Margins
Posts filed under Margins.
Topic
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The downturn playbook for AI-native firms: cut the fat, not the capability
If a downturn hits, the tempting move is to turn AI into a cost-cutting program. Across 4,700 companies and three recessions, firms that ran that play had the worst odds of leading afterward. The winning move: cut the good-times fat, protect service quality, and put AI-freed hours into retention.
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How AI Is Changing the Consulting Industry (and Why the Retainer Wins)
AI won't kill your consulting firm. Your client's ChatGPT might. The billing model decides who keeps AI's efficiency gain: hourly firms hand it back as smaller invoices, retainer firms keep it as margin, as long as the client still feels they get more than they pay for.
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What ROI Does AI Actually Produce in a Service Firm?
MIT says 95% of AI pilots return nothing. Wharton says 75% of firms already see positive ROI. Both are true, and neither answers the owner's question. What AI returns in a service firm, in what order, and on what timeline, from watching hundreds of firms make the climb.
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What Is an AI-Native Service Business?
An AI-native service business runs delivery on shared company knowledge that AI acts on directly: the AI produces the work, people proof it, and margin comes from the system instead of billed hours. Here is the definition, the three levels of adoption, and a check to run on your own firm.