As we kick off 2026, Honeycomb’s MD Deri Hughes was joined by Luk Smeyers (The Visible Authority) and Rob Garner (Garwood Growth) — two of the most experienced observers of the UK and European consulting industry — for a candid conversation about where consulting is headed.
Their verdict? Despite a tough few years, consulting is entering a new phase. But the rules are changing, and firms that can’t adapt quickly enough may struggle to keep up.
This session drew on their conversations with hundreds of firms over the past year. Here are the key insights, especially relevant to firm leaders, proposition owners, and anyone thinking hard about talent, AI, or growth strategy for 2026.
The double… triple… quadruple squeeze
Luk described 2025 as the year of the “AI double squeeze”, with many firms caught between falling revenue from smaller projects (as clients use AI to self-serve) and rising costs (as those projects are pushed up to seniors). Rob added a third pressure: clients expecting AI to be baked into larger projects, with lower fees or faster delivery as a result. And Deri pointed out a fourth: pressure to innovate service offerings using AI internally.
That makes four simultaneous pressures:
Revenue loss from smaller “order-take” projects
Increased delivery costs as seniors absorb work
Client price pressure on larger projects with AI expectations
Innovation pressure to develop AI-led services
The result? Many firms are seeing their traditional margin engines erode. And while this was visible in early signs before 2025, it became acute last year.
AI maturity come in three waves
Deri shared a simple frame for understanding how firms are starting to apply AI internally:
Efficiency – using AI to automate internal workflows and reduce delivery costs
Expertise – enabling faster knowledge access and onboarding through internal knowledge systems
New propositions – building new, AI-enabled client offerings (still rare)
Rob and Luk agreed that most firms are still early in this journey. Many consulting firms have advised clients on AI without yet transforming their own internal models.
Specialism wins in 2026
Asked how they’d build a new consulting business in 2026, Rob and Luk were clear: specialism wins.
“Twenty years ago, we set our business up on a four by four matrix - four sectors, four services. We thought that was quite tight. (Now), if you’re a single sector, single service…you’re certainly on the right tracks as far as I would be concerned”
That means:
Go deeper than you’re comfortable with
Lead with a high-stakes client issue
Codify, repeat, and refine until you can predict outcomes
Luk also argued that new firms need to behave more like SaaS startups: hire senior people early, pre-invest in building credibility, and test quickly. Both he and Deri stressed that codification is key to unlocking AI’s potential — without repeatable data, AI offers little leverage.
The changing talent model
A shift from pyramid to diamond-shaped teams is changing the role of juniors and the way firms invest in them.
Juniors are still vital, but AI skills will increasingly be their differentiator
The old model (bringing them along and billing for learning) no longer holds
Firms will need to invest directly in development, not expect clients to subsidise it
The future is a two-way apprenticeship: juniors help seniors stay tech-current, while learning judgment and delivery
“It’s the senior folks who are going to have to adapt way more than they’ve realised yet to everything related to AI: AI delivery, AI quality assurance, managing Gen Z and then Gen Alpha people entering the workforce and all of the differences there.”
What matters in 2026: A final checklist
Here’s what the panel agreed will define successful firms this year:
A narrow, high-stakes proposition in a growing niche
Clear sector specialism — and language to match
Outcome-based pricing, but only where results are repeatable and proven
Internal AI use: not just talking the talk
Investment in human capability: especially trust, empathy, and resilience under pressure
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