New industry research shows AI agents are moving from experimentation to operational necessity as firms face worsening resource constraints and rising client expectations
Survey: Professional services firms pivot to AI for future growth
Nearly nine in 10 professional services firms plan to manage AI agents as part of their workforce, with a similar number believing future revenue growth will depend more on scaling AI than on increasing headcount, according to Kantata's latest State of the Professional Services Industry Report.
Why it matters: The findings signal a fundamental shift in how consulting and professional services firms plan to scale. Faced with intensifying talent shortages and resource constraints—which have forced 66% of firms to turn down work—leaders are now viewing AI not just as a tool for efficiency, but as the primary engine for future growth.
The big picture: This pivot toward AI is happening against a backdrop of increasing commercial pressure. A majority of firms report that margin pressure is a top concern (70%), while client expectations for quality (72%), speed (51%), and transparency (47%) continue to rise.
By the numbers:
- 87% of firms plan to use AI agents as part of their workforce.
- 89% believe future revenue growth is more dependent on scaling AI than on scaling headcount.
- 68% of leaders cite skill availability as a barrier to growth, a significant increase from 45% in the previous year.
- 54% of firms report that at least 10% of their projects miss budget goals.
Between the lines: Despite the rapid adoption, there's a growing crisis of confidence in the data powering these systems. Just 12% of leaders say they fully trust the data in their systems, down from 24% last year. This creates an operational paradox: while 88% of leaders trust AI outputs enough to use them in decisions, nearly the same number (89%) say they spend a significant amount of time manually verifying those same outputs.
What to watch: The primary challenge for firms is shifting from AI experimentation to execution. Integrating and managing AI agents has become the top resource management challenge, according to the report. Looking ahead, 90% of leaders say their systems will need to be able to attribute work, costs, and value across both human and AI team members, suggesting that traditional workforce and financial models are becoming obsolete.
Kantata’s State of the Professional Services Industry Report can be downloaded here.
SOURCE: Kantata
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