The NBA's three-point revolution is a 45-year case study in where value migrates when the economics shift. Professional services firms are standing in the same moment.
Two lines diverging over 45 years. Hover for season details.
The mid-range jumper wasn't banned. The rules didn't change. But the game's understanding of where value was created shifted. Players who built excellence around that shot had to adapt or watch their relevance decline.
Professional services firms are using AI to get better at the mid-range jumper. The game is moving to the three-point line.
As the cost to build drops, problems that never justified a statement of work become worth solving. See what's emerging inside your clients' organizations.
New markets form downstream from the cost collapse, not inside it.
Five-minute saves don't show up on an AI adoption dashboard. They show up on the KPIs of the organization. Easy to miss. Hard to argue with once you start counting.
Nobody greenlit an AI project. A KPI that was already on the dashboard just started moving.
Those 98 solutions run into the same walls. Watch what happens when they try to cross.
Not building the initial solution. Helping it survive contact with the rest of the organization. That is the next practice area.
The firms that help them cross that wall will define what professional services looks like next.
This is an interactive companion to When Creation Gets Cheap, New Markets Appear. Read the full analysis →