If you work with consultants or have your own consultancy, take note: Things are changing, fast. Right around the corner are threats or opportunities, depending on how you respond.
I’ve already written about how the management-consulting industry is being disrupted by various trends like emerging technologies, the commodification of knowledge, and outdated business models. But with the dramatic overnight changes in work and society caused by the coronavirus crisis, the disruptive transformation of the consulting industry will only accelerate. Remote work, lean budgets, and the need for contingency plans are three big trends impacting the industry.
You can look to history to see that mature industries become ripe for disruption as they age. Cable TV is a great recent example with dozens of disrupters like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Google, Apple, and others nipping at the heels of–and taking bigger and bigger bites out of–established players like Comcast. Netflix alone doubled its original growth forecast in the first quarter of 2020 thanks to the millions of people sheltering in place, adding 15 million paid subscribers. In the same three-month period, Comcast lost almost half a million video subscribers. The entertainment industry was already undergoing digital disruption. The Covid-19 discontinuity is accelerating it.