Five ways Gen AI is boosting day-to-day management consulting work

Over eight-in-ten management consultants are estimated to already by using generative AI in their day-to-day work. From accelerating research to drafting deliverables, Gen AI is helping consultants unlock new levels of productivity and insight, freeing up time to focus on the strategic work that clients value most.

According to research from LexisNexis, 80% of management consultants are already using Gen AI tools in their daily tasks, with more than a third reporting that Gen AI contributes to at least 50% of their overall work processes. This impact is transformative – more than half (56%) of the consultants surveyed say that they save between 3-4 hours daily with the help of generative AI.

Experts from LexisNexis share five ways how Gen AI is boosting day-to-day consulting work:

1) Automating market and industry research

Before the start of any client engagement, consultants are expected to demonstrate deep familiarity with a client’s sector, competitive landscape, and key trends. Traditionally, that preparation involves hours of reviewing reports, datasets, and news – often leaving limited time for higher-value analysis.

Gen AI is changing that dynamic. By using targeted prompts, consultants can now generate tailored research briefs in minutes rather than hours. For example, a prompt might request a concise overview of a specific market, including size, growth projections, and major players, drawing on both structured data and recent news.

This approach provides a fast, focused foundation, allowing consultants to spend more time analysing insights and shaping recommendations, rather than gathering information.

Report insight: 56% of consultants say Gen AI has improved decision-making, while 55% cite increased efficiency.

2) Accelerating the creation of client deliverables

Once research is complete and strategic direction is defined, insights must be translated into client-ready deliverables – slide decks, reports, and executive summaries that are clear, compelling, and tailored.

While strategic judgment remains firmly human-led, Gen AI can significantly speed up the drafting process. It can generate first drafts of slides, charts, summaries, and supporting text, which consultants can then refine and adapt to the specific client context.

Used this way, Gen AI reduces the time spent on formatting and first-pass writing, freeing consultants to focus on sharpening the narrative, pressure-testing assumptions, and ensuring recommendations are truly actionable.

In practice, Gen AI functions much like a junior analyst: highly effective at producing initial outputs, but reliant on experienced oversight to reach client-ready quality.

3) Extracting insights from transcripts, reports, and filings

Consulting work often requires reviewing lengthy documents such as earnings call transcripts, annual reports, regulatory filings, inspection reports, or contracts. Extracting relevant insights from hundreds of pages is essential – but highly time-consuming.

Gen AI can handle the initial pass. By prompting it to summarise multi-year filings or extract key financial and operational metrics, consultants receive a structured overview in minutes. This includes headline figures, trends, and notable changes that would otherwise take hours to uncover manually.

By offloading repetitive reading, Gen AI allows consultants to focus on interpretation and implications – the areas where judgment and experience matter most.

Report insight: Consultants using Gen AI report saving 3-4 hours per day, much of it previously spent on document review.

4) Monitoring news and market developments at scale

Keeping clients informed about market developments is a core consulting responsibility. However, tracking multiple news sources across industries and geographies can quickly consume valuable time.

Gen AI can continuously scan large volumes of news and generate concise, sector-specific briefings. These summaries highlight the developments that matter most – such as M&A activity, competitive moves, regulatory changes, or leadership shifts – without requiring consultants to read every article individually.

The result is faster access to relevant information and more time to assess what those developments mean for clients.

Report insight: 56% of consultants say Gen AI improves decision-making by distilling large volumes of information into client-relevant insights.

5) Analysing and synthesising client data

Client engagements often involve working with large datasets, including sales performance, customer behaviour, operational metrics, and financial results. Manually analysing this data can be slow and resource-intensive.

Gen AI can rapidly scan and synthesise these datasets to surface key trends, patterns, and anomalies. Whether identifying differences between customer segments, highlighting regional performance, or flagging peak sales periods, Gen AI provides a clear starting point for deeper analysis.

Rather than spending hours navigating spreadsheets, consultants can focus on interpreting findings and translating data into targeted, high-impact recommendations.

Report insight: 55% of consultants say Gen AI significantly increases efficiency, enabling more time for high-value strategic work.