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BCG's CEO expects the $12 billion consulting firm to generate one-fifth of its revenue from helping companies integrate artificial intelligence into their businesses in 2024, and that share will increase by 2026. He said he expected it to reach 40%.
Christoph Schweitzer told the Financial Times that AI and generative AI had “significantly boosted” revenues over the past year as companies moved from experimenting with the technology to “large-scale adoption.”
BCG works with global technology giants and AI companies, from Microsoft and Google to OpenAI and Anthropic, to integrate their technology into their companies' operations and processes. We also train directors and executives to recognize this as a business priority.
“I have never seen a topic become more relevant as quickly as Gen AI,” said Schweizer, who personally uses large-scale language models to create meeting minutes and electronic He added that he writes emails and summarizes documents.
Although previously undisclosed, the bulk of BCG's revenue comes from AI advisory work, highlighting how consulting firms are looking to profit from the generative AI boom.
Rapid sales growth in BCG's AI division also partially offset weakness in other divisions due to last year's tough economic conditions. BCG's 2023 total revenue rose just 5% to $12.3 billion, the company's slowest growth in at least seven years.
However, Schweitzer said the consulting market “feels more positive” this year, adding that BCG's revenue grew “in the 10% range again” in percentage terms in the first quarter of 2024.
From customer service chatbots to data migration to overhauling medical research and development, BCG is helping companies use AI to reduce costs and improve productivity, says Schweizer. he said. “We're seeing incredible use case adoption,” he added.
Schweizer argued that competitors are pushing BCG's AI advisory business because the company recognized AI early on as a potential driver of growth. In 2015 he started investing in AI businesses. BCG has approximately 3,000 employees in its BCG X technology and design division. He also introduced AI tools to 33,000 employees to help them manage company data, create text, summarize information, and create slides.
“It's all well and good to go to clients and tell them they have to change, but I'm the loudest voice when it comes to telling the team that BCG has to change just as much. “He can also be described as a ruthless leader,” he said. Schweitzer. “We're taking our own medicine.”
The company was participating in a Harvard Business School study monitoring the impact of OpenAI's GPT-4 model on employees. Consultants who were assigned AI tools were more productive than those who were not. They worked faster and produced higher quality work.
Schweitzer said that even though business leaders have less say on environmental, social and governance issues than they did a few years ago, advising on climate change and sustainability projects will continue to be the company's most important role in 2023. It is a rapidly growing business, he said, noting the backlash in some countries, including: The United States opposes stakeholder capitalism.
“Are there any parts of the world where CEOs prefer not to focus too much on their ESG? … And the climate change agenda? Absolutely,” he said. “But that doesn't mean they're not working on it. . . . The rhetoric is becoming more cautious.”
