Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic After two years of slashed budgets and survival mode, consulting firms had 2025 circled on their calendars as the year the industry would shake off its slump and get back to business.That moment has arrived — and so far, the recovery appears to be on track, helped along by the corporate world’s fascination with artificial intelligence. Demand for advisory services is looking up, and last year’s wave of cost-cutting and redundancies is expected to taper off.“Hiring is back on,” says Lisa Fernihough, head of KPMG UK’s advisory division.“There are areas across industry where we’re running very hot with [demand for] certain skills,” she adds, especially in data, cloud services, cyber, technology and risk.“We’re in the foothills of AI discovery, and we need more people for a period of time. Any time you have a transformation you need more people.”In a survey by data company Statista for this year’s UK’s Leading Management Consultants report, 67 per cent of respondents said they expected AI to be the biggest growth area for UK consultancies over the next three years, while 60 per cent said the country’s economic downturn remained the biggest threat.The Big Four firms — Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG — were all badly affected by the market slowdown following the pandemic era boom and have made cuts over the past two years. Deloitte UK announced 800 redundancies in 2023, and was set to axe over 500 roles in 2024. KPMG UK cut 200 staff in June.Consulting sector specialist Source Global Research estimates that the UK consulting market contracted by about 3.4 per cent in 2024, compared with the industry’s global average growth rate of 3 per cent.But the turnaround is under way. The market will grow roughly 5 per cent this year, Source predicts. Almost half of global companies using consultants expect their spend to rise significantly over the next three years, its surveys show.Namaan Mian, chief operating officer of US-based training company Management Consulted, which coaches aspiring consultants through the recruitment process, says hiring by the large consulting businesses has already increased globally. After a sharp contraction in 2023 and only a muted rebound last year, more undergraduate and graduate recruits have been tapped for jobs starting this summer, he says.“I do expect hiring to pick up this year, but not as much as we would have seen five or 10 years ago with this level of demand,” says Mian.“That is because of rising productivity. Consultants travel less than they used to, so you can get more out of a particular consultant than you used to, and there is also an increasing use of AI.”AI will be a key ‘pocket’ of client work shaping growing demandCompanies’ hopes are pinned on AI to revive the industry. Consultants are being brought in by every company that has vague notions of building an AI-powered revolution, and are being asked to redesign whole set-ups so that AI becomes integral rather than an add-on.Christoph Schweizer, chief executive of Boston Consulting Group, says helping clients with AI, from initial strategy through to implementation, will be a key “pocket” of client work, shaping growing demand for the consultancy firm’s advisory services.BCG’s growth will stem from advising on AI projects as well as cost and productivity work, he says, and from a small but growing demand for consulting services around resilience to extreme weather events.In the UK, cost reduction projects will be the third greatest driver of growth, after work with clients needing help on AI and digital technology, according to the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), a trade body. The largest industries demanding such work will include the energy, infrastructure, digital and technology sectors.According to Source Global, technology consulting is forecast to grow globally by 7 per cent to $421bn this year. That demand will have an impact on firms’ recruitment strategies. For junior hires, Jonathan House, PwC UK’s head of consulting, says firms will be looking for candidates who can manage AI programmes and people relationships, including clients and offshore teams.When hiring for more senior roles, sector expertise will be especially important, House says: “When you’re looking to have a discussion with a defence company, having somebody who knows about defence — either they’ve been in the private sector or have been a general — is really helpful.”More consulting firms are using AI to help with routine tasks such as creating PowerPoint presentations, freeing up more time for consultants to deal with more complex work.Fernihough at KPMG says consultancies will need to put an emphasis on “upskilling” and on “skills that are interchangeable and can be used in different ways because of AI”.The MCA says three-quarters of consulting firms are planning “significant” investments in AI, averaging at £1.9mn over the next two years, allowing consultants to focus on “higher-level strategic thinking” while AI handles simple tasks.Things are looking up, but the UK market is not yet back to previous levels. Although the sector will “definitely” hire more this year, says House, it will be “on a different level” than previously and will have to include more offshore hiring.See the UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2025 ratings here
