AI isn’t just a competitive advantage in 2025; it’s a necessity. For IT sourcing consultants, the ability to leverage AI effectively will determine not just the success of individual projects but the long-term viability of their practices.
In my decade-long journey as a consultant specializing in risk management technology, I’ve seen tools and trends come and go. What hasn’t changed is the need for IT sourcing consultants to adapt—and fast. As we move into 2025, one thing is clear: artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just a helpful tool anymore. It’s an essential part of staying competitive in an increasingly complex field.
When I first started in consulting, we relied on spreadsheets, email threads, and endless hours of manual analysis to gather requirements, evaluate solutions, and manage client expectations. While these methods got the job done, they left little room for scalability or efficiency.
Fast forward to today, and the expectations of our clients have grown significantly. They want faster insights, better collaboration, and solutions tailored to their unique needs. Meeting those demands means leveraging AI effectively.
The State of AI in IT Sourcing
AI adoption in consulting is accelerating at a pace that even seasoned professionals like myself find astounding. According to Gartner, 75% of consulting firms are expected to integrate AI into their workflows by 2025.
This isn’t surprising. AI has proven its ability to cut down project timelines, reduce costs, and improve the accuracy of sourcing decisions. Yet, for IT sourcing consultants, the challenge lies not just in adopting AI but in embedding it meaningfully into the entire lifecycle of client engagements.
One of the greatest opportunities AI provides is in automating the early stages of IT sourcing—discovery and needs assessments. These are often the most resource-intensive parts of a project, requiring hours of interviews, transcription, and manual data synthesis.
AI tools now allow us to streamline these processes by transcribing conversations, summarizing key points, and even pulling out requirements directly from discussions. This means consultants can spend more time analyzing data and less time gathering it.
From Data Chaos to AI-Driven Clarity
Before I began integrating AI into my workflows, data lived everywhere: spreadsheets, Word documents, PDFs. There was no central repository to organize years of insights. This chaos didn’t just slow down projects; it limited our ability to leverage past learnings for new client engagements.
It’s common for consultants like Redhand to centralize and categorize data into reusable libraries. For instance, I’ve built a library of over 1,500 requirements from past projects, all of which can be quickly filtered and adapted for new projects. This capability is particularly critical in IT sourcing, where every project presents a mix of standard requirements and unique client-specific needs. With AI tools built specifically for our use case, we can deliver tailored solutions faster than ever using our competitive knowledge base.
The Art of Collaboration
Automation has always been an enabler of focusing on client-facing activities versus administrative activities. With the utilization of AI, this is taken even further, streamlining many of the repetitive and time-consuming tasks in the consulting process, freeing up consultants to focus on more meaningful work, like collaboration.
For example, we now use AI-driven survey tools to gather client feedback on priorities. These tools simplify collecting and ranking requirements, reducing the need for endless back-and-forth emails or meetings and allowing consultants to spend more time engaging with clients on strategic decisions.
What’s even more transformative is how AI enables transparency throughout the engagement.
With our new systems, clients now have real-time access to project dashboards, where they can see progress, provide input, and even participate in prioritizing solutions. This reallocation of time not only builds trust but also leads to better outcomes, as consultants can focus on collaboration that drives success.
By handling administrative tasks like organizing and analyzing data, AI lets consultants dedicate more energy to fostering client relationships.
The Role of AI in Scalability
Scalability has always been a challenge for smaller consulting firms like mine. With limited resources, taking on additional projects or serving smaller clients was often a logistical impossibility. AI changes the equation by reducing the overhead required for each engagement and enabling us to explore new business models, like productizing our services.
Productizing consulting services involves packaging expertise into a more structured one.
For example, we recently completed a project for a smaller client with basic IT sourcing needs. Leveraging AI tools, we delivered a fully developed RFP in less than half the time it would have traditionally taken. This efficiency not only allowed us to serve a client I might have otherwise turned away but also positioned us to offer similar streamlined services to other smaller organizations. Suddenly, a whole new customer segment has opened up for us, and we can pursue it without compromising to much of our available capacity to our existing ICP.
By integrating AI into our workflows, we’re not just scaling our operations—we’re also transforming one-off consulting projects into repeatable, scalable offerings. This approach unlocks new market opportunities and creates a foundation for sustained growth.
Best Practices for Leveraging AI in 2025
So, if I had to sum it up for IT consultants looking to stay ahead, here are some key practices to keep in mind as we take on 2025.
- Invest in Purpose-Built AI Tools: General-purpose AI tools can only take you so far. Look for solutions designed specifically for IT sourcing and consulting workflows. These tools will align better with your processes and reduce the need for extensive customization.
- Centralize Your Knowledge Base: AI is only as good as the data you feed it. Create a centralized repository for requirements, solutions, and past project data. This will ensure that your AI tools can deliver insights quickly and accurately.
- Prioritize Client Engagement: Use AI not just for efficiency but to enhance collaboration. Tools like survey platforms and real-time dashboards can make clients active participants in the process, improving satisfaction and outcomes.
- Stay Ahead of Emerging Trends: Customized Large Language Models (LLMs) are the next frontier in AI for consulting. These models, tailored to your specific data and processes, will offer even greater precision and scalability.
AI isn’t just a competitive advantage in 2025; it’s a necessity. For IT sourcing consultants, the ability to leverage AI effectively will determine not just the success of individual projects but the long-term viability of their practices. By embracing AI thoughtfully, we can deliver faster, more cost-effective solutions while building stronger relationships with our clients.
As someone who has spent years refining my processes, I can say with confidence that these new innovations aren’t replacing the art of consulting. It’s enhancing it.
The real value of AI for consultants lies in its ability to free us from repetitive tasks, enabling us to focus on what we do best: solving complex problems and delivering exceptional results for our clients.
About the Author
Patrick O’Neill, Founder and President of Redhand Advisors, is a highly regarded thought leader in RiskTech, with over 30 years of expertise in risk and insurance management information systems, claims management systems, integrated risk management solutions, and other risk-focused technologies. Since founding Redhand Advisors in 2015, Patrick has been dedicated to helping organizations maximize their investment in risk technology while also developing and incubating innovative solutions to meet evolving market needs.
Before launching Redhand, Patrick served as President and COO of a RiskTech startup specializing in workers’ compensation and disability management technology. Earlier in his career, he was Managing Director and a founding member of Marsh’s RMIS business, where he held various leadership roles. During his tenure at Marsh, Patrick worked closely with hundreds of clients to implement and optimize their technology solutions, earning a reputation for his deep industry knowledge and strategic insights.
Sources Cited:
- Gartner: AI Integration in Consulting Firms
- McKinsey: AI’s Impact on Project Timelines
- Productize: What is a Productized Service and Why Should You Start One?
