Should you be hiring a consultant in the AI Era?

Today, Chat-GPT writes better quality code than a mid-senior level developer. You can ask Gemini how to create a Flow in Salesforce. Salesforce will soon make Einstein for Flows publicly available, which automatically builds a flow in Salesforce based on your description of the business process.

You can ask any technical question to any of today's advanced LLMs on technologies like Salesforce, AWS, SAP, WordPress, or databases. They will give you a technically accurate answer, often even better and more technically correct than a consultant you would hire for that technology.

So, wouldn't this advanced AI and LLM make consultancy services obsolete?

Let's ask ourselves some fundamental questions and understand how advanced AI models and LLMs impact consultancy services.

Why does a company hire a consultancy?

A few technical reasons for hiring a consultant or a consultancy service can be:

1. Technical expertise: The company wants technical expertise about a particular topic or technology.

2. Objective View: The company wants an objective view of the technology and how it can help their business.

3. Implementation Help: The company requires implementation help.

However, on a fundamental level, a company always hires a consultancy service for four main reasons:

1. Focus on core operations: Companies usually prefer to focus on their core operations and strategic priorities. It is economically and operationally beneficial for them to outsource specialized or non-core tasks to an expert.

2. Experience and expertise: As humans, we often seek mentoring from others who have walked a similar path to deal with our problems. This also applies to an organization, especially when they are dealing with a new business problem or going through a structural or operational change. Consultants bring their experience of dealing with similar business challenges for other companies in the past.

3. Industry best practices: Consultants bring knowledge of industry best practices and benchmarking data from other companies and sectors, helping businesses adopt proven strategies and avoid common pitfalls.

4. An neutral outside eye: Last but not least, many times companies need to deal with controversial situations driven by emotions and politics. Consultants prove to be a neutral entity that can rationally judge the situation and provide unbiased solutions based on fundamental information, best practices, and situational knowledge.

Though AI can be technically smart and help you with technical implementations, it can not replace the a consultant at fundamental level.

Does that mean there will be no impact of AI on consultancy businesses? Let's try to understand.

How will AI and LLMs change the consultancy services business?

1. Data Analytics and Trends Identification: Business and customer data are at the core of any business. Analyzing this data and deriving valuable insights have always been tough challenges for humans. Today's AI tools can easily analyze high volumes of data and identify patterns and trends that help consultants and businesses make transformative changes.
   

2. Automating Repetitive and Mundane Tasks: Let's take the example of Einstein for Flows. Rather than taking away the job of a Salesforce admin or consultant, Einstein will make them more productive by removing the mundane efforts of building a flow from scratch. They can now focus purely on ensuring that the new business process they are setting up fulfills business needs and adheres to industry standards.
   

3. Saving Time Wasted Due to Human Errors and Bugs: AI-powered tools can automatically identify and correct errors in code, documents, and processes. AI can run code analysis to find bugs and suggest fixes, reducing the time consultants spend debugging.
   

4. Quality Assurance and Testing: AI-driven testing tools can automate repetitive testing processes, ensuring comprehensive coverage and consistent quality. This reduces the likelihood of bugs slipping through and minimizes the need for manual testing.
   

5. Proactive Monitoring and Alerts: Your systems will be more robust and stable. As consultants set up the foundation and ensure that a high-quality system is built for your organization, AI tools can be leveraged for continuous monitoring and ensuring the safety of your system. AI can continuously monitor your user operations and security logs, warning you in advance if you are about to make a change that might result in system failure.
   

6. Enhanced Collaboration Tools: AI-powered collaboration platforms can improve communication and coordination among team members, reducing errors caused by miscommunication and ensuring everyone is on the same page. It will enable global companies to have personalized training and documentation across the globe in regional languages at a click.

Conclusion

Advanced AI tools and LLMs are surely going to bring transformative changes to the consultancy services business, just like in any other industry. However, at the same time, AI is nowhere near taking away the need for a human consultant for fundamental reasons such as people skills, experience, contextual business understanding, and the ability to comprehend emotional, political, and sentimental needs.

AI will open up new opportunities for consultants, making them more efficient and productive. AI will soon give birth to a new breed of consultants who will come with solid industry expertise, the ability to understand and interpret AI-generated insights, leverage the technology to build AI-powered solutions, and deliver results for their customers.