When it comes to digitization, consulting firms shouldn't just preach.

By Edward Haigh

My frequent trips across the North Atlantic over the last year or so have served to illustrate many things: it really ought to be simpler, by now, to get from Kennedy airport into Manhattan; Texas has more private medical centres than cowboys; you don’t need a whole Chicago deep-pan pizza to yourself; technology rules.

The first three are probably open to debate – those charming New York cabbies are probably very happy with the status quo, my research into the private medical centre to cowboy ratio is at an early stage, and there’s almost certainly someone who does need a whole Chicago deep-pan pizza to themselves, even if they’ll probably need to check in to a private medical centre soon (I recommend Texas). The last isn’t.

We talked about the impact of digitization on the consulting industry in our recently-published report – The US consulting Market in 2014 – but I can’t help feeling that we neglected to set the broader context in which it sits with sufficient chutzpah.

I’ve been mulling the idea of technology as the new American religion since the death of Steve Jobs, the mere speaking of whose name came to feel as though it ought, by law, to be appended in some way (peace be upon him). The idea of Jobs as the son of God (God presumably being a data centre or something) is tempting, even if the analogy needs to allow for other strands which worship different leaders. The point is about the overarching – and possibly unquestioning – faith being placed by the American people in technology.

But I really warmed to the idea whilst spending time at Deloitte’s recent Global Analyst Summit in Westlake, Texas (yep, you've got me,  my research amounted to looking out of the window of the airport shuttle, counting cowboys – none – and private medical centres – lots), the main plenary session of which focused almost entirely on technology. As various new technologies – and the opportunities they presented for Deloitte and its clients – were discussed, a room full of 50 or 60 analysts nodded appreciatively, occasionally vigorously. The converted were being preached to, and they loved it. Data explosion! Exponential technology! Change is coming now!  Amen to that, brother. Amongst a room full of analysts – people who owe their livelihood to their ability provide an informed and dispassionate assessment of what’s really happening – there wasn’t a single dissenting voice. Not one. And when a video link was set up to Peter Diamandis, Co-Founder and Executive Director of one of Deloitte’s partners – Singularity University – their reverence moved up a notch or two. As he railed against the way things were and offered up technology as the solution in every single case (which, to be fair, is pretty much the stated purpose of Singularity University) they lapped it up. They laughed when they were supposed to, nodded when they were supposed to, shook their heads in disbelief when they were supposed to. They were putty in his hands.

That jarred a little with me, but it’s not my primary concern here. What worries me more is that consulting firms are being similarly swept up. To be clear, I think a lot of what Deloitte specifically is doing in the digital space and through its partnerships is genuinely impressive, but as the digital bandwagon gathers speed across the industry as a whole – and it already represents what we believe to be as close to the next big thing in consulting as you’re likely to find – I can’t help thinking that consulting firms need to be prepared to play more than one role. One client we spoke to recently told us “we’re working on our digital strategy. I have no idea what that means.” Converted before he even knew why, he might not have benefitted from the opinion of a digital dissenter, but the last thing he needed was a preacher.