2025 was set to be the year of AI agents. It was not. Tech At the end of 2024, just over a year ago today, tech behemoth and OpenAI boss Sam Altman predicted that AI agents would completely upturn the workplace before year end. AI agents are software programmes which break down any given task into smaller, more manageable steps, allowing them to devise and execute them with little [...]
Three ways to build start-ups faster and with less investment Opinion CEOs that keep innovating and are advanced users of AI see up to 4x revenue growth than those that don’t, says Paul Jenkins When there’s a period of uncertainty, it’s easy to retrench and focus on short-term gains. To freeze hiring, cut projects and hold off investments. And, it’s hard not to feel a gravitational [...]
McKinsey isn’t dead, but the glamour of being a professional is Opinion The reports of McKinsey’s death are greatly exaggerated, despite what The Economist might say. What’s dying is the professional mythos, writes Lewis Liu.
Advisory giant Teneo valued at £1.7bn in fresh deal August 4, 2025 Advisory firm Teneo has received fresh backing from a top Liechtensteiner buyout firm valuing it at $2.3bn (£1.73bn), in a deal that suggests the malaise afflicting the world’s largest holding companies and consultancies is not extending to more specialist or diversified firms. LGT Capital Partners is backed by Liechtenstein’s royal family and has over $100bn [...]
If you’re a CMO, make friends with the CFO July 19, 2025 Many CEOs now asking, ‘why are marketing metrics up, but sales and market share in decline’ – here’s how CMOs can course correct, by Kelsey Robinson Marketing used to be the growth engine of every company. It championed the customer. It was responsible for everything the customer touched, saw, bought, and felt. But, customer behaviours [...]
Barclays calls in McKinsey to find savings in investment arm June 17, 2025 Barclays has tapped global consultancy giant McKinsey in a bid to identify cost-saving areas across its investment banking arm. The FTSE 100 bank is looking to simplify its investment bank, with consultants examining the front office, finance, risk and technology divisions. The consultants will be looking at duplication of work and whether tasks can be [...]
Agentic AI set to transform tech roles, McKinsey warns June 13, 2025 Agentic AI is poised to shift software engineering from manual coding to high-level orchestration, which is set to transform tech roles according to a McKinsey executive. Speaking at Viva Tech Paris on Thursday, Stéphane Bout, the firm’s France leader and senior partner at QuantumBlack, AI – McKinsey’s data and analytics branch – said the software industry is [...]
McKinsey slashes 10 per cent of jobs in major overhaul May 28, 2025 Consulting giant McKinsey has unleashed one of the largest job culls in the company’s history after ten per cent of staff faced the chop. The New York-headquartered firm has reversed major expansion plans, which peaked during the pandemic, as it aims to drive profitability. The consulting firm has reduced its workforce to 40,000 over the [...]
Can AI replace the boardroom? April 30, 2025 AI is quietly taking over strategic decisions and that’s a mistake. If strategy is going to stay human, then it has to stay messy, says Paul Armstrong Automation used to mean invoices, scheduling and sorting PDFs. Now it means suggesting layoffs, flagging underperforming units, reshaping go-to-market strategy, and proposing M&A targets. AI isn’t just in [...]
Top management consultancies don’t make things any better, clients say August 19, 2024 Drafting in a "big three" consultancy firm to help with corporate projects often has no positive effect, a survey of former clients has found.