Expertise pays the bills
The value proposition of professional services firms is anchored on de-risking ambiguity and framing the future. So it is ironic that the industry is confronting unprecedented disruption and an opaque outlook.
Trends around talent retention, technology disruption, evolving ESG expectations and blurring competitive lines have origins that pre-date COVID and are here to stay. Consolidation, new entrants, regulatory changes, and emergent technologies are redefining the landscape and the market’s winners and losers.
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​However, two resilient truisms remain: size matters and expertise pays the bills.
This has led to the emergence of mega-players that play across multiple segments of professional services. These market leading firms set the standard for inorganic trends, investments in new tech tools, delivery models, and value propositions.
But scale is only part of the story. Because expertise still pays the bills, there is a long list of market participants that have selectively established defensible niches that can support above-market returns.
So, bigger is better, but being the best is better still.
The industry continues to offer an abundance of opportunity. But the difference between recognizing and realizing your potential can be difficult to decipher. With so many opportunities, it’s critical to prioritize which to pursue and which to discount.
