AI: a door to a new world of efficient and value-added professional services, or dark room of empty promises?
The latest Thomson Reuters Institute report on the use of generative AI shows different speeds of take-up, and attitudes towards the future, among the sectors and people that make up professional services.
Workflow
Currently just 13% of professional services firms see GenAI as central to their organisation’s workflows. However, a further 29% expect it to be the case in the next 12 months, while 95% of respondents believe it will be central within the next five years.
Usage
While nine in ten respondents see that GenAI can be applied to their work, there are discrepancies when it comes to should it be applied. For example, 11% working in corporate legal feel it shouldn’t apply, with a further 32% unsure. 29% of tax firm respondents believe it should be applied, or are unsure.
However, at a personal level, the report finds that the usage of tools such as ChatGPT is prevalent.
As the report states: “Wanting to fully vet GenAI technology before adoption is understandable; however, avoiding the conversation about whether GenAI would be a worthwhile addition is not. Particularly given that a majority of professionals said they believe that GenAI can and should be used in their daily work lives, ignorance of both the possibilities and the risks cannot be a viable option.”
Threat potential
There are myriad threats flagged up by professional services firms with GenAI. Lawyers see threats to both their jobs and a negative impact on billing/revenues. The tax industry is similar in seeing less work and fewer jobs because of GenAI.
Use cases
The types of areas in which use cases are being documented is increasing, as well as the usage of GenAI. Growth from 2024 into 2025 included: tax return preparation; document summarisation; and correspondence drafting.
ROI
Not enough firms are measuring the impact of investment in AI tools; only 20% are clear that they are, while 59% said ‘no’. Others are unsure. As the report states: “Without these measurements, organisations may have a difficult time determining the value of GenAI that’s integrated into their work product, which is particularly true as organisations continue moving GenAI into direct client work.”
The Foulger Underwood view
Julia Whistler, head of operations, Foulger Underwood: The implementation of AI into a professional services organisation is fiendishly complex, as it feels like there are more questions than answers. For example, where do you start?
· What can it solve if you don’t know the problems exist?
· Is its usage discrete, or overlaid in dozens of ways across the organisation?
· Do we look for efficiencies or as part of a value-added proposition for clients?
· Do we use AI to replace our people, give them new roles, or finesse their existing responsibilities?
Ultimately, the answer is that you must start somewhere. So, a level of commitment is required, and from the top-down. An initial investment in time and financial resource is inevitable – while measuring return on investment is difficult, doing nothing will inevitably be more costly.
So, rather than have your people be wary of change, get them involved in experimentation, and excited about doing things differently and potentially better.
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