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Navigating Disruption: Strategic Priorities for Professional Services Firms in 2025
Julie Sergent
Content manager
April 29, 2025
5 min
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As the professional services sector enters 2025, decision-makers in consulting, audit, and IT services firms face a new strategic reality. Growth is slowing, expectations are shifting, and resilience is being tested. What will separate the leaders from the laggards?
Access the full study here: download your free report.
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2024 marked a turning point. After nearly a decade of double-digit expansion, growth in the professional services sector cooled significantly. The numbers tell the story: European IT services firms saw growth dip to 0.7%, falling short of already modest forecasts (Numeum). For many firms, both organic and acquisitive growth strategies came under strain, restrained by inflation, budget contractions, and geopolitical tension.
Yet amidst the turbulence, the need for advisory services has not vanished—only refocused. Clients are more selective, seeking value over volume, and precision over presence. Fundamental consulting work endures, especially in mission-critical domains like cybersecurity, ERP, data analytics, and sustainability.
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In response to economic pressure, firms are recalibrating:
Per Breuer, Global Managing Director at Roland Berger, notes:Â
The most attractive consulting markets of the world still are the US, UK, Middle East and Germany. These are very profitable consulting markets.
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A central theme for 2025 is the maturation of the skills-first organisation. Forecasting and matching capabilities to demand is no longer optional. It’s strategic.
Napta’s latest study identifies three imperatives:
Mathilde Le Coz, HR Director at Forvis Mazars France, puts it plainly:
A skills-based approach will be the key focus in 2025. The attractiveness of consulting roles will be crucial, with a growing need for positive impact to attract and retain consultants. And, of course, business conditions will remain a cyclical challenge requiring prudence, resilience, and motivation.
The long-dominant pyramid model—many juniors, few seniors—is evolving into a diamond shape, centred on intermediate expertise. But this reshaping brings new pricing challenges. How do you maintain margins with fewer juniors and higher wage costs?
Two pricing paradigms are emerging:
Stephan Weber, COO of BearingPoint, advocates for outcome-driven approaches:
Switching to models such as fixed-fee engagements or 'outcome as a service' reshapes billing by emphasising results over time. With accurate forecasting, rigorous staffing, and assets like software, we enhance margins while fully capturing the value created for our clients.
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Artificial Intelligence is no longer a buzzword. It’s a battleground.
Clients expect firms to not just talk AI, but to implement it—responsibly, measurably, and profitably. Yet many projects falter due to insufficient preparation: poor data infrastructure, vague use cases, and inadequate change management.
Daniel Jarjoura, Managing Director at Avolta, points out:
“The reality of the market when it comes to implementing AI is that more than two-thirds of French companies – and the trend is similar across Europe – have less than 50% of their data in the cloud. This makes transformation impossible.The first major task is to identify where our data is, move it to the cloud, into data storage spaces, and assess whether AI can be applied to it.”
Leading firms are investing in:
The real challenge is adoption. Manel Oliva-Trastoy Partner at Bain & Company highlights a common pitfall:
I believe one of the disappointments with AI has been the failure to manage change effectively. As a result, there has been little adoption, and the expected outcomes have not materialised.
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The fight for senior talent is intensifying. Attrition may be down due to market caution, but long-term retention remains fragile. In Napta’s survey, 59% of respondents cited post-3-year retention as the top HR concern.
Retention is increasingly tied to:
Philippe Dajean, Partner at Wavestone reflects the broader trend:
“We continue to recruit even in a challenging market. Indeed, growing our teams aligns with our strategy for sustainable growth. We therefore maintain a certain level of hiring for young graduates. What matters most to us is their enthusiasm for joining our project, their energy, and their potential. When we recruit young talent, it’s to build the future. “When we hire young consultants, it’s for the long game. Their energy and potential fuel our future.” Agile Organisations: Resilience Through Flexibility”
2025 demands organisational agility. Not just as a value, but as a strategic muscle.
Agile firms stand out by:
Cross-staffing, supported by centralised tools like Napta’s Smart Staffing™ platform, is a key lever. It enables firms to:
In the era of hybrid teams, compressed timelines, and AI-enhanced workflows, the manager’s role is being redefined.
Tomorrow’s manager must:
As Mathilde Le Coz, HR Director of Forvis Mazars in France says:
Social KPIs should be integrated into the recruitment of managers. Social performance directly contributes to business performance. The better the management, the higher the long-term productivity.
After years of hype, freelance consulting is in retreat. Over-supply, cost-cutting, and a preference for internal training are slowing demand. However, freelancers retain strategic value—for niche skills and short-term surges.
Firms are refocusing on building internal expertise, while maintaining flexible partner ecosystems for agility.
Technology must now serve business value, not vanity projects.
AI is being embedded in:
Firms that succeed in AI will be those that combine technical execution with commercial clarity—proving ROI, earning trust, and developing proprietary IP.
The year ahead will demand both strategic prudence and bold execution. Leading firms will:
PLAN. ENGAGE. PERFORM.
The consulting, audit, and digital services firms that thrive in 2025 won’t just be the biggest or the fastest. They will be the most intentional. Those who align their capabilities, people, and technologies around a clear, forward-looking strategy.
The early 2025 downturn will not be the first—nor the last. But those with a long-term vision will see opportunity beyond the storm. — Benjamin Polle, La Lettre du conseil
