There have been peaks and troughs in clients’ appetites for using AI in their businesses over the past 2 years. Source’s own quarterly data showed a heady peak shortly after the launch of ChatGPT, followed 12 months later by a significant fall. But now the figures are persuasive: Clients tell us that exploiting the opportunities of AI is their second most important strategic priority today and it topped the charts as their number one priority in Q1 2025.  

This appetite appears to be resilient too; amid the protected period of macroeconomic and political volatility, many clients have decided they have to act now or risk letting their competitors get ahead. As a consequence, in today’s unreliable world, 65% of clients say their investment in AI is not being impacted by the macroeconomic environment, and another 27% say the situation is actually causing them to increase their investment.

99% of clients expect to use firms for AI support in the next 12 months.

So, clients are implementing AI, but are they doing all this themselves, or will they finally be reaching out for third-party support? The data is encouraging for firms: Eighty-one percent of clients say they have paid for consulting support on AI in the past 12 months, and 99% expect to use AI advisors over the same period in the future. 

The size and scope of projects is interesting, too. In the last year, informal, unpaid-for discussions have accounted for a relatively small slice of the pie. Most in demand are projects that are tailored to address a client’s specific, ringfenced problem, with 71% saying they have worked with consultants on a large project with this well-defined goal, and 54% on a limited-scope project addressing a specific problem. Small-scale support to test the potential of the tech is also in demand, with 66% of clients saying they have used this kind of advice.  

Large transformational and multidisciplinary projects have been bought less often in the last 12 months, with 47% and 21% of clients, respectively, investing here. But these numbers are not insignificant, and it seems reasonable to assume that interest in these larger projects will rise as the technology matures, as use cases are proven, and if clients see hard returns and true value from the limited scope projects that they are currently buying from firms. 

Clients are using AI consulting to solve specific business problems.

What problems is AI solving? 

And what issues will clients be looking to address with the consulting support they do buy? The list of problems is long, and AI appears to be seen as a solution for many of them in relatively equal measure. Improving interactions with customers and improving decision making are the areas where clients say they have been seeking out most help—and with clients telling us that CX is their top strategic priority this quarter, that demand looks set to continue. Cost cutting is languishing lower down on their investment list, but even there a reasonable 27% of clients say they have bought third-party help to tackle this challenge.  

Clients see AI as a broad-spectrum solution.

It seems that the tipping point at which clients are paying for consulting support to help them reach their AI goals has now been reached. But how can a firm ensure that it is the advisor of choice? One way is to make sure that you understand and can talk to the barriers that clients say they face around AI implementation. This can be a nuanced matter, as we explore in our recently published Emerging Trends report, Client attitudes to AI and barriers to implementation today. The barriers clients encounter vary across both organisational functions and levels of seniority, with those at the C-suite level and those in areas like Finance and IT exhibiting the greatest levels of resistance to AI use. 

So, while clients are now using AI widely in their businesses and reaching out for support from firms to address specific needs, there is still resistance from some senior stakeholders to fully adopt the tech. These stakeholders are key buyers of consulting services, and so firms will frequently be selling to AI sceptics and will need to adapt their pitches accordingly. To deliver what clients really want and build trust, firms should avoid over-promising with their solutions and instead position themselves as experts that can overcome the barriers that clients worry about most.  

What can firms do next?  

If you’d like to take a granular look at where different business functions and role types are struggling to implement AI in their businesses, then download our latest Emerging Trends report. In Client attitudes to AI and barriers to implementation today, we provide a snapshot of what really matters to clients about AI in their businesses and where Source analysts think the opportunities are for firms. To find out more, download the report or contact us.