For decades, a saying went round the corridors of big corporations: "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." Picking a giant from the Big 4 was an insurance policy for the board. Even if the project failed, the CEO could throw up his hands and say: "We hired the best, after all." Today, in 2026, that rule no longer holds. And in off-the-record conversations I hear the exact opposite.
The professional services market is going through an earthquake, which reports (among them the market analysis "The Twilight of the PowerPoint Era 2025/2026") call the end of "AI tourism". Companies are done paying for inspiring slides. Instead they want someone who can lift the bonnet on the business and get grease on their hands.
The great escape to specialists
Just two years ago, signing an SOW with a small, local advisory boutique was a risk for a corporate director. "Can they carry it?", "Do they have the back office?" Today it is exactly these small, specialised firms that win the RFPs that used to go to Deloitte or PwC by default.
Why? Because in the age of AI, general knowledge ("we know a bit about everything") has become a cheap commodity. What is worth paying for is deep, vertical knowledge.
The big player
"Will send you a team of juniors with a nice presentation template."
The specialist boutique
"Will send an engineer who builds a working prototype (PoC) in a week, because they have done it ten times before in this exact industry."
Boards are starting to understand that in 2026 a "safe choice" is the one that delivers the result (Outcome-Based), not the one with the famous logo.
The Execution Gap: what do projects crash into?
Looking at market data (Gartner reports and analyses of AI rollouts, among others), we see a brutal truth about the so-called Execution Gap.
- 79% of leaders expect AI to change their business.
- Yet as many as 93% of AI projects die at the prototype stage.
Why? Because strategies drawn up by theorists ignore the dirty reality: no APIs, a mess in the data, technical debt. A Big 4 consultant often stops at a report on "what to do". In my own work I see that clients no longer need an answer to "What?". They need hands-on help with "How?".
A historic opportunity for SMEs: Democratising Strategy
I also see a second, fascinating shift that gets too little attention. Probably for the first time in business history, the SME sector (small and medium-sized enterprises) has access to a level of management and strategy that was previously reserved for corporations with multi-million budgets.
Two forces make this possible:
- The Fractional model (C-level by the hour): You can have an experienced COO (like me) or CFO for a fraction of a full-time role. You don't pay for presence, you pay for results.
- Artificial Intelligence: AI lets small teams do things that used to need an army of assistants.
A small manufacturer used to have no chance of rolling out advanced analytics or process automation, because the barrier to entry was hiring expensive directors and consultants. Today, with the help of specialised "Business Engineers" and tools like n8n or AI agents, a small company can run more efficiently than a sluggish corporation.
"This is the moment when David can not only fight Goliath, but has a better sling."
Notes from the front line
Talking to clients, I see enormous fatigue. Business has had enough of back-seat consulting.
If you are a leader who feels the company is stuck, with a strategy but no results, you probably don't need another audit. You need an implementation partner. Someone who understands the business (like a COO) but can also build the system (like IT).
The 2026 market does not forgive a lack of execution. But it has never before handed such powerful tools to those who dare to act rather than just plan.
