An internal town hall at Deloitte stirred up frustration among the firm's own consultants. Management's message: the classic hourly billing model is under massive pressure in the age of AI.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Jason Manstof, a leader in Deloitte's US public sector consulting division, showed a chart last month projecting the decline of hours-based consulting work through 2035. The green bar at the bottom, representing the industry's bread and butter, shrinks to a thin sliver of the total market.
"The not-so-great news is that type of work, even though still a significant part in 2035, will only be a part of the overall picture," Manstof said during the webcast, which the WSJ was able to review. AI agents, still in their early stages, would grow exponentially and make up the majority of the expanding professional services market by 2035.
One Deloitte consultant summed up the event for the WSJ: "They heavily implied our model is toast. We're basically getting replaced by robots." A Deloitte spokesperson said the company is making "significant investments to lead this human-led, AI-powered shift for our industry."
Letting go of the billable hour is easier said than done
