Given IBM consulting’s genAI rollout, should CIOs rethink consulting strategies for 2025?

From an enterprise CIO’s perspective, Schadler said, “I would rather you use mine. I want to maybe use yours but I want to know the pricing implications first. How about if we use your (consultant) platform but you do not charge me for the delivery of that?”

Schadler said that not every CIO has focused on the implications of genAI consultant offerings, but that they need to do so right away. “Should you rethink your service provider strategies when dealing with genAI produced output? The answer is yes, you should absolutely do so.”

In some cases, he said, the best strategy is to backburner the genAI issues and instead focus on pure ROI. “Have high incentives on the part of your partner to just get what you need to get done,” as cheaply, quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, Schadler said. If the partner can best do that using its own AI systems, that’s fine. But let the numbers and the deliverables dictate, or at least strongly influence, that decision.