The Future of Management Consulting, with AI

A point of view by Shanaka Jayasinghe, Partner at Trace Consultants

Let me get this out of the way upfront: yes, I used AI to help draft this article.

Not because I couldn’t write it. But because, like everyone else, I’m learning how to use these tools effectively—and because it would be disingenuous to talk about the future of management consulting without using the very technology we’re all trying to understand.

AI is already transforming the way organisations think, plan, and operate. For consulting firms—especially those of us who work deeply in supply chain and procurement—this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. We must confront what AI automates, where human expertise still holds unmatched value, and how our role needs to evolve.

At Trace, we see this evolution playing out every day across our projects—from rethinking warehouse and transport networks, the automation of forecasting & purchasing decisions, to the redesigning back-of-house logistics for major hospitals.

The future isn’t about competing with AI. It’s about integrating it—so we can go deeper, act faster, and deliver smarter outcomes for our clients.

A Shift in the Consulting Project Landscape

In a short space of time, we’ve already seen a clear shift in the types of consulting projects clients are engaging. The era of the multi-year tech transformation—requiring armies of consultants, vendors, and SI partners—feels like it’s winding down. Whether driven by economic pressure, AI enablement, or both, organisations are now leaning into more agile, focused initiatives. The brief is clearer: reduce cost, move faster, unlock value.

Clients want surgical improvements to their business model—clear problems, straightforward solutions, pragmatic delivery, and real-time benefit tracking. It’s no longer about grand programs with abstract business cases. It’s about doing fewer things, better.

And in this environment, it’s not the “smartest” consultant who stands out—it’s the most helpful. The real value lies in the application of a solution, not just its design. Those who can implement change, navigate complexity, and deliver impact without overcomplicating it will outperform. That’s the difference between good and great—and it’s what will determine who thrives in the age of AI.

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Consulting’s Core Promise Hasn’t Changed—But How We Deliver It Must

Great consulting has never been just about providing answers. It’s about helping clients solve problems they can’t—or shouldn’t—tackle alone. It’s about building trust, embedding change, and transferring capability.

I read a fantastic piece on consulting back in 2018 that's shaped my perspective since. Robert Hillard wrote in The Mandarin, consulting is at its best when it’s:

• Trusted – grounded in long-term relationships, not transactions
• Transformative – unlocking change that sticks
• Transferable – leaving clients better equipped than before

These principles remain true in the age of AI. But how we deliver against them is changing—fast.

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A Growing Irony in the Consulting Sector

There’s a strange paradox emerging. Many global consulting firms are promoting AI as the key to competitive advantage. Yet in doing so, they’re also accelerating the commoditisation of some of their own services.

As a former Director at Accenture, I’ve seen firsthand how large firms—built for scale and capacity—are grappling with this shift. Their latest global strategy, as reported in the AFR, reflects a sharp pivot towards AI-powered service lines. But in doing so, many are caught in a tension between automating delivery and preserving value.

If AI can automate benchmarking, generate strategy slides, simulate business cases, and process supply chain data in minutes—then why engage a traditional consultant?

The answer, of course, is: it depends on what you want.

If you want a generic solution based on global best practice and internal toolkits, AI might be enough. But if you want something fit-for-purpose, grounded in the operational realities of your business, and actually implementable—then you still need people who understand how supply chains work on the ground, how technology integrates across the stack, and how to drive alignment across stakeholders.

That’s where the difference lies. And it’s where Trace has always focused our value.

The Spotlight on Big Consulting—and the Rise of Boutique Specialists

The broader context cannot be ignored. The PwC Australia tax scandal has prompted a wave of scrutiny around consulting engagements—especially within government.

Large firms, once the default, are now under more pressure than ever to justify cost, independence, and delivery value. In this environment, boutique firms like us have found greater traction—not just because we’re smaller, but because we’re specialists.

We bring deep, operational expertise in supply chain and procurement—not just strategy, but execution. We know how to redesign supply chain technology architectures and work with operators to optimise for outcomes - whether that be oriented towards driving service, growth or cost outcomes. We know what warehouse constraints actually look like on site. We know how to navigate and implement change in complex government and commercial environments.

What’s Becoming Less Valuable in Consulting

AI has already made some aspects of our profession redundant—and more change is coming.

Tasks like deck-building, benchmarking, financial modelling, and process mapping are being automated. These used to be core deliverables; now they’re inputs, or even by-products, of the real work.

Some forms of IT consulting, particularly those relying on offshoring or capacity-based delivery models, are at risk. Why engage a team to build a data model over three weeks when an AI tool can structure 80% of it in a day?

Clients expect—and deserve—faster, more efficient delivery.

Let’s call it out clearly:

1. Generic Benchmarking and Presentation Building

Once a differentiator, now a commodity. If you’re producing decks that repackage existing content, clients will quickly realise they can generate it themselves—with better data and in less time.

2. Surface-Level Expertise

Summarising industry trends or deploying generic maturity models without tailoring to the client’s operating model, commercial context, or tech stack is no longer good enough. Clients want specific, actionable insights.

3. Chargeable-Hour Based Operating Models

Charging for time rather than outcomes is under threat. When a task is automatable, the expectation will shift toward fixed-price, outcome-based delivery—especially in areas like procurement diagnostics, network design modelling, or demand planning.

Consultants need to go beyond what AI can do. That’s the new bar.

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What’s Becoming More Valuable in Consulting

As AI takes over commoditised tasks, the real value in consulting shifts to the things it can’t do—yet.

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1. Deep Domain and Operational Expertise

Nowhere is this more true than in supply chain and procurement.

From configuring a WMS system for complex warehouse flows to evaluating supplier transition risk across a hospital network, the nuance required can’t be faked.

Our clients choose us because we understand their operations at a granular level. We know what happens at the loading dock. We understand how a supplier shift affects patient flow, shift rostering, or site safety.

That’s not something AI can infer from a spreadsheet.

2. Human Connection and Change Enablement

AI doesn’t build trust. It doesn’t resolve tension in a boardroom or help a CFO navigate uncertainty in a capital project.

Consulting is still about people. That’s more true than ever in a world where technology creates answers, but humans make decisions.

3. Strategic Intuition and Decision Framing

AI can present options—but it can’t navigate trade-offs in a complex business environment.

Whether we’re advising on S&OP frameworks, indirect procurement strategies, or warehouse footprints, our clients value judgement—the kind that comes from doing it before, in multiple contexts, and knowing where to flex.

The Architecture Challenge: Data Disintegration in Supply Chains

If there’s one thing holding organisations back from AI-enabled transformation—it’s their fragmented system landscape.

In supply chain, we see this daily:

• ERP for finance and materials
• APS for planning
• WMS and TMS for logistics
• P2P for procurement
• BI tools for reporting
• All alongside countless excel spreadsheets!!!

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Each holds different data, structures, and timestamps—creating blind spots and inefficiencies.

This leads to:

• Limited visibility of landed costs or working capital
• Duplicate supplier records
• Misaligned planning and execution
• Excel-heavy workarounds

AI won’t solve this alone. But it can help:

• Integration layers to harmonise data
• Agents to fill data gaps with external benchmarks
• Decision engines to simulate outcomes across constraints

But only if consultants know how to apply it operationally.

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Bridging the Gap: From Data Fragmentation to AI Enablement

AI’s power is only as strong as the data it can access. In supply chain and procurement, fragmented systems often limit that potential. Legacy platforms, siloed functions, and poor integration can stall even the best AI tools. Effective consultants help cut through this. Drawing on deep operational experience, they guide businesses to prioritise tech investments with a practical lens—introducing targeted solutions that capture and connect the right data without overengineering. This approach maximises the impact of AI while keeping integration costs lean.

At Trace, we’ve helped clients unlock critical data and enable AI-driven planning, forecasting, and workflow automation. If you're navigating this space, reach out to Tim Fagan or Mat Tolley—they’re doing this work right now and can help you move faster, smarter.

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A New Model of Consulting: AI-Augmented, Human-Led

At Trace, we believe the future isn’t AI versus people—it’s AI plus people, each playing to their strengths.

Our model is simple:

• AI does the heavy lifting – data ingestion, pattern recognition, workflow automation
• Our consultants lead the thinking – alignment, change, solution design, implementation

Whether optimising a warehouse network, designing linen logistics for a new hospital, or deploying scheduling tools for aged care—our team uses AI to go faster but always lead with human judgement.

What This Means for Talent

The consultant of the future isn’t just a generalist. They’re:

• A systems thinker
• An operations expert
• A change leader
• A technologist (even if not a coder)
• A trusted advisor

At Trace, our team includes planners, engineers, operators, integrators—and the occasional AI enthusiast.

These are the people who will thrive in the future of consulting.

The More Things Change, the More We Need to Stay Human

AI will replace parts of consulting. But it will also elevate it.

Our job is not to resist the shift—but to lean into it with clarity, ethics, and courage.

To stop charging for what’s easy.
To focus on what’s hard.
To go deeper.
To be faster.
To stay human.

At Trace, that’s been our model since day one: operational depth, client intimacy, real-world results.

Yes, I used AI to help write this.

But it’s the human insight that makes it matter.

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When we’re expecting a tradie to visit, we often spend a lot of time waiting around being unproductive…this is what happens at our loading docks too, but that lost productivity has much greater impacts on cost and customer service. Dock scheduling software is a game changer in this space, ensuring your dock managers know what to expect for the day, so they can adequately align the resources and capacity that is available to the activity expected on the Docks.  The key here is to allow the carriers to automatically book time in line with the operational policies of each site. This generates the expected demand and resource at your facilities – which is the catalyst for enabling the successful execution of subsequent back of house operations in the delivery of services to customers or end users.

In this article, we explore the two key scenarios that occur daily in loading docks across Australia, the impacts this has on your costs and efficiencies, and the how dock scheduling can provide a solution.

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Back-Of-House planning – where complexities arise

As a patron to sports stadiums, theatres, shopping centres or even airports, we often don’t consider the extensive back of house areas where goods are received, stored and staged, before we see them served to us. The effective management of back of house operations is crucial for balancing operational costs with customer service levels. We typically see two common challenges with loading docks: too many deliveries to handle at one time, or too many idle resources waiting for inbound deliveries.

Influx of deliveries exceed capacity

Where unexpected influxes of deliveries occur at once, many of these cannot be serviced which results in:

- Holding up drivers in queues for extended periods,

- Operational shortcuts and workarounds in an effort to process quicker (i.e. staff disregarding safety procedures, manually dismantling pallets where forklifts are unavailable),

- Congested processing and storage areas, creating a bottleneck in goods flow processes,

- Cold chain compliance risks, and

- Perpetual and compounding delays to BOH operations downstream of the loading dock.

Over committing resources to prepare for unexpected delivery volumes

When we don’t know what’s coming, we will tend to err on the side of caution and prepare for the most we think we need. Over investment in dock resources means:

- More congestion at the dock with under utilised people and equipment,

- Excessive labour costs and inflated cost to serve,

- Increased maintenance and upkeep costs, and

- Clustered and ad hoc deliveries at suboptimal times.

When we don’t lock in delivery times, suppliers and drivers will show up when it suits them – not when it aligns with our own operational needs and workflow efficiency. No schedule means no control, and the resulting impact this can then have on the operational value chain through to our customers is significant.

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Dock scheduling software as an enabler to strategic back of house design

A major enabler for combatting the above loading dock issues is distributing dock demand over the day to account for our capacity and align with our operational needs (e.g. for a hospitality business, we want our Loading Dock resources focused on processing fresh food deliveries  earlier in the day to allow kitchen production processes). This is where the concept of dock scheduling software comes in – by facilitating a scheduling system for truck arrivals to the dock, organisations can plan when suppliers will arrive and ensure there is appropriate space, equipment, and labour to receive goods and avoid queues and backlog.

Not only can dock scheduling keep your loading dock running smoothly, it also provides an opportunity to further optimise, such as reducing dock hours all together, and reducing manual administration requirements.

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Mobiledock – the Loading Dock Management software solution

Mobiledock is an Australian developed, highly configurable web-based Loading dock scheduling platform that provides ‘air traffic control’ for loading docks, transforming operations from bottlenecks into streamlined, secure, and synchronised logistics hubs.

Mobiledock provides:

• A comprehensive booking and automated approvals system that provides carriers with an instant confirmation of loading dock timeslots which are also optimise dock usage and labour hours.

• Real-time visibility on an intuitive timeline interface for dock staff and business managers to prepare for receival of goods

• Powerful reporting tools to gain insights and drive performance improvements such as arrival times and turnaround times across partners and dock operations

• Enhanced site security through pre-authorisations for drivers, contractors, and service agents requesting access to the loading docks.

• Easy appointment setting, freeing up time for higher-value tasks.

The cost benefit outcomes of implementing Mobiledock have proven substantial.

• Alignment of Loading Dock resources to “when” specific deliveries are needed

• Reduction in required manned hours on dock, significantly reducing labour costs

• Distributing arrival times leads to a reduction in required bays

• Scheduling through Mobiledock streamlines various methods of communication from suppliers, reducing manual hours and improving overall communication.

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With 32 retailers, 9 high rise buildings, and only one loading dock entrance, the 22-hectare Barangaroo precinct tackles loading dock administration with ease using Mobiledock automated entry processes.

“This enables the Dockmaster to focus on operations rather than conducting manual checks and administration. These advancements in technology get vehicles off the surrounding streets and into our facility […] reducing local road congestion.” – Mark Hedges, Property Services, Barangaroo.

To read more about the ‘Barangaroo Effect’, click here.

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Next steps

Trace Consultants is a trusted partner for organisations looking to optimise BOH operations through loading dock process optimisation and management systems. With experience across stadiums, integrated resort style precincts, event centres, hospitals, universities, and more, we can provide tailored solutions to meet your unique circumstances.

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Our Services Include:

• Dock layout design and optimisation

• Process mapping, review and optimisation

• Implementation and integration of dock management systems

• Customised training and change management for staff

• Performance monitoring and continuous improvement support

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To read about Mobiledock and proven implementation results, head to the Mobiledock website.

To discuss opportunities for dock scheduling software and other back of house optimisation strategies, contact us at Trace Consultants here.

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How Data Is Reshaping Supply Chain Strategy in Australia

Co-authored by Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants

In the past few years, the importance of resilient, data-driven supply chains has shifted from a competitive advantage to a business imperative. The combination of global supply shocks, evolving customer expectations, and a more connected digital economy means Australian businesses can no longer afford to treat supply chain management and data analytics as separate conversations.

This joint piece by Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants explores how data is reshaping supply chain strategy across Australia. We’ll look at the current challenges, the role of data integration and visibility, and where businesses can focus their efforts for immediate impact.

The Current State of Supply Chain in Australia

Australia’s supply chains are unique. Distance, logistics complexity, reliance on imports, and regulatory frameworks all influence how local businesses manage sourcing, manufacturing, transport, and delivery.

Some of the key challenges facing Australian supply chains today include:

• Rising costs in freight, warehousing, and inventory management
• Labour shortages across logistics and transport sectors
• Limited visibility over multi-tier supplier networks
• Volatility in demand and disruptions to overseas sourcing

Despite growing investment in technology, many businesses still operate with fragmented systems. Procurement runs on email, warehousing data lives in spreadsheets, and transport performance is tracked manually or in disconnected tools.

This fragmentation makes it hard to:

• Track real-time inventory levels
• Predict bottlenecks or delays
• Optimise supplier or route decisions
• Make confident decisions based on the full picture

And this is where data strategy makes the difference.

Why Supply Chain Needs a Unified Data Strategy

A unified data strategy brings together information from across your supply chain, enabling you to:

• Improve visibility from supplier to customer
• Respond faster to disruptions or market changes
• Reduce manual effort through automation
• Unlock deeper insights to optimise operations

But getting there means more than plugging in a dashboard. It requires:

• Mapping current data flows and identifying gaps
• Connecting systems across procurement, inventory, transport, and finance
• Establishing clear metrics and KPIs
• Building trust in data quality across teams

This is the foundation of a supply chain that runs on insight, not instinct.

The Role of Data Integration

Pentify Insights and Trace Consultants have worked with Australian businesses who know their supply chains are too slow, too reactive, and too expensive, but don’t know where to start.

The answer is almost always the same: get your data working together.

What that looks like in practice:

• Connect your ERP, inventory system, and transport management system into one data platform
• Build automated data pipelines to pull updates in real time
• Set up alerts when metrics like stock-on-hand, lead times, or cost per order hit certain thresholds
• Create dashboards for different functions (finance, ops, warehouse, executive) from the same data source

Done right, this shifts reporting from monthly and reactive to live and proactive.

Where Supply Chain Leaders Are Focusing Their Data Efforts

We’re seeing the biggest gains from companies who focus their data efforts in the following areas:

1. Inventory Optimisation

Stockouts and overstock are two sides of the same problem: lack of accurate forecasting and visibility.

Using integrated data, businesses can:

• Align ordering to actual demand, not just forecasts
• Reduce excess stock while maintaining service levels
• Improve warehouse planning and working capital use

2. Supplier Performance

Too many businesses track supplier metrics manually or not at all.

With the right data, you can:

• Measure on-time delivery and lead time accuracy
• Track defect rates or returns by vendor
• Compare cost vs reliability across suppliers

3. Transport and Fulfilment

Data can help streamline delivery, reduce cost, and boost customer satisfaction.

Key metrics to monitor include:

• Freight cost per unit or per lane
• Delivery-in-full-on-time (DIFOT)
• Route performance and turnaround time

4. Risk and Resilience

After COVID, geopolitical shifts, and natural disasters, resilience is a board-level topic.

Data can help you:

• Model what-if scenarios for supplier or route disruption
• Score suppliers based on location, dependency, or risk exposure
• Create buffers where they matter most

Practical First Steps to Get Started

You don’t need a full transformation to see benefits. Start with the following steps:

1. Pick a priority area What’s costing you the most time, money, or frustration? Inventory, transport, or supplier performance are good starting points.

2. Map your data sources Where does data currently live? What’s missing? What’s manual?

3. Set a clear use case Don’t aim for perfection. Focus on solving one problem, like automating a key report or improving delivery tracking.

4. Build a scalable foundation Use cloud-based tools, modern ETL platforms, and warehouse options that will grow with your needs.

5. Involve the right people early Finance, ops, and procurement all need to be at the table.

Tools That Are Helping Australian Supply Chains

Tools & Platforms

Data Warehousing: BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure

ETL & Integration: Fivetran, Airbyte, Zapier, Stitch

Visualisation & BI: Power BI, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

ERP & Inventory: SAP, Oracle, Dynamics 365, NetSuite, MYOB Advanced, Unleashed, Cin7

Transport Management: MachShip, FreightExchange, TransVirtual

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Pentify helps integrate and visualise the data. Trace brings expertise in what the supply chain teams actually need to track, improve, and deliver.

What Good Looks Like

Here are outcomes we’ve helped drive:

• 70% faster access to delivery and cost data
• 90% reduction in manual report prep for logistics teams
• Live dashboards for finance, ops, and execs fed by the same source

These aren’t overnight fixes. But they are realistic outcomes with the right foundation.

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Final Thoughts

Australia’s supply chains aren’t getting simpler. But with the right data in the right hands, they can get smarter, faster, and more resilient.

Whether you’re a supply chain lead frustrated by manual tracking, or a CFO struggling to understand cost-to-serve, the path forward is the same: connect your data, align your teams, and focus on what you can improve next.

Pentify Insights brings the data and analytics expertise. Trace Consultants brings the operational experience and supply chain insight.

Together, we help Australian businesses turn supply chain noise into clarity, and results.

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