Explore every episode of the podcast The Future of the Firm

Source’s CEO, Fiona Czerniawska, and Director of Market Trends, Catherine Anderson, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content, on the latest episode of The Future of the Firm to discuss trends and opportunities for consulting firms in 2025. 

Fiona and Catherine share their insights on the following matters and more: 

• They predict increased demand for technology, risk, and HR & change work—although this may come from different areas of the business to where you might expect. 

• Clients may initially be interested in AI for specific point solutions, but these will open their eyes to the wider possibilities of the technology. Firms should therefore be quick to jump on these early windows of opportunity. 

• The end of last year saw client sentiment shift towards growth after a long period of caution and cost cutting. We discuss why this is the case and how firms can best support clients with their ambitions. 

• Clients are looking for firms that understand them and their industry but can also bring consulting expertise that offers them a new perspective. They don’t want to be given teams they have to train themselves or firms that offer a cookie-cutter approach. 

• Fifty-eight percent of clients expect fee rates to decline, but this could be a case of wishful thinking. We also discuss how clients are responding to the idea of outcomes-based pricing. 

• Fiona and Catherine discuss their predictions for consulting in ten years’ time, including a shift from pure advisory to more delivery-focused work and an evolution of traditional consulting firms into technology firms. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Benjamin Samuels, Former Chief Revenue Officer at WeWork, about navigating growth and change.  

Wavestone’s Neil Sharp, Head of Proposition and Go to Market, and Uta Niendorf, ExCom Member and Partner for Digital Customer in Germany, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

 Uta and Neil shared their insights on the following matters and more:   

• Data collection is central to producing seamlessly integrated touchpoints and creating a frictionless omnichannel experience. 

• Businesses should not just focus on aspects that deliver immediate revenues like sales and marketing, but also on after-sales and service—and crucially on the customer’s “moment of truth”. We discuss why.  

• In the current fast-changing business landscape it is important to have an energetic, agile business model that allows for trial and error in a controlled way. We explore what this looks like. 

• Empathy is at the heart of customer services, and while AI that delivers convincing and genuine empathy remains yet to be seen, emotional AI could be the next big thing. 

• Professional services firms are increasingly being asked to use AI to perform labour-intensive jobs that would traditionally have been carried out by junior consultants. 

• While technological advancements are rife in the consulting world, it ultimately remains a people business: Nurturing relationships will remain key to success. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Benjamin Samuels, Former Chief Revenue Officer at WeWork, about navigating growth and change.

Ryan Piper, Global CEO at Morison Global, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

Ryan and Fiona shared their insights on the following matters and more:   

• The impact of PE funding on the use of technology in audit firms, in particular looking at how AI can make an impact. 

• How the time horizons of PE deals have shifted to become more long term as a consequence of market volatility, and whether this shows any signs of changing. 

• The commoditisation of audit services, and how this leads to a greater emphasis on customer experience to differentiate firms. 

• Consolidation in the audit industry, and how firms globally are achieving growth and scale through mergers & acquisitions. 

• Practical advice for audit firms, including exploring funding options and understanding market positioning. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Benjamin Samuels, Former Chief Revenue Officer at WeWork, about navigating growth and change.  

David Blowers, Co-President of the Financial Advisory Practice at Kroll, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

David and Fiona shared their insights on the following matters and more:   

• While deals tend to drop off during more turbulent times, it all comes down the quality of the asset. If corporates are laser focused on a really good asset, it will get done despite market conditions—and this is something that will persist.  

• David and Fiona share their views on the performance of the deals market in the last 18 months, including drivers and predictions.  

• While AI is the technology everyone is talking about, it is a proxy for overall efficiency gains. Looking beyond just AI to focus on the technology that is the right fit for the client will yield the best results in the long term. 

• The professional services market is bifurcating into two streams, with commoditised work in one direction and innovation in another. Likewise, half of the market is striving to be more technology-led, while the other half is focusing more on people. 

• The importance of using a period of crisis to your advantage, for instance taking the opportunity to pull back on hiring, invest, and evolve to be ready for future opportunities. 

• The big mistakes that firms could make, including trying to approach clients with a one-size-fits-all solution rather than listening to their needs and talking about the issues that resonate.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Benjamin Samuels, Former Chief Revenue Officer at WeWork, about navigating growth and change.  

Alison Grigg and Kerry Grigg, Managing Partners at Multiple Group, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

Alison, Kerry, and Fiona shared their insights on the following matters and more:   

• The dangers of social washing and how demographic change is driving increased accountability, as the younger generations expect businesses to deliver on the ESG promises they’re making. 

• The mistakes firms could be making, such as assuming that good leadership happens overnight and not doing enough work to embed social value throughout all areas of the business. 

• The importance of assessing learning agility during recruitment and in performance reviews, to both foster an adaptable workplace and to give your employees the tools to carry them through life. 

• The four generational “tribes” and how they approach the workplace, and every facet of their lives, differently. 

• Practical takeaways for firms to implement, such as focusing on communication and getting to know your team. 

• The extent to which consulting firms should consider and be held accountable for the intended and unintended human consequences of the changes they implement in a business.  

• The importance of bringing not just a financial and business impact lens to big decisions, for instance headcount reductions, but also considering the intended and unintended social impact risks that might occur as a consequence. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Sam Samaratunga, Global Head of Risk Services at PwC, about the future of the risk services market.  

Sam Samaratunga, Global Head of Risk Services at PwC, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Sam and Fiona shared their insights on the following matters and more:  

• Many clients think their leaders aren’t quick enough to respond, but Sam stresses the importance of taking risks intelligently and making decisions with confidence.  

• PwC’s annual risk survey found that 44% of CEOs believe their organisation won’t be economically viable if they carry on along their current economic path. We discuss the need to change, adapt, and reinvent. 

• Sam takes us through the four layers of risk services—from macroeconomic risks through to crisis management. 

• GenAI is improving productivity, decision making, and client and employee engagement—but it brings with it threats as well as opportunities. We discuss what these might look like in the risk space. 

• Data analysis is important, but it is only as good as the quality of data available. We consider the importance of combining proprietary and external data to support decision making.  

• Making use of ecosystems and working in a joined-up way is not just beneficial for firms, but for clients too.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Benjamin Samuels, Former Chief Revenue Officer at WeWork, about navigating growth and change.  

Fiona Czerniawska, Source’s CEO and Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, discuss innovation in professional services firms, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

They discussed the following and more:  

• When clients think about the types of innovation they see from firms they talk about blue-sky thinking, best practices that they can apply in their organisation, and flexible ways of working.  

• If firms want to convince clients that they are innovative then they need to prove it rather than talk about it. A concrete example might include a small technology tool they’ve created or a solution to one, small pain point.  

• Innovation has fallen from the top of clients’ wish lists of the attributes they want to see in firms. They still think it is important, but have prioritised things like expertise and the ability to implement in 2024. We wouldn’t be surprised to see this rebound when growth hits the business agenda again.  

• “Tried and tested innovation” may not be innovation at all. And the value of innovation to a client can be eroded if firms roll the idea out more widely.  

• Managed services offerings have a tricky tightrope to walk between being innovative and tailored to each client versus being commercially viable for firms.  

• When clients talk about innovation, they often mean technology. Firms can help clients innovate fast with small-scale, quick tech wins, rather than large-scale, extended projects.  

This podcast can be listened to in conjunction with Source’s new publication, The Innovation Challenge, which takes a deeper dive into the subject and is available to subscribers of Source’s White Space programme. If you’d like to learn more, please get in touch. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Andy Haywood, former Chief Modernisation Officer of Yorkshire Water, about the recurring challenges in businesses that he’s experienced during his career.  

Fiona Czerniawska, Source’s CEO, and Margaret Cameron-Waller, Associate at Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast to discuss the thorny issue of whether consulting should be regulated. 

Fiona and Margaret shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• If regulation is needed, then there is a decision to be made about whether firms or individual consultants would be the target. We think about what these options would involve.  

• We consider what self-regulation looks like in the consulting industry today and what impact it is having. 

• The wide nature of consulting work would make it extremely difficult to regulate—we look at the other pros and cons. 

• There is an argument in favour of junior consultants going through a recognised qualification—we consider what this would entail. We also debate the need for CPD. 

• We conclude that the consulting scandals that hit the headlines are outliers rather than the tip of an iceberg or the sign of a systemic problem.  

• Firms should carry out satisfaction surveys with all clients, and this should include a question about the value created. We challenge firms to publish the results.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Andy Haywood, former Chief Modernisation Officer of Yorkshire Water, about the recurring challenges in businesses.  

Marna Ricker, Global Vice Chair for Tax at EY, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Marna and Fiona shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• Clients say that choosing where to start implementing AI in their tax operations is tricky. Something simple and repeatable is a good first target. We look at concrete examples across three, increasing levels of maturity. 

• Some of the big challenges that clients are facing include getting robust data in place, legality & ethics, and how to put together a business case for implementing AI. 

• Quantum computing is set to have a profound impact on tax, particularly around predictions and policy development. We consider what opportunities lie ahead. 

• We explore three areas where EY is reimaging tax services: compliance and reporting, advice, and new services. 

• Marna suggests that some tax services will never be carried out by AI, particularly ones where judgement is required. We consider what’s in and what’s out.  

• There continue to be talent and capacity challenges in tax services; we consider some solutions. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Jason Maude of Starling Bank about what a tech-first business wants from consulting firms.  

Greg Sarafin, Global Vice Chair, EY Partner Ecosystem, caught up with Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Greg and Fiona shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• Clients want firms to help them drive their business outcomes, and increasingly take joint responsibility for those outcomes. That includes bringing along the collective partners that are needed. 

• Partnering is the route to an outcome-based commercial model vs. the traditional product and services-based one.  

• The role of consulting firms is shifting from being the advisor to the orchestrator. We discuss how EY is approaching this globally.  

• Stakeholder value is created when clients move to a major platform as a service (PaaS) which is then strengthened by adding an orbiting ecosystem of smaller software businesses. 

• A journey lies ahead that will take AI from being a copilot to having agency. We discuss the opportunities and timeline.  

• Clients want to pay firms based on the value their ecosystems create. We explore what this means for fee models. 

• We finish by discussing how firmss may take their partner ecosystems to the next level. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Jason Maude of Starling Bank about what a tech-first business wants from consulting firms.  

Fresh from the publication of Source’s latest Quality Ratings of Thought Leadership report, Natasha Cambell, Principal Thought Leadership Consultant; Nicola Kostrzewska, Thought Leadership Consultant; and Emma Carroll, Head of Content, get together to debate today’s big thought leadership trends.

They also discuss exactly how firms can improve the differentiation, appeal, resilience, and action-driving capability of their material. 

Natasha and Nicola discuss the following matters and more:  

• Thought leadership has long been considered essential to driving awareness of a firm’s brand. However, Source’s research shows that it is also integral to the whole lifecycle of the firm-client relationship.  

• Thought leadership has come a long way since the one-time-only launch of the doorstop report, where 80% of investment and effort was put into producing the thought leadership and only 20% on activating it. A more even split is now needed.   

• Changing customer behaviours are shaping thought leadership. More content is being consumed on the move and clients want short, sharp resources. This is changing how thought leadership is produced and governed. Collaboration across a firm is key. 

• Though leadership quality scores are at their highest ever this year. “Challenger brands” have worked harder on all dimensions of quality, and against this background, appeal and resilience have started to become non-negotiable hygiene factors.   

• Thought leadership is distinguished from its “poorer relation” content marketing by a strong dataset. We look at what else sets it apart. 

• Prompting action is, once again, where thought leadership often falls short. Firms have some good ideas in this space but fail to apply them consistently.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Jason Maude of Starling Bank about what a tech-first business wants from consulting firms.  

Jon Brewer, CMO of global law firm Orrick and European President of the Legal Marketing Association, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Jon shared his insight on the following topics and more:  

• How the role of the CMO in legal services has evolved, including becoming an advisor to the CEO and being more campaign focused  

• The importance of building up a support network of peers 

• How CMOs can influence strategy if they don’t have a seat at the board table 

• Understanding your competition and adapting your value proposition in response 

• How to get ahead of your customers’ needs, including the demands of regulation 

• How to cut through with thought leadership in an era of digital distraction 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we talk to Simon Bumfrey of HSBC Innovation Banking about how to prioritise customer experience.  

Ismail Amla, Global Practice Leader at Kyndryl, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Ismail and Fiona shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• Demand for support with AI, new regulation, innovation, and sector-specific digital transformation are all driving growth in this consulting sector.   

• Clients are imagining new, cross-sector propositions. These will need new solutions from a technology point of view.  

• Clients are becoming more realistic about making good use of AI. They aren’t becoming less interested, but they realise it isn’t as easy as they thought at first. 

• There may be some interesting uses for AI around account management, particularly for clients that are working with multiple advisors. 

• There is a trend towards technology-first when it comes to consulting projects. We discuss what this will look like and how it is set to transform the professional services sector.  

• More mergers, acquisitions, or new partnerships may be on the cards between consulting firms, data companies, and platform providers. We look at what new entrants can add to partnerships and where firms are falling short with their ecosystems. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we talk to Simon Bumfrey of HSBC Innovation Banking about how to prioritise customer experience.  

Helen Tudor, MD of executive search organisation, Sheffield Haworth, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.

Helen and Fiona shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• There has been a decline in the proportion of female partners appointed, from 29% in 2022 to 26% in 2023. This is against the trend we’ve seen over the past 10-15 years.  

• Firms that hire female leaders from outside their direct competitors and similar organisations achieve greater diversity.  

• In a difficult economic environment, firms want senior hires that can hit the ground running and are less likely to take risks on people who don’t have all the requisite skills or those that will need more investment. 

• Clients themselves are looking to work with more diverse consulting teams.  

• Current employers of strong female candidates will work hard to keep them, and low salary offers (even in the current environment) won’t be accepted. 

• Firms look for people with strong networks, and this can prove a problem for some non-consulting candidates, including those in industry and people who have been out of the market for a while. 

• During restructures, redundancy criteria can inadvertently result in high-potential people exiting. Firms should consider this carefully.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we debate whether organisations have pursued the cult of leadership to such an extent that they have forgotten how to manage.  

Richard Fleming, European Head of Restructuring at Alvarez & Marsal, and Margaret Cameron-Waller, Associate Consultant at Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

Richard and Margaret shared their insight on the following matters and more:  

• Hotspots for restructuring work currently include Germany, France, the UK and Nordics. When looking at sectors there’s activity in real estate, housebuilding, the automotive supply chain, and anything with a strong consumer focus. 
• Early signs of trouble are a drop off in demand, liquidity pressures, and a lack of financial discipline.  
• We discuss parallels between tech businesses that are in trouble today and those during the dot.com crisis, including the risk of large amounts of money being made readily available to creative, tech businesses where the financial acumen available in leadership teams doesn’t support the weight of the investment being made. 
• Changes in the restructuring market itself, including spinouts from the Big Four, and how this has affected clients and competition.  
• What clients are looking for when they choose a restructuring firm, including regulatory knowledge, restructuring creativity, great stakeholder management, reputation, the appropriate scale, and cost.  
• Plus, Richard shares his experience of restructuring a critical healthcare business just as COVID lockdowns hit.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we debate whether organisations have pursued the cult of leadership to such an extent that they have forgotten how to manage.

Alex Teytelboym, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Director of their Business Economics Programme, and Fiona Czerniawska, Founder & CEO at Source, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.

Alex and Fiona shared their insight on the following matters and more: 

• Climate change can be viewed as a failure of the market—in theory, this means that solving it could make everyone better off.
• Policy responses and regulation are lagging behind what is happening to the planet. It’s very difficult to predict how the risks will manifest, but they will be complex and unpredictable.
• Business leaders should think about climate change as being about operating in a complex and unpredictable environment. That means we need to build in resilience and redundancy.
• There is going to be a lot of creative destruction. Successful businesses need to innovate early and broadly, thinking about innovation in terms of a portfolio.
• Consultants need to talk to clients about the long-term view and about the real problems climate change poses—this can be counterintuitive to consultants who like to be optimistic and target near-term wins.
• Voluntary carbon markets and carbon offsets are potentially a terrible way for businesses to meet their climate goals. Regulation is not sufficient and there are reputational greenwashing risks attached.
• Carbon measurement should be simple, but there’s still a lot of difficulty measuring complex supply chains. The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is set to accelerate progress, and consulting firms will be in demand to help clients comply with this.  
• It’s going to be harder to be an average manager with so many different goals to meet. This means it is going to be even more difficult for businesses to incentivise their people appropriately.
• We used to think about climate change as a slow process, but that’s no longer true. To succeed in this space, businesses must move early and create a portfolio of innovations.
• Seventy-five percent of clients think that the way they are approaching sustainability needs to change.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we set out the big business challenges that clients say they’ll be facing in the year ahead. 

James Byles, Partner & UK AI Service Delivery Transformation Leader at Deloitte, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast. 

James shared his insight on the following matters and more:  

• Clients are asking questions about how firms are using AI themselves, including how they are dealing with risk, data, and adoption of this technology. 
• Use-case themes include search capability, data scanning, autonomous coding, and how to generate, analyse & report on data. 
• How the use cases in firms are set to translate into client services.  
• Tricky questions around the appropriate use of data. 
• How to empower people in your business to innovate around AI. 
• Thinking about the areas where AI is set to disrupt the professional services market. 
• Working out what the analyst of the future will look like and how that will impact pathways into the profession.  
• Identifying non-traditional competitors and how they may disrupt the market. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we set out the big business challenges that clients say they’ll be facing in the year ahead. 

As the age of the ubiquitous, AI-enabled organisation draws closer, leaders need to think differently about talent. New roles are emerging, existing ones becoming broader, and people across the board will need to be reskilled. We discuss how all this can be achieved by firms and their clients alike.   

Dr Gianluca Barletta, Global Head of Data Science at PA Consulting, and Fiona Czerniawska, Source’s CEO and Founder, join Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, for the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

They share their insight into the following issues and more:  

• Nobody knows exactly what the future will bring, so, when it comes to talent, organisations need to focus on resilience, readiness, and agility
• It is crucial to have your data foundation in place, to allow you to move beyond ‘proof of concept’, embrace AI, and scale at pace
• People will need to be reskilled. We discuss solutions, including AI academies and cultural change
• Fear can be a big barrier to delivering the talent piece around AI
• Everyone in an organisation now needs to be a data custodian. We examine what this looks like in practice
• What are the new roles we need as we ramp up AI? Clue: Beyond data scientists, there is a role for linguists, designers, and user experience experts
• How the concept of the T-shaped consultant is evolving, as knowledge needs to become broader, but clients are demanding more specialists

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we set out the big business challenges that clients say they’ll be facing in 2024.   

As we head into 2024, revenue growth is coming under pressure in professional services firms. In this podcast, experts at Source discuss the trends and challenges that will really matter in the year ahead, including which markets are set to grow, what clients are looking for from pricing, and how firms can’t risk letting customer experience fall off the leadership agenda.  

Fiona Czerniawska, Source’s CEO and Founder, and Margaret Cameron-Waller, Associate at Source, join Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, for the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast.  

They share their insight into the following issues and more: 

• Revenue growth for professional services firms came under pressure in Q3 2023, and this has continued into 2024.  
• Today’s market is patchy, and firms will have to select where they want to focus carefully. Technology, cybersecurity, and data & analytics will remain important.  
• Pricing is coming under pressure. There is some discounting taking place to allow firms to maintain their market share.  
• There are tentative signs that outcomes-based pricing is becoming more interesting to clients.  
• AI remains top of mind for clients in 2024, and work will centre on areas like strategic reviews, pilots, and advice on regulation. However, clients aren’t yet spending on larger-scale projects. 
• There is a danger that ESG work may get absorbed into business as usual, and this risks it failing to get the attention and investment it deserves. 
• It’s crucial that customer experience doesn’t suffer in 2024, and expertise will be a crucial attribute for firms.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we set out the big business challenges that clients say they’ll be facing in 2024.

Emma Carroll, Source’s Managing Editor, is joined by Fiona Czerniawska, Founder & CEO at Source, and Paul English, Strategy Director at Source, for a special edition of our Future of the Firm Podcast. 

AI is set to have a significant impact on the professional services market. At Source’s recent flagship event, leaders and experts shared how they are adapting their business models in response to the opportunities and risks this provides. 

In this podcast, Fiona, Paul, and Emma discuss the big learnings coming out of the event. 

They share their insight into the following issues and more:  

• How strategy is changing  
• The ways firms are reshaping their business models with the help of AI  
• The opportunities and risks of tech ecosystems  
• How firms can use their own ways of working to showcase AI in action 
• What Source’s research is telling us about the market in this space 
• Plus, a sneak peek into our new report on the role of AI in thought leadership 

Successful transformation programmes need clear goals that are set and communicated upfront, honesty and openness from everyone involved, and sponsorship from an organisation’s top team.

In this podcast, we talk to Melanie Lindsay, Partner at Vici Partners, and Fiona Czerniawska, Founder & CEO at Source, about what else they would add to this recipe for success, including how to navigate the emotional timeline of any change. 

They share their insight into the following issues and more: 

• The key components of a successful transformation programme
• Drawing on the knowledge of people within a business to inform change
• Balancing the quality of change initiatives and the strength of buy in
• Empowering clients to challenge themselves
• Building agency and accountability within an organisation
• The emotional timeline of a transformation
• How tech can play a role in addressing emotional challenges
• Balancing strategy and implementation

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we discuss reducing complexity in your business, with Beth Butterwick, CEO at Jigsaw. 

“In the public sector, where we have a wealth of data, I think AI is going to be one of those tools that is a game changer,” Hilary Robertson

Emma Carroll, Source’s Managing Editor, is joined by Hilary Robertson, Strategy Director at Sopra Steria UK, and Fiona Czerniawska, Founder & CEO at Source, for the latest episode of our Future of the Firm Podcast. 

The outsourcing market has shifted rapidly over recent years, and work done in the public sector is no exception. The pandemic, business failures, and digital developments have all played their part.

In this podcast, we talk to Hilary and Fiona about what’s new in the public sector outsourcing market, and where they see things heading next.

• They share their insight into the following issues and more: 
• How the public sector procurement process has improved and why, including the introduction of the UK government’s outsourcing playbook.
• The importance of technology, including AI, and the risk of obsolescence and skills shortages.
• The search for agility and how clients saw outsourcing as a solution during the pandemic. This appears to be a trend that has stuck.
• How the pandemic has caused clients to reconsider organisational boundaries and consider outsourcing core parts of their businesses.
• How clients are balancing investment in resilience versus investment in change.
• Addressing low-cost-bid bias amid macroeconomic uncertainty.
• The governance challenges faced by organisations that are juggling multiple external consulting providers.
• What’s new in measuring value in public sector outsourcing: This includes the importance of social value measures.
• Mindset change as part of outsourcing and whether this can or even should be measured.

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we discuss reducing complexity in your business, with Beth Butterwick, CEO at Jigsaw. 

Emma Carroll, Source’s Managing Editor, is joined by Per Breuer, Head of Global HR at Roland Berger, and Fiona Czerniawska, Founder & CEO at Source, for the latest episode of our Future of the Firm Podcast.  

A firm’s talent is by far its greatest asset, and managing this resource for success, in both the short and medium-term, is complex at the best of times. In today’s uncertain environment—when clients’ needs are unpredictable—balancing supply and demand requires both creativity and a practical approach.  

In this podcast, we talk to Per and Fiona about what a truly successful approach to talent looks like. 

• They share their insight into the following issues and more:  
• Leading on talent in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) 
• Getting expertise in the right places, at the right time, in the best way 
• The real opportunities AI is offering today—and what it promises for tomorrow 
• Using multidisciplinary teams to support your clients and your people 
• Driving individual accountability for creating client value 
• The risk of neglecting the mid-term talent agenda.  

A firm’s brand is one of its most important assets, but is yours still delivering? Shifting services, new tech competitors, and a more complex ecosystem of buyers may mean it needs attention.  

In this podcast, we talk to Ed and Alison about how to make your professional services brand work harder. 

They share their experiences of the following issues and more: 

• The big challenge of differentiation in the professional services market today 

• Balancing a master brand with a firm’s specialisms 

• Leveraging your brand to help you move into new spaces 

• Understanding buyers’ emotional responses in a B2B setting 

• What’s new in brand measurement? 

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In our latest episode, we discuss reducing complexity in your business, with Beth Butterwick, CEO at Jigsaw. 

It may seem like a long time since the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and the sudden pivot to working from home, but our research on the buying habits of consulting clients confirms a lasting legacy of the pandemic on the significance of thought leadership. In December 2022, our global study of more than 3,500 executives in major markets found that over 90% of the C-suite across all regions and industries said thought leadership had at least some impact on their decision making when purchasing professional services. 

With levels of thought leadership consumption growing strongly over the last couple of years, firms are thinking more strategically than ever about how to build a thought leadership function that drives brand awareness and reputation. One such firm is Oliver Wyman, whose flagship thought leadership wing, the Oliver Wyman Forum, reaches across industries and geographies, convening senior leaders from business, public policy, academia, and social enterprise to help solve the world’s toughest problems. 

Today we are delighted to be joined by John Romeo, Managing Partner and Head of the Oliver Wyman Forum, and Paul English, Director of Marketing Advisory here at Source, to discuss the changing needs of thought leadership consumers, and the Oliver Wyman Forum’s unique approach. 

In a crisis-dominated world, clients are increasingly looking to transform their tax function. With more ambitious goals than pre-pandemic, they are now trying to adapt to a far more challenging and unpredictable world.

On this episode of The Future of the Firm, Fiona Czerniawska is joined by Marna Ricker, Global Vice Chair of Tax, EY to discuss the way clients are changing their thinking and what this means for professional advisors in this space.

According to our research, 'sector knowledge and expertise' is now the second most important attribute to clients when choosing a firm to work with, having skyrocketed from 12th place just a couple of years ago. 

In this episode of The Future of the Firm, Ed Scott and Fiona Czerniawska are joined by Allan Platt, CEO of boutique consulting firm Clareo, to discuss the importance of sector-specific expertise in times of uncertainty.

Specialising in the natural resources, energy, and food industries, Clareo’s highly targeted approach is worlds away from the broad-brush strokes adopted by many larger firms, but it’s not a position Clareo landed on from day one.

The last few years have presented organisations with a seemingly endless series of new challenges to navigate. The big story in this regard was of course COVID-19, but with the situation in Ukraine, global market and geopolitical uncertainty, energy prices, and inflation to contend with, the plates of many businesses around the world are looking increasingly full. 

Chuck in the destabilising effects of new technologies like artificial intelligence, and it’s a wonder anybody is able to keep up at all.  How can consulting firms help clients to achieve resilience, then, when firms themselves are having to contend with new technologies and new ways of working?

Joining Ed Scott in the latest episode of The Future of the Firm podcast are Mohamed Kande, Vice Chair - US Consulting Solutions Co-Leader & Global Advisory Leader at PwC - and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO of Source. 

In this episode, Ed, Mohamed, and Fiona discuss how firms and clients alike can build resilience that doesn’t just fortify them against challenging climates, but actively harnesses the potential inherent in uncertainty to drive growth.  

Transformation. It’s something that almost every client we speak to at the moment is talking about. 

In our most recent data, 52% of clients say that they’re either already making a significant investment in digital transformation or planning to do so in the next 18 months, and 41% say they’ll be investing in target operating model transformation.

But is something missing from this conversation? If transformation were just a matter of implementing new systems, models, or processes, it might be laborious, but not necessarily all that challenging. But of course, it’s so much more than that.  

Joining Ed Scott to talk about the role of people in making transformation happen are Alex Bombeck, CEO of consulting firm North Highland, and Fiona Czerniawska, CEO and founder of Source.  

Artificial intelligence is the topic on everyone’s mind at the moment, but what does it actually mean for consulting firms? To find out, we've been delving into our own quant and qual research, in which we regularly ask clients about the impact of emerging technology on their use of consulting firms. 

Question: What do a father's mental health, a mother's chances of returning to full-time employment, and their newborn child's lifetime earnings have in common?

Answer: They would all be improved by an effective Equal Paid Parental Leave policy, according to PwC's 2023 Women in Work report. 

In this episode of The Future of the Firm, Jennifer Richards, Chief Strategy Officer at PwC, joins Ed Scott to discuss shifting attitudes to parental leave, and the opportunity for firms to demonstrate genuine leadership in this space. 

Ed Scott is joined by Martin White and Fiona Czerniawska.

The partnership model has its advantages, but the cancellation of EY's Project Everest has shone a light on some of its pitfalls. 

When big decisions depend on a complex and lengthy voting process in which partners may put their self-interest ahead of the firm’s, a firm’s ability to reconfigure its business and meet clients’ evolving needs is hampered. 

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Martin White and Fiona Czerniawska discuss the future of the partnership model.

In the last few months, we’ve seen artificial intelligence skyrocket from the pages of speculative fiction to increasingly becoming an everyday reality. Technologies like ChatGPT have been the subject of much discussion, but thus far, at least from the outside, AI is yet to break through that invisible boundary between ‘interesting gimmick’ and ‘revolutionary new tool’.  

So, what’s going on? Is AI destined to remain an interesting sidenote in the annals of technological history, or does it represent something more fundamental? Could it be the future, for instance, of consulting?  

Dr Jan van de Poll certainly thinks so. As the founder and managing partner of PRAIORITIZE, an Amsterdam-based provider of virtual consultancy technology for consulting firms and organisations, he's on a mission to drag the consulting industry into the 21st century, using artificial intelligence to create a virtual consultant which offer advice vertically and horizontally across an organisation.

When was the last time you experienced a crisis? How did you react? If you're anything like the rest of us, the answer might be—not that well.

But what if that crisis wasn’t something personal, but global? How would you deal with that if you were in a position of leadership, and others were looking to you for guidance?

In this episode, Fiona Czerniawska speaks with Adrian Bettridge, who brings over 26 years' experience as a consultant to his role as managing partner at Baringa.

Recorded as part of our Greater Leadership Rethink in collaboration with Sheffield Haworth, Adrian and Fiona discuss how leadership within professional services has evolved over the past few decades, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent crises. 

The professional services sector has always been a continuum. At one end of the spectrum, we’ve got high-end advice at the most strategic level in client organisations; at the other, we’ve services that are so familiar and standardised that they’ve become a commodity.

Professional service firms don’t have many people who are explicitly looking at the opportunities for productisation across their business as a whole. Instead, productisation is more likely to be an emerging strategy, in which specific client projects yield opportunities to convert services into products and where much of the actual work is done in people’s spare time. 

Joining us to discuss where the greatest opportunities for productisation lie is Jonathan Attia, KPMG UK's Head of Digital Products.

Global economic and political trends have been making it difficult for clients and firms to make sweeping, large-scale decisions, and seemingly no area of business — or life in general, for that matter — has been left untouched.  

Mergers and acquisitions have historically a line of business characterised by immense financial and logistical movements, but recently the market's been moving in the opposite direction, towards a more frequent, small-scale approach.

So how can firms help clients looking to invest in a serial approach to M&A? Joining us to discuss this issue is Ravi Chanmugan, Director for Growth & Strategy and Health within Accenture Strategy. 

Digital transformation and ESG are the two highest priorities for firms when it comes to investment — but what if these weren’t siloed service lines, but two sides of the same coin?

This week Susanna Hasenoehrl, Head of Sustainability at SAP in Asia Pacific and Japan, joins us to discuss the role big tech firms can play in helping organisations reach net zero.

Compared to conventional consulting, the outcomes associated with a managed service are more specific and more tangible. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen evidence of growing interest in managed services, fuelled by the shift to remote working that made clients much more aware of the way in which technology can complement consulting rather than simply replace it.  

Joining us this week to discuss the growth of managed services is Paul Clark, Global Vice Chair of Managed Services at EY.

All our research during the pandemic suggested that the thought leadership produced by professional services firms was becoming more important to clients. If we look at our most recent client perceptions data and ask clients about the relative importance of thought leadership when considering which firm to hire, thought leadership has dropped from being the third most influential factor in 2021 to the seventh this year.

This is leading us to wonder if professional services firms are missing a trick, and if they’re not producing the kind of material clients want, even need, to read.

Accepted thinking around the consulting and wider professional services industry suggests that being a mid-sized firm isn't a comfortable place to be, lacking both the brand weight and scale of the very large firms, and the personalised service and specialist know-how of smaller ones. Yet, here we are, two years on from the single greatest upheaval ever in the consulting industry and most mid-sized firms are still going strong. Our own research suggests that our assumptions about mid-sized firms could be wrong.

Innovation has become a hot topic in consulting over the past few years: No longer content to be mere advisors, firms want to play a more proactive and hands-on role helping clients build and launch innovative new products and solutions. And clients seem keen to work in this way, too: Our client data consistently reveals that “having an innovative approach” is one of the most important attributes a firm can have. But what does all this really mean? To explore the topic of innovation in the consulting industry, we’re joined by Giles Colborne, CEO of cxpartners. Cxpartners is Sopra Steria’s digital innovation consultancy.  

It's almost impossible to glance at the business press these days without some kind of coverage on global talent shortages—and the consulting industry is feeling the pressure of these shortages particularly keenly. Is there anything consulting firms can do to increase retention, and halt the "great resignation" that's impacting them? To discuss the role of learning & development in consulting firms, Fiona Czerniawksa is joined by Nhlamu Dlomu, Global Head of People at KPMG.

Pricing is one of the most complex issues in the consulting industry, and clients are often unclear on what exactly they are paying for; in fact, our latest research has shown that only 23% believe that consulting firms are transparent when it comes to their fee rates. What can be done to reduce this friction, and how can consulting firms take a more intelligence approach when it comes to their pricing models to ensure harmony on all sides? To discuss the topic, we're joined by Dr. Peter Colman from Simon-Kucher & Partners. 

Our latest research reveals the greatest shake-up in what clients tell us is important when working with a consulting firm since we started tracking this metric seven years ago: Having an innovative approach has been replaced by brand & reputation as the most important attribute. Could this signify a flight to brand, caused by the pandemic? To discuss the topic of brands in professional services, Fiona Czerniawska is joined by Beth Ann Kaminkow, Global CEO at VMLY&R Commerce.