Consulting moves to fixed prices: what it says about the market

For decades, consulting was sold by the day: a rate, a number of days, an invoice. The model has a simple logic, but it has a flaw that AI makes visible: if a consultant produces in two hours what used to take ten, who should benefit from the difference?

The big firms themselves are starting to answer, in their accounts and in their contracts. Their answers were not designed for a company of 50 or 300 people, but they sketch a market where a fixed price, announced before work starts, is no longer an oddity.

What Accenture’s accounts say

Accenture, which sells consulting, integration and AI managed services, published the results of its fiscal year ended in August on 1 October 2026. The figure that matters here is not the total, but the split between its two businesses: managed services, meaning the long-term operation of a system or process on the client’s behalf, now weigh more than consulting.

A managed service is rarely sold by the hour: it is sold by the month, for a scope and a service level. The largest firm in the sector now earns most of its growth on a model where the client buys something that runs, not days.

BCG and outcome-based fees

BCG, which sells AI consulting, reproduced on its website an interview of its CEO with the Wall Street Journal, dated 28 May 2026. He explains that three quarters of its largest AI engagements have variable fees tied to a client objective. He also says that across the whole business, this share remains “significantly less than a third” (BCG, reproduction of the interview). These are an executive’s statements, not a published measurement.

The nuance matters. Outcome-based fees assume the outcome can be measured, that both parties agree on what produced it, and that the firm accepts to carry the risk. That is feasible on a large engagement, with teams dedicated to measurement. It is much rarer on a mission of a few weeks.

Clients who demand to pay less

The third signal comes from Bain, which sells strategy and AI consulting. In its technology report published on 29 September 2026, an analysis based on financial data rather than a survey, it describes the pressure AI puts on the price of technology services (Bain, Technology Report 2026).

When a client assumes from the outset that the work will cost 30% less to produce, billing by the hour becomes a permanent negotiation over the number of hours. A fixed price moves the discussion: both sides agree on what is delivered, and the provider stays responsible for how it is produced.

Mid-sized companies make the same calculation. In the survey by RSM US, which sells audit, tax, consulting and AI managed services, run in March 2026 among 1,030 North American companies with revenue between $30 million and $10 billion, those increasing their AI budget plan to cut other lines, including external consulting for 40% of them. Yet 52% already use external consultants and 37% plan to within a year (RSM, 2026 report). They are not giving up on consulting: they want to pay differently.

What a fixed price changes, and what it does not

A fixed price is not a virtue in itself. It has its own flaws, and the buyer should know them.

The tricky part of a fixed price is scope. A fixed price on a vague scope ends in change orders, or in a minimal deliverable. That is why an honest fixed price often starts with a short, priced step whose purpose is to set the scope of the rest.

Why we publish our prices

We dropped our daily rate grid (€650, €550 and €450) on 24 July 2026, in favour of fixed-price offers, one page per offer. The price is firm on entry offers, and given as a range with what makes it vary on larger projects: our AI Audit Sprint is listed at €3,500, our CRM offer from €4,500, our retainer from €4,000 to €17,000 per month depending on the pack and the commitment. And we set a commercial rule: a pack always costs less than the sum of its building blocks.

This choice follows the same logic as the big firms, applied to our size. We use AI every day to produce faster. Billing by the hour would mean keeping that gain for ourselves, or letting it vanish in a negotiation. A fixed price makes it visible: the client knows what they pay, and we know what we must deliver.

What it changes for a company of 20 to 500 people

The Accenture, BCG and Bain figures describe large-company contracts. Their lessons carry over:

• Ask for a price before signing, with what makes it vary. A provider who cannot estimate a project of a few weeks probably does not control it.
• Ask what is delivered, not how many days will be spent. A deliverable can be checked; a number of days cannot.
• Pay for operations by the month when it is a service that runs: a CRM, an automation, a document assistant. It is the managed services logic, at the size of a team.
• Beware of the invisible productivity gain. If your provider uses AI, which is likely, ask where that gain shows up in their price.

Agencies are affected too: when their own clients assume lower costs, billing by the hour becomes hard to defend. We cover it in our article on AI and digital marketing agencies, and we act as a white-label technical team for partner agencies. On the profitability of AI itself, our analysis of the studies explains why the return is measured task by task, and our guide to integrating AI in a business where to start.

If you want a written scope and a known price before committing, our AI Audit Sprint is built for exactly that, and a retainer takes over by the month when projects follow one another. For the AI bill itself, our AI at the right cost offer applies the same logic: a known cost per use case.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. BCG, reproduction of the interview (new tab)bcg.com
2. Bain, Technology Report 2026 (new tab)bain.com
3. RSM, 2026 report (new tab)rsmus.com