Inside 'How Small AI Consultancies Win Client Work'
From IT involvement and the language of AI transformation to the evidence clients need, a recap of Prescient's discussion with AI consultancies.
Photos from the event · 1 of 3
On 23 September, Prescient brought together small AI consultancy founders and practitioners for How Small AI Consultancies Win Client Work. The most useful parts of the evening came when people compared the obstacles they meet in real deals and how an initial engagement can become something substantial.
Jatin Patel told the story of winning a major deal at Pegasystems against Salesforce. His lesson was grounded in the client relationship: show up, spend time with the people making the decision, and understand the problem they need solved. A smaller firm cannot rely on its name alone, but it can give a client serious attention and demonstrate that it has listened.
During the open discussion, more than half the room raised their hands when asked whether client IT teams had blocked a deal or slowed its progress. The reasons varied. Some teams had already tried to build something similar themselves. Others had a backlog and little capacity to assess another request. Security permissions could be a genuine hurdle. Treating all of these as resistance misses the point. Involving IT early gives a consultancy a chance to understand those constraints, work through access requirements, and shape a proposal the client can actually implement.
The room also discussed how to describe the work. Participants leaned towards AI and transformation, while "digital transformation" felt to many like an older label. Whatever the wording, the proposal still has to explain which problem changes and how the client will judge the result.
Fredrik Lindstrom's session raised a useful distinction about competing with the Big Four. Some clients are buying the reassurance of a large firm's name. A smaller consultancy should recognise when that is the deciding factor. Many other buyers need confidence in the team's understanding, evidence, delivery plan and business case. That is where a focused consultancy can compete.
Prescient closed with an example of a consultant partner using a data-driven assessment to identify and win significant follow-on opportunities. It was a practical illustration of how process evidence can strengthen both the diagnostic and the commercial case for work beyond an initial engagement, without pretending that the original brief tells the whole story.