappear, here’s a link to the author’s article on his site.)
So now you know. It’s not about getting you better results (which may or may not happen, every project is different), it’s to give them the ability to take on more projects that they wouldn’t otherwise have the manpower to do.
And if you really want good results, note that you can always hire a real strategic senior consultant from a specialist niche consultancy who often won’t be on multiple projects at the same time, and who can give the insights you need without wasting trees printing out book sized presentations for you. After al, relative to the value the right consultant will bring, Consultants are Cheap and, in our space, the key to Affordable RFPs!