Apr 15, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
In this episode, we share a preview of our newest research -- the 2026 Consulting Navigator report. The Navigator is a detailed breakdown of the global consulting market, with market size and forecast…
As I said, the Navigator really is a comprehensive look at what's driving consulting, and we break it down into a few key topics and themes.
So all of the research is driven first and foremost by the buyers, the buyers of consulting services.
So we engage with senior level executives at organizations, Fortune 500 companies and multinationals, really what we would call the power buyers of consulting services.
What we do is we talk with them about not only who they use and why they use certain firms and how they use them, But we try to lay a foundation where we talk about what's their agenda? What are the problems that they're facing? And that, in turn, may or may not lead to spending on consulting.
And I think in this case, everyone has been talking about AI, and that's been the dominant theme.
But I think, Nathan, maybe the first question I'd have is, what is the headline for 2026 for the global consulting industry?
If we looked in the last few years after the kind of COVID boom, which we really look at as kind of an anomaly, the agenda on the client side has been heavily focused on cost containment.
We had the sort of dislocations of geopolitical conflict, significant changes in the global trade regime, capital markets been much less active.
And that meant let's focus on controlling the costs, getting our houses in order, and then we'll be ready for the next trend,
And AI is going to be a huge driver of what those moves are, but it's tentative.
And it's tentative for two reasons, one on the demand side and one on the supply side.
I think on the demand side, what we do not see is a sort of a clear, let me back up.
We're not facing the classic pendulum swings that have kind of been kind of instrumental in the consulting industry over decades, which is cost containment, pendulum swings to growth.
So what we see on the demand side is basically what I would say the evolution of a cost agenda to a performance improvement agenda.
So it's how do I make my whole operation a source of kind of competitive differentiation rather than just optimized cost? So that's sort of the demand picture.
As I said, the Navigator really is a comprehensive look at what's driving consulting, and we break it down into a few key topics and themes.
So all of the research is driven first and foremost by the buyers, the buyers of consulting services.
So we engage with senior level executives at organizations, Fortune 500 companies and multinationals, really what we would call the power buyers of consulting services.
What we do is we talk with them about not only who they use and why they use certain firms and how they use them, But we try to lay a foundation where we talk about what's their agenda? What are the problems that they're facing? And that, in turn, may or may not lead to spending on consulting.
And I think in this case, everyone has been talking about AI, and that's been the dominant theme.
But I think, Nathan, maybe the first question I'd have is, what is the headline for 2026 for the global consulting industry?
If we looked in the last few years after the kind of COVID boom, which we really look at as kind of an anomaly, the agenda on the client side has been heavily focused on cost containment.
We had the sort of dislocations of geopolitical conflict, significant changes in the global trade regime, capital markets been much less active.
And that meant let's focus on controlling the costs, getting our houses in order, and then we'll be ready for the next trend,
And AI is going to be a huge driver of what those moves are, but it's tentative.
And it's tentative for two reasons, one on the demand side and one on the supply side.
I think on the demand side, what we do not see is a sort of a clear, let me back up.
We're not facing the classic pendulum swings that have kind of been kind of instrumental in the consulting industry over decades, which is cost containment, pendulum swings to growth.
So what we see on the demand side is basically what I would say the evolution of a cost agenda to a performance improvement agenda.
So it's how do I make my whole operation a source of kind of competitive differentiation rather than just optimized cost? So that's sort of the demand picture.
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