For all of the doomsday predictions that AI will make administration consultants out of date, Boston Consulting Group CEO Christoph Schweizer has this retort: Take a look at the enterprise.
Income at BCG rose 7% to $14.4 billion within the agency’s newest fiscal yr and its head rely is increasing because the agency rushes to fulfill a close to “infinite want” from firms for assist rolling out AI, Schweizer stated.
Reorienting BCG round AI is now a main focus for the 53-year-old German govt, who was re-elected in 2025 to his second four-year time period operating BCG. On its largest AI tasks, BCG is getting paid in a different way, with extra work depending on attaining sure targets for the consumer, resembling decrease prices or increased income progress. The worth-based mannequin carries dangers for BCG but in addition larger upside potential.
In June, its 33,500 staff begin a four-phase AI certification program, developed in-house to make sure staffers keep fluent within the know-how.
The Wall Avenue Journal talked with Schweizer about AI and pricing, entry-level hiring and whether or not Anthropic poses a aggressive risk. Listed below are edited excerpts:
WSJ: The place does consulting go within the AI period?
CHRISTOPH SCHWEIZER: How influence will get delivered at this time is now altering.
At this level, there’s plenty of commentary that the trade is transferring extra in the direction of value-based payment preparations. My very first case as a companion was a variable-fee association. So this isn’t new. Nevertheless, now with AI altering each trade and each operate, there are novel conditions: Nobody has carried out enterprisewide AI transformation for a giant financial institution till two years in the past.
For almost all (three quarters) of our largest AI instances, we now have a variable-fee association.
WSJ: Past these tasks, what quantity of BCG’s work is in these outcomes-based pricing constructions?
SCHWEIZER: It’s considerably lower than a 3rd.
WSJ: What does your hiring seem like on the entry degree—are you altering how many individuals you deliver into the agency on condition that AI can do issues in a different way?
SCHWEIZER: We completed 2025 with extra BCGers than we began; we proceed to recruit, promote and elect to companion in comparatively regular bandwidths.
We’re blown away concerning the junior expertise we are able to rent. They’re so AI native, they use these instruments as if the world had by no means existed with out them. So maybe a bit counter to many narratives on the market, now we have not decreased our junior consumption, and we’re very proud of that.
We’re additionally seeing an all-time peak in functions. Final yr, 1.7 million individuals utilized to BCG, so lower than 1% of people that apply in the end get to affix us.
WSJ: BCG has partnered with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. In the meantime, Anthropic can also be making a three way partnership with Blackstone and others to promote AI instruments to firms. Is {that a} aggressive risk?
SCHWEIZER: There may be huge demand for deploying AI at scale, and there may be not almost sufficient capability of people that can assist that. So, in our thoughts, it’s a very good transfer by OpenAI, Anthropic and others to construct and lock in that deployment capability, in the end to speed up adoption and to drive token utilization.
That’s not likely what we do: We assist firms reshape capabilities or all the firm. We assist them redesign workflows and upskill their group. I don’t suppose that this can be a aggressive state of affairs. We’re very blissful to work collectively to just be sure you don’t simply drive token consumption, however you really see modifications within the P&L and in how individuals work.
WSJ: It’s been a yr because the controversy over BCG’s work on an Israeli-backed aid-distribution initiative in Gaza. In response, BCG named a brand new chief threat officer and put different protocols in place. What do you’re taking away from that have?
SCHWEIZER: This was an extremely troublesome chapter for BCG. A very powerful factor that I discovered, and that has confirmed to be the case but once more, is that you just continuously must work on reinforcing processes, controls, and tradition. This can be a fixed process for a frontrunner.
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