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In the course of my job, I speak to a lot of business owners. Recently, I have spoken to several who mentioned their clients switching some, or even all, of the work they previously provided for them to in-house tasks performed by Artificial Intelligence. In some cases, this change was beginning to cause genuine financial pressure.
The issue seems quite widespread and is beginning to affect businesses in areas as varied as virtual assistants, HR consultants, legal professionals, recruiters, accountants, marketing, business advisers and many other ‘service’ providers.
Let me be very clear about something here. The results from AI are rarely anywhere near as good as a well-crafted piece of work by an experienced professional. However, we also need to be honest about things, it is also produced in seconds and at very little cost. Sadly, for the less creative or experience-heavy work, it will also probably do the job.
Which leads to a difficult question…
The answer is, in a nutshell, that a human will produce a better result. However, is that really enough to swing a decision for a client?
No, not according to what many people are telling me.
It’s becoming clear that professionals now need to explain what they bring to the client, rather than relying on a description of what they do for them. Otherwise, if you offer a service that is based on the client not knowing how to do it themselves, and AI can apparently duplicate it, how does the client know what you bring to the table?
For example, these statements explain the work, but not the value of involving an experienced professional.
We all need to recognise that if a service appears to consist entirely of producing an easily duplicated output, clients may reasonably conclude that AI can provide it.
The professional therefore needs to demonstrate the value around their output. They need to explain the questions asked, the risks identified, the assumptions challenged and the decisions improved and so forth.
Key Point - The important question is no longer simply, “What can we produce for you?” It is, “What will be better because we are involved?”
AI will quickly organise information, recognise patterns and generate the work asked of it. However, it only knows the situation it has been given. It does not automatically understand the history of a business, the personalities involved, the pressures facing its owners or the information that has been left out of the prompt. It more collates than creates.
An experienced professional brings context, curiosity and judgement. They can notice that the client is asking the wrong question, challenge a decision and explain the potential consequences.
That human contribution naturally looks different across different professions.
A marketing professional, for example, brings more than the ability to produce content. They understand why customers buy, find the stories that demonstrate the company’s expertise and give the right clients a reason to choose it. When a company hands its marketing entirely to AI, it risks removing this human factor. It may publish content, but that content will soon sound increasingly like everyone else’s. The content can be technically competent while saying very little about the character, knowledge or experience of the business. It will lack the polish needed to stand out.
A virtual assistant may summarise meetings, organise information and draft messages and, on the surface at least, AI can do the same. Their greater human value though lies in understanding priorities, protecting the client’s time, handling relationships carefully and recognising what needs attention before being asked.
Another, often controversial, use of AI is that it can also generate a document that looks like a legal contract. That is simply not the same as receiving legal advice. A legal professional can explore what the parties are trying to achieve, identify risks the client did not know to mention and explain the practical consequences of terminology. The value is not in the pages of legal wording produced by AI, it is in the human understanding of what those words mean for that particular client.
The same applies to HR. AI can generate a policy, job description or template letter, but the workplace rarely runs on tidy scenarios and generic responses. They involve individual histories, emotions, working relationships and company culture. An experienced HR professional helps an employer apply a policy with judgement rather than simply handing them a document.
Accountants, recruiters and business consultants face similar challenges. Producing figures, candidate summaries or business recommendations is only part of their value. Interpretation, challenge, specialist knowledge and an understanding of consequences are what turn information into useful professional support.
Key Point – AI is not human and does not think like a human. It simulates and collates and, at best, that is only useful for repetitive functions.
I am not suggesting that professional firms should resist AI. In fact, I believe the opposite. Used well, it can reduce repetitive work, accelerate research and create more time for meaningful client conversations.
The professional, however, must remain responsible for understanding the problem, checking the information and deciding what advice is appropriate. If AI becomes the whole service, clients have a right to question why they need the intermediary, don’t they?
So, they need to explain:
These things also need to be real and demonstrable. Simply adding words such as “strategic” or “consultative” to a service does not make it more valuable. The firm must make a genuine contribution that clients recognise and will continue to pay for.
Key Point – AI is not the enemy of professionalism. It is a tool to aid specialism and expertise.
OK, so this is where the conversation becomes more uncomfortable.
It is an emerging fact that some businesses are finding too much of their income depends on work that clients can now complete themselves. If the business cannot justify its services, or develop a viable new source of income, AI disruption can quickly become a serious financial problem.
The warning signs will include the usual red flags (see here) and specific noticeable patterns such as:
Directors need to be honest about whether they are experiencing a temporary downturn or a structural change in what clients are willing to buy. If demand has changed permanently, continuing in the same way and hoping that the market will return will just make matters worse.
Key Point – Realism about the value of your services is not an option. If AI has replaced them to a significant level, sorry, but the genie is not getting back in the bottle, and you have a problem.
Recognising that a business model is under threat is not admitting defeat. It creates an opportunity to act while there may still be meaningful choices available.
Speaking to an accountant or a licensed insolvency practitioner early can help directors establish whether the company has a realistic future and understand the options if it does not. Waiting until a creditor, unpaid tax bill or immediate cash-flow crisis forces the issue always makes the situation harder.
We seem to now live in a world where AI can seem to be, or actually is able, to reproduce many of the basic ‘bread and butter’ functions that some businesses have traditionally charged clients to provide.
The future of those businesses depends on being able to show what their people add and making sure that contribution is valuable enough to customers and clients to support a viable business. If you cannot do this, realistically speaking, you need to assess the future of your business.
The really hard, often unwanted, two-part question every professional services business should now ask is:
Can AI actually do much of what we do, and if it can, what benefit do we bring to the client?