Knock Knock: Is Consultancy Dying?
Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there? AI. And it’s not here to play—it’s here for your job. The consulting industry, especially the Big Four (Ernst & Young, PwC, Deloitte, and KPMG), has long dominated the corporate advisory world. But now, a new competitor is quietly moving through the corridors of their clients: OpenAI and other big tech players. The consulting model we knew may soon become obsolete, and AI-driven infrastructure could take its place.
The Big Four and Their Crumbling Stronghold
For much of modern business history, the Big Four consulting firms have held near-monopoly status. Their brand names symbolized trust, credibility, and a proven ability to solve problems at scale. When Fortune 500 companies needed restructuring, audits, digital transformation, or global expansion strategies, they called on the Big Four. These firms built massive networks of professionals across the globe and charged premium rates for expertise that seemed irreplaceable.
But cracks are starting to appear in that fortress. The internet has democratized knowledge. What once required access to specialized frameworks and expensive consultants is now available in articles, case studies, and even AI chat interfaces. Instead of paying millions for generic “best practice” roadmaps, companies can increasingly access smarter, faster, and cheaper insights generated by artificial intelligence.
The real issue is not just the availability of information but the speed and scale at which AI operates. A human consultant might take weeks to analyze a company’s operations, interview employees, and build a recommendation deck. An AI can process years of data in minutes, identify inefficiencies, and suggest workflow improvements in real time. This makes the traditional consultancy offering look painfully slow, expensive, and outdated.
OpenAI and the New Model of Consultancy
OpenAI isn’t entering consultancy in the traditional sense—it’s rewriting the rules. Instead of providing advice and leaving companies to execute, it embeds AI into the very fabric of business operations. Its consulting arm doesn’t come cheap, with entry points of $10 million and above. That price tag signals something important: this isn’t about quick AI experiments or proof-of-concepts. It’s about deep, structural integration.
Clients at this level don’t just get a slide deck. They get onsite engineers who redesign workflows, build custom AI systems, and directly connect those systems to the company’s most critical processes. Finance, supply chain, customer support, product development—every core function can be infused with AI-driven automation. Once installed, these systems don’t just guide decisions—they run them.
This model goes far beyond traditional consulting. The Big Four historically operated like advisors or mentors: they suggested what should be done, and clients decided whether to follow through. OpenAI and other tech giants, by contrast, operate like architects and builders. They don’t just propose solutions—they construct them and ensure they become indispensable.
From Advice to Control
Consulting has always been about expertise. Companies would bring in advisors to provide an outside perspective, review operations, and suggest optimizations. The premise was: “Tell us your problems, and we’ll guide you toward solutions.” But AI changes that equation. Today, machines can already “know” more about your industry, regulations, and operational best practices than most human advisors. The need for external wisdom is becoming commoditized.
What replaces it? Control. The new battleground is not in what you know but in what you build and operate. When AI tools are deeply integrated into business workflows, they don’t just advise; they execute. They become the central nervous system of the company. Remove them, and the organization collapses.
Think of it like electricity. Early businesses could theoretically function without it, but once it became integrated into every aspect of operations, it became impossible to remove. The same logic applies to AI-driven workflow control. Once these systems power your customer service, accounting, and product pipelines, you can’t simply switch back to manual processes.
This represents a profound shift in the relationship between consultant and client. Traditional consultants offered guidance and left the client in control. AI-driven consultancy offers infrastructure that the provider controls. That dependency creates enormous power asymmetry. If OpenAI “owns” the workflow, it effectively puppeteers the business from behind the scenes.
The Blurring Line Between Software and Consultancy
For years, consultancy and software were seen as complementary but separate worlds. Consultants analyzed problems and recommended tools, while software companies built the tools. Now, those lines are dissolving. Big tech firms aren’t content with being software providers—they’re becoming consultants by default, because their products are so deeply embedded in business processes.
Instead of buying a piece of software and hiring consultants to adapt it, companies increasingly receive an all-in-one package: strategy, implementation, and execution, all tied together by AI. And unlike human consultants, these systems don’t just hand off recommendations—they keep running 24/7, constantly learning and improving.
This shift threatens to make consultancy irrelevant in its current form. The Big Four still try to sell AI strategies as if strategies are the value. But strategies are now cheap, even free. What matters is who writes the code, who builds the workflow, and who maintains the infrastructure. That’s where the real power lies.
Tech companies understand this. They’re not pitching roadmaps or theories. They’re embedding AI into the bloodstream of businesses, ensuring long-term dependence. Once that dependency is established, switching providers becomes nearly impossible. This creates moats far deeper than any Big Four framework ever could.
The consultancy of tomorrow may not be called consultancy at all. It may simply be infrastructure, delivered and controlled by a handful of tech giants.
Conclusion
So, when will consultancy die? There won’t be a single date or headline announcing its end. Instead, it will fade slowly, replaced by something that looks different but serves the same purpose—guiding and shaping businesses. But unlike the past, where humans offered advice, the future belongs to systems that build, integrate, and control.
The old model of advisory-first consultancy is already being hollowed out. Companies no longer pay for slides—they pay for workflows that run their businesses. And once those workflows are controlled by big AI providers, traditional consulting firms may find themselves obsolete.
Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there? AI. Who’s coming? Coming for your job, bro.
Let’s get to know each other!