AI Is Altering How Consultants Get Paid—and A lot Extra, BCG’s CEO Says

For all of the doomsday predictions that AI will make administration consultants out of date, Boston Consulting Group CEO Christoph Schweizer has this retort: Have a look at the enterprise.

Income at BCG rose 7% to $14.4 billion within the agency’s newest fiscal yr and its head depend is increasing because the agency rushes to fulfill a close to “infinite want” from corporations for assist rolling out AI, Schweizer mentioned.

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 working BCG. On its greatest AI tasks, BCG is getting paid in another way, with extra work depending on attaining sure targets for the consumer, similar to decrease prices or increased income progress. The worth-based mannequin carries dangers for BCG but additionally better 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 menace. Listed here are edited excerpts:

WSJ: The place does consulting go within the AI period?

CHRISTOPH SCHWEIZER: How influence will get delivered right now is now altering.

At this level, there’s a number of commentary that the trade is shifting extra in 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 perform, there are novel conditions: Nobody has performed enterprisewide AI transformation for an enormous financial institution till two years in the past.

For almost all (three quarters) of our largest AI circumstances, we now have a variable-fee association.

WSJ: Past these tasks, what quantity of BCG’s work is in these outcomes-based pricing buildings?

SCHWEIZER: It’s considerably lower than a 3rd.

WSJ: What does your hiring appear to be on the entry degree—are you altering how many individuals you deliver into the agency provided that AI can do issues in another 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, we’ve got not diminished 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 folks utilized to BCG, so lower than 1% of people that apply in the end get to hitch 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 corporations. Is {that a} aggressive menace?

SCHWEIZER: There may be monumental demand for deploying AI at scale, and there’s not almost sufficient capability of people that can help that. So, in our thoughts, it’s a very sensible 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 corporations reshape capabilities or the complete firm. We assist them redesign workflows and upskill their group. I don’t assume that it is a aggressive scenario. We’re very comfortable to work collectively to just remember to don’t simply drive token consumption, however you truly see adjustments within the P&L and in how folks 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 tough chapter for BCG. An important factor that I realized, and that has confirmed to be the case but once more, is that you just continually must work on reinforcing processes, controls, and tradition. This can be a fixed activity for a pacesetter.