The Future of Professional Services: Unlocking Growth Through Digital Transformation

The professional services industry is on the verge of transformation. Recent technological developments allow for automation of more and more tasks that were previously manual. Haven’t we heard this before with previous introductions of new technology? Well not exactly: Lotus and Excel did not transform accounting; AutoCAD did not transform engineering; SAP did not transform resource planning – rather, these tools increased the productivity of white-collar professionals. The difference is that these tools improved the productivity in the execution of micro-tasks, where recent intelligent, adaptive, perhaps even ‘learning’ technology, now for the first time ever has the potential to replace an entire human layer doing standardised, protocolised, or repetitive work within organisations.

In parallel, there is an unprecedented talent scarcity that will persist (or even increase) across subsectors. Professional services is, by definition, a people job, and even with the additional possibilities of automation, there will remain significant shortages across parts of the workforce. Across Western geographies supply of talent is declining due to an ageing workforce and negative natural population growth, which is not being offset by net positive migration as immigrants are underrepresented in professional services.

However, for some pockets in the industry, undersupply can be addressed by shifting work to other geographies – this can be done for some roles within engineering, but is far less feasible for local legislation dependent professions like accounting or law; or for professions where local delivery is vital, such as various areas of consulting.

At the same time, the demand for these services is booming as the industry primarily supports organisations with change – and with the global challenges in ESG, geopolitical tensions, and rapid technological advancement, there is more demand for change than ever. It is the accountants that need to audit the CSRD reports, the engineers that need to design the dykes, and the consultants to support businesses in their transformation to a greener future.