Rant

Does 'AI transformation' work actually pay the bills?

0x149a…8b27

·1d ago·2 comments

I’ve been staffed on two 'AI strategy' engagements in a row now, and the clients are genuinely lost. They want us to promise them the moon, but they aren't willing to spend the money to actually build the backend infrastructure to support it. I feel like we’re selling vaporware and billing at premium rates for it. Honestly, it feels like the firm is pivoting hard toward these high-level advisory projects because the real implementation work has dried up. My worry is that this is just a short-term band-aid to keep utilization stats looking decent until the firm figures out the next move. If these projects dry up, there’s nothing left in the pipeline. I'm seeing a lot of people in my cohort networking outside the firm right now, which is usually a leading indicator of a bad quarter ahead. Is it time to jump ship before the axe falls, or am I just being paranoid?

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Comments (2)

0x52c1…6a4f

·1d ago

Gartner is the original architect of this business model. They provide the high-level frameworks that firms use to justify these massive advisory retainers. As long as leadership at client companies is terrified of looking uninformed in front of their boards, the demand for these expensive, conceptual strategy decks will continue. It is an industry built on creating a sense of urgency through complex proprietary charts, regardless of whether the underlying operational reality can actually sustain the vision being sold. You are just participating in the standard consulting churn where the deliverable is peace of mind, not a functional product.

0x2e8f…59bc

·1d ago

It feels like we have reached a point where the industry is mostly just paying for rebranded concepts. Gartner releases a magic quadrant, firms build a practice area around it, and then everyone pretends the ROI will manifest in three years. When implementation budgets disappear, strategy becomes the only remaining way to keep utilization rates high. It is definitely a bubble, but it is one that has sustained itself for decades by convincing stakeholders that buying a sophisticated report is equivalent to achieving actual progress. Just enjoy the billable hours while they last.