The Pursuit Power Half Hour
The 3 Shifts That Will Make or Break Consulting Firms in 2026 — and How to Activate Them
The 3 Shifts Reshaping Consulting Firms in 2026
Consulting firms in 2026 are under pressure to deliver measurable outcomes faster, scale senior expertise, and improve margins. Responding requires three connected shifts: greater visibility across demand and delivery, a stronger focus on outcomes, and trusted data to guide decisions.
In this Pursuit Power Half Hour session, Brent speaks with Sarah Edwards, Chief Product Strategy Officer at Kantata, about how these changes affect consulting resource planning, talent, pricing, and AI adoption.
1. Connect Demand, Resources, and Delivery
Consulting firms need visibility into upcoming work before contracts are signed so they can plan capacity, allocate resources, and anticipate hiring needs.
The session explores how connected processes and stronger resource visibility help firms prepare for future demand. Sarah also discusses how AI assistants and reusable institutional knowledge can help senior consultants scale their expertise without relying on proportional headcount growth.
2. Move Toward Outcome-Driven Consulting
As AI accelerates work, consulting firms face pressure to rethink the relationship between time spent and value delivered.
Learn why firms are moving beyond time-and-materials billing toward fixed-fee, value-based, and outcome-based models. The conversation also examines changes to the consulting talent pyramid, the productization of services, and the need to attribute work, cost, and value across people and AI.
3. Build Trust in Data and AI-Supported Decisions
AI adoption alone does not create operational confidence. Consulting firms need accurate, connected data and consistent processes to evaluate AI outputs and act on them.
Drawing on Kantata’s State of the Professional Services Industry research, the session examines the gap between using AI for operational decisions and trusting the information behind those decisions. Sarah explains why firms should strengthen their data and processes before scaling AI-driven transformation.
Watch the Kantata Demo: The Three Shifts in Action
Jacquelyn Blayer, Solutions Engineer at Kantata, demonstrates how connected pipeline, resource, project, and financial information helps professional services teams put these shifts into practice.
See how Kantata helps teams:
- Bring CRM opportunities into the delivery environment to anticipate demand.
- Run AI-assisted staffing scenarios using roles, availability, skills, and cost.
- Forecast capacity and hiring requirements across active work and pipeline opportunities.
- Forecast project revenue and compare expected financial performance with actual results.
- Improve forecast accuracy and data consistency through financial closing controls.
- Create a shared source of project and financial information for more proactive decisions.
Speakers
- Brent — Session Host, Kantata
- Sarah Edwards — Chief Product Strategy Officer, Kantata
- Jacquelyn Blayer — Solutions Engineer, Kantata
Explore Kantata’s professional services automation software to see how connected resource planning, delivery, and business data support more confident decisions, or request a demo.