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The Consultant's New Toolkit

TL;DR

• AI can research competitors, summarize industries, draft recommendations, and answer "what do others do?" That speeds discovery. It doesn't replace client context or your judgment.
• Use AI as a research assistant. You validate, customize, and deliver. The client trusts you, not the AI.
• The consultant who uses AI well does more in less time. The consultant who relies on AI without verification loses credibility.

Solutions engineers and consultants live on research. Competitor landscapes, industry trends, technical options, best practices. AI can gather and summarize at speed. It can also hallucinate, mix sources, and give generic advice. Your job: use AI for breadth and speed, add depth and judgment yourself.

What AI Can Do

Competitive research:

• "What does Competitor X offer?" "How do we compare on feature Y?" AI can synthesize from public info. You verify. You add what you know from the field.
• Good for prep. Don't present AI output as primary research. Verify and cite.

Industry and trend summaries:

• "What's happening in retail tech?" "What are the challenges in healthcare IT?" AI can summarize. You drill into what matters for this client.
• Use for context. Add your experience. Clients want "you've seen this before" not "here's a Wikipedia summary."

Technical option comparison:

• "Build vs. buy vs. hybrid for this use case." AI can outline. You add: client constraints, timeline, team capacity, risk tolerance.
• Recommendations need context. AI gives options. You recommend based on their situation.

Document and RFP summarization:

• Long RFPs, dense technical docs. AI can summarize. You extract what matters for your response.
• Saves time. Don't skip reading the critical parts. AI might miss nuance.

What AI Misses

Client-specific context:

• Their org, their politics, their budget, their timeline. AI doesn't know. You learned it in discovery. You use it.
• Recommendations without context are generic. Clients want "for you, we suggest X because Y." That's you.

Credibility and trust:

• Clients buy from people they trust. "I asked ChatGPT" doesn't build trust. "Based on my experience and research" does.
• Use AI to research. Present as your synthesis. Own the recommendation.

Accuracy:

• AI will cite wrong things. Will mix up competitors. Will give outdated info. You verify. You don't present unverified claims.
• One wrong "fact" erodes trust. Check the important stuff.

Judgment:

• "Should we do this?" Clients want a recommendation. AI gives options. You recommend. You own it.
• Judgment is the product. AI assists. You decide.

The Workflow

1. Research with AI — Competitors, trends, options. Get breadth. Get speed.
2. Verify key claims — Anything you'll present. Check sources. Fix errors.
3. Add context — Client situation, your experience, their constraints. Make it specific.
4. Recommend — Your call. Your reasoning. Your name on it. AI helped you think; you deliver the answer.

Your Edge

• Relationship. Clients work with you because they trust you. AI doesn't have a relationship. You do. Protect it.
• Judgment. You've seen many clients. You know what works and what doesn't. AI has patterns. You have experience. Combine them.
• Customization. Every client is different. AI gives generic. You tailor. That's the value.

Do This Next

1. Use AI for one competitive brief — Draft. Verify three key claims. Present. Note what you had to fix. Refine your process.
2. Create a "verify before present" rule — Any statistic, comparison, or recommendation from AI gets a spot-check. Make it habit.
3. Document your differentiation — "What do I add beyond AI?" Client context, judgment, relationship. Be explicit. Use it in positioning.