The report - Deltek Clarity Trends and Insights for Architecture, Engineering and Consulting Firms – found that 84 per cent of project-based businesses expect to increase profits in 2024, compared to 71 per cent in 2023.
The main drivers for realising growth targets have been identified as investing more in IT infrastructure and technology innovation (35 per cent).
In total, 67 per cent of firms stated they will lose market share within two years if they fail to make significant progress in digital transformation. This tallies with an appetite to embrace new technology, as 79 per cent of firms expect to increase investment in emerging technologies compared to 2023 with 29 per cent planning to invest significantly more.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a top technology being implemented in professional services firms with the research revealing that 98 per cent are leveraging traditional AI/machine learning (ML), and 97 per cent said they are using generative AI.
Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of firms are confident that investing in AI will expand the services it can deliver and 41 per cent believe that successful implementation will increase profits.
Consequently, around three-quarters believe that investing in and implementing AI will give them a significant competitive advantage. Three-quarters of firms stated they are extremely/somewhat concerned about competitors implementing tech faster.
In a statement, futurist and strategic business and technology advisor, Bernard Marr, said: “Firms must not take a scattergun approach to their AI investment and sign up to the next new craze. It’s vital to set objectives and benchmarks to identify where new technologies will really move the needle.
“With the rate of evolution in the AI space, businesses could, in theory, be updating their strategies almost every week to incorporate new solutions. The key is to understand where inefficiencies are, where technology can aid people in their jobs to streamline operations, and frequently review the effectiveness of solutions against objectives and what is new in the market.”
Skills
Over a quarter (27 per cent) of those surveyed reported that developing the right knowledge/ upskilling staff to expand resources is a top challenge for project management over the coming three years.
This is amplified by a strong intention to grow the workforce, with 61 per cent of firms planning to increase the size of their workforce in 2024 compared to 54 per cent that increased workforce size in 2023. AI is seen as a key component of talent recruitment and retainment, with 72 per cent of firms reporting that implementing AI successfully will improve job satisfaction.
Neil Davidson, VP EMEA and APAC at Deltek, said: “As AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, we will start to see it become an enabler for our jobs, much in the same way as search engines revolutionised knowledge acquisition or video conferencing has advanced connections between multi-national teams.
“Not only is it a tool for productivity, it is seen as a must-have for advancing business capabilities and is fast becoming a key attraction for top talent looking to do more with their skills, without being hampered by administration.”
The self-completion online survey was completed in January 2024 by 400 senior strategic decision-makers including CEOs, C-suite level directors, and heads of departments.
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