Episode 120

July 2, 2026

Outputs vs. Outcomes: Why AI Is Forcing Consulting to Reinvent Itself w/ Tom Rodenhauser

View Show Notes

In this episode, Brent sits down with Tom Rodenhauser, Managing Partner at K2 Consulting Research, to discuss why AI is forcing consulting firms to rethink the way they create value.


For decades, consulting firms have been paid for outputs — deliverables, implementations, and billable hours — with the assumption those outputs would drive meaningful business outcomes. But, that assumption is starting to break. Demand is still there. Clients are still buying. The model is holding, for now. But beneath the surface, AI is rapidly reshaping the economics of consulting. Firms that continue selling effort instead of impact risk competing on speed and price, while the firms that embrace measurable outcomes will define the next era of consulting.


In this episode, you'll learn:


  • Why AI is disrupting far more than productivity
  • The critical difference between outputs (deliverables) and outcomes (business results)
  • Why outcome-based pricing remains difficult to implement, despite years of industry discussion.
  • How consulting firms need to rethink utilization, compensation, client relationships, and commercial models for the AI era.
  • Tom's predictions for the future of consulting
Host

Banoo Behboodi

Vice President, Success Engineering

Banoo Behboodi is a 20+ year software and services leader with extensive experience executing change initiatives with oversight of Customer Success, Professional Services and Delivery and Consulting functions. Banoo’s earlier experiences with AT&T Mobility, Coca-Cola Company and Ernst & Young leading key transformational and compliance projects, provided the foundation needed to be an effective leader and a change agent with a customer first mindset. Banoo is passionate about driving continuous improvement through sharing best practices and empowering resources through technology and analytics to optimize performance and job satisfaction while driving business outcomes.

Host

Brent Trimble

Vice President, Value Engineering

Brent brings more than 15+ year’s of leadership experience in Management Consulting, Strategic Delivery, Marketing services and product development firms to his technology role at Kantata. As the VP of Value Engineering and the Managing Director of Marketing Service & Agency Vertical, he specializes in identifying process improvement potential, business optimization and key health metrics for alignment and orientation.

With deep business understanding through an operator lens - Brent works with Kantata partner firms to refine intrinsic and extrinsic value drivers - giving firm principals the focus required for adoption, mobilization, value realization and ultimately - success.

Prior to joining Kantata, Brent was a client of the platform and held positions at Interpublic Group, Accenture, WPP, and independent marketing consulting firms.