The contrast between Big-4 and Big Tech couldn't be bigger

Big Tech is everywhere. Think about Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Apple. They serve 100% of organizations. Their technology powers the digital transformation. Even more so, their technology mandates that organizations transform themselves to stay in the game. Big Tech is able to do so because their business model is build on the elimination of friction. Your interaction with them basically happens completely online. Artificial intelligence calculates and predicts with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Same-day delivery is becoming the norm. You pay them for their value, if you pay at all.

The business model of consultants is perpendicular to Big Tech. Consultants like the Big-4 (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers). And, in the same breath, other consultants like Accenture, strategy houses (like McKinsey, Booz, BCG) and a host of so-called system integrators (like CGI, Cognizant and many others). For these organizations, friction is the cornerstone of the business model. The core consulting process (giving advice) is still done by hand, sticky notes and flipcharts are rampant, technology is dominated by MsOffice, and results are delivered in weeks or months. Consultants are usually paid by their effort, expressed in hours worked. Doing business online with consultants is almost non-existing: consultancy firms’ websites are just online brochures. Here’s how the two groups compare:

BIG-4                                                   BIG TECH

Elite, for the boardroom                    Ubiquitous

Friction                                               Friction-free

MsOffice, post-its, flipcharts             Artificial intelligence

Takes time                                          Instantaneous

Paid by effort                                      Paid by value or even free

Website as the brochure                   As the main business channel

Big Tech uses consultancy firms to help manage their business issues. But if consultants do not apply A.I. for their core consulting processes and, thus, effectively slowing down Big Tech’s expansion: what stops Big Tech from doing it themselves?