The Role of AI Consulting Services in Modern Digital Transformation

Everyone seems to have a clear vision of the future that AI promises. But between that vision and where most companies are today lies a long list of challenges, and many businesses are still struggling to take even the first step. As of 2025, 99% of organizations have yet to integrate AI into their workflows in a way that delivers tangible business outcomes.

AI consulting services help businesses close that gap. They provide the clarity, structure, and technical support needed to move from ideas to real results.

In this blog, we’ll break down how AI consulting helps drive digital transformation and how your business can use it to make meaningful progress. 

What is AI consulting?

AI consulting involves applying artificial intelligence to real business problems efficiently, realistically, and with clear ROI. It’s not just advice. It’s hands-on work: defining strategy, choosing the right tools, integrating them into your systems, and making sure they actually deliver value.

A good AI consultant doesn’t start with tech. They start with the business. They look at where your current systems fall short, where data is underused, and where automation or prediction can save time, money, or effort. From there, they propose suitable AI solutions and help you implement them.

Services offered by AI consultants 

The best AI consulting services are built around what it takes to go from concept to production, including:

1. AI strategy consulting services

Start with direction, not tools. AI strategy consulting services help define what you’re solving, whether AI is even the right approach, and what success looks like. This is where the foundation is set for effective AI adoption and long-term value, not experiments that burn time and budget.

2. AI integration

This is where most companies get stuck. You can’t bolt AI onto old systems and expect results. AI consultants manage the integration of AI into your existing tech stack, APIs, cloud platforms, data pipelines, so it works with what you already have, not against it.

3. Custom AI solutions

AI isn’t plug-and-play. Consultants may design customized AI solutions tuned to your specific use case, whether it's optimizing a supply chain, building smarter customer support, or using natural language processing for content workflows.

4. Implementation and deployment 

AI implementation is where theory meets reality. A good AI consulting firm doesn’t just hand you a model. They test it, tune it, and deploy it in production. This extends to setting up performance monitoring, running real-world tests, and continuously refining the model based on live data, so it keeps improving instead of going stale.

5. Optimization and analytics

After launch, consultants don’t just walk away. They stay involved to make sure your systems continue to perform. They use analytics to monitor model accuracy, flag performance drops, and uncover new patterns in your data. Then they enhance your AI by fine-tuning models, updating inputs, or adjusting thresholds. Their post-launch efforts are focused on ensuring the system evolves with your business, not against it.

The role of AI consulting in digital transformation

Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital tools, systems, and processes across the business, not just in IT, but in operations, customer services, product development, and decision-making. It’s a shift in how work gets done and how value is created.

While digital technologies like cloud and IoT lay the groundwork, the role of AI in digital transformation is to drive what comes next: faster decisions, predictive systems, and entirely new business models.

But AI is only effective when it’s implemented with context and intent. AI consulting firms play a pivotal role in making that happen by ensuring AI fits the business, not just the architecture. That’s why AI consulting services are essential: they help companies build with purpose, align efforts with strategy, and move beyond tool adoption to real transformation.

Below, we’ll explore the role of AI in digital transformation and how consultants help turn ambition into working systems. 

1. The creation of AI-driven strategies 

AI consultants play a crucial role in aligning AI efforts with business priorities. Digital transformation strategies often fail when companies focus on tools instead of outcomes. Besides recommending platforms, a good consultant crafts an approach to AI development that’s grounded in business goals, usable data, and technical readiness.

They help companies discover how AI can provide value, not just in one product or department, but across the entire operation. From logistics to marketing to R&D, consultants help businesses map the right use cases and chart a path forward.

2. Ensures the proper deployment of AI technologies 

AI is everywhere, generative AI, computer vision, NLP, but the question isn’t “What’s trending?” It’s “What will work here?” The AI landscape is noisy, and the gap between experimentation and execution is wide.

AI consultants bring specialized knowledge to close that gap. They guide the deployment of AI solutions that match the context: the team, the data, the infrastructure, the risk. This leads to a track record of successful AI implementations, not stalled pilots.

3. Drives real business impact

When done well, AI doesn’t just automate tasks. It creates new opportunities. It helps companies use AI to build smarter products, improve the customer experience, and streamline internal workflows.

Consultants help businesses design AI systems that are resilient, scalable, and measurable. Whether it’s a forecasting model for supply chain efficiency or an AI-driven recommendation engine, the result should be tied to performance: increased speed, lower cost, higher engagement, better outcomes.

And because transformation is ongoing, consultants ensure that AI capabilities are built to adapt to the business’s future needs. This adaptability is what allows companies to leverage AI long after the initial build is complete.

4. Accelerates AI adoption 

Adopting AI is rarely just a technical challenge. It's organizational. That’s why AI consultants play a crucial role in change management. They develop training plans, integrate tools into workflows, and help teams adjust their processes and mindsets.

This focus on effective change management helps accelerate your AI adoption without derailing operations. It also increases the odds of long-term adoption across teams and departments.

5. Makes digital transformation work end to end

True digital transformation involves transforming how your company works. AI consultants support that end-to-end shift. They foster better decision-making, reduce uncertainty, and align people, platforms, and data in a way that’s actually sustainable.

Their work touches every layer of a business:

• Helping leadership implement AI without losing sight of goals

• Supporting technical teams through integration and deployment

• Enabling non-technical teams to engage with AI applications in real workflows

• Guiding product and operations teams toward smarter AI development

As you've noticed, consulting involves more than solution delivery. It gives companies a clear path to act on the potential of AI.

5 common business problems and how AI consulting solves them

AI is revolutionizing how businesses operate, but getting from ambition to execution isn’t easy. While the benefits of AI are well-documented, faster decisions, smarter systems, better outcomes, most organizations run into serious friction early on. AI consulting services exist to remove that friction.

Below are five common challenges businesses face when trying to implement AI solutions, and how the right AI consulting partner helps overcome them.

1. Lack of in-house expertise

Problem: 

Building with AI requires specialized skills: data science, model ops, infrastructure, governance. Many organizations don’t have the talent, and hiring for it is difficult. No wonder 41% of companies still cite the lack of internal AI expertise as one of the reasons why AI initiatives stall.

Solution: 

Consultants step in to fill that talent gap. A strong AI consulting services company brings the technical depth needed to build and ship real products, while also helping your team get up to speed. The dual value is delivery and capability transfer.

Case in point:

• Sport Clips, a U.S.-based haircare franchise, lacked the AI skills to improve its hiring process. 

• By working with IBM’s consulting team, they deployed a Watson-based virtual assistant for recruiting. 

• Hiring tasks that took three hours were completed within three minutes, and franchisees boosted staffing by 30%.

• This case shows how AI consultants help businesses close internal capability gaps and deliver working solutions that free up time and improve day-to-day operations.

2. Data silos and integration issues

Problem:

Most companies have plenty of usable data. It’s just spread across too many systems. Over 80% of IT leaders say siloed data blocks their digital transformation efforts, and 95% say that data integration as a major barrier to AI adoption. When systems don’t talk to each other, AI doesn’t work. 

Solution:

AI consultants design scalable data frameworks that unify sources and integrate AI into real workflows. This requires deep knowledge of both legacy systems and modern platforms, plus the ability to build bridges between them.

Case in point:

• Novartis had data trapped across R&D, manufacturing, and business units. 

• With help from Accenture, the company built a unified, cloud-based platform that connected 80+ data sources. 

• The result: analytics use cases that took weeks could now launch in a day. 

• This is a textbook example of how AI consultants help businesses clean up scattered systems and make their data usable so that teams can actually build and run AI projects without hitting walls.

3. Unclear return on investment (ROI)

Problem:

AI sounds good in theory, but many companies can’t prove its value. Only about 10% report seeing strong ROI from their AI initiatives, and most fail to scale pilot projects into production. Leadership loses faith fast if results aren’t clear. 

Solution:

Consultants focus on short-term wins with long-term potential. They start with high-impact use cases, measure outcomes rigorously, and create real visibility into business results. This is essential to build momentum.

Case in point:

• Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest bank, worked with consultants to launch a fraud detection system using AI. 

• The tool now saves them over $20 million per month in avoided fraud. It also reduced fraud detection costs by 15%. 

• This clarity around ROI helped encourage broader investment in AI and digital transformation across the bank. 

4. Legacy systems and infrastructure limitations

Problem:

Older systems weren’t built for AI. Roughly 75% of enterprises struggle to plug modern AI technologies into legacy environments. The infrastructure lacks APIs, compute power, or simply isn’t flexible enough. Consequently, projects may be stalled.

Solution:

The role of AI consulting firms here is to modernize without full rebuilds. That often means layering cloud-based tools or middleware over existing systems. Consultants make the most of what’s already there and add what’s needed to move things forward.

Case in point:

• Water Corporation, a major utility in Australia, faced this issue with its aging SAP setup.

• With IBM’s help, they migrated to a modern platform, integrating AI and automation along the way. 

• The outcome: 40% lower IT costs and 1,500 hours of manual work eliminated each year. Consultants helped them build a future-ready core without a risky overhaul. 

5. Resistance to change and cultural barriers

Problem:

Even great technology fails if people don’t trust or use it. 91.2% of companies cite internal resistance as a barrier to AI. From frontline employees fearing job loss to teams ignoring AI recommendations, culture can block progress more than the tech itself. 

Solution:

AI consultants play a crucial role in change management by focusing on people, not just systems. They work with internal teams to build trust early. You'll see them developing training around real tasks, highlighting small wins, and helping identify team members who can lead by example. Through these change management strategies, they reduce fear, improve adoption, and make sure the tools actually get used. 

Case in point:

• HR firm Mineral wanted to use ChatGPT to help their client services team. 

• Anticipating resistance, consultants launched small peer-led learning pods where employees experimented, failed safely, and learned together. 

• The result was high engagement, comfort with the tech, and fast adoption. This is what effective change management looks like, especially when rolling out generative AI tools in people-centric roles.

5 industries benefiting most from AI consulting

The power of AI is already clear, especially when the right expertise guides it. AI consultants help organizations across sectors move from idea to execution, turning fragmented systems into real business outcomes. Below are five industries where that impact is especially visible.

1. Healthcare

In healthcare, AI enables businesses to process more data with more precision. From diagnostics to digital product development, the tech is powerful, but the deployment is rarely simple.

• Case in point: Johns Hopkins Medicine faced a 3× spike in patient messages. With consulting support, they deployed a natural language processing tool that now drafts up to 40% of replies, easing administrative pressure and improving customer experience. This is what AI in their digital operations looks like: focused, scalable, and outcome-driven.

2. Finance

Finance uses AI to manage fraud, risk, and high-volume decisions. But the real gains come from smart execution, not just smart algorithms.

• Case in point: Morgan Stanley built a GPT-4-powered assistant for 16,000 advisors. With help from consultants, the tool achieved 98% adoption and made document lookup 4× faster, an example of AI across daily workflows delivering high-value returns.

Consultants also help integrate fraud systems that cut false positives, boost detection accuracy, and meet compliance requirements without slowing teams down.

3. Manufacturing

In manufacturing, AI supports predictive maintenance, quality assurance, and output forecasting. It’s a sector where the role in helping optimize operations is especially clear.

• Case in point: Nokia’s Oulu factory saw a 30% productivity boost after building a smart factory system with AI consultants. Time-to-market dropped by half, and cost savings hit millions.

Consultants also deploy analytics tools that monitor systems in real time and optimize production parameters, a shift from reaction to prediction.

4. Retail

Retailers use AI to personalize marketing, forecast demand, and manage inventory more precisely. But pulling it off requires systems that reflect real-world complexity, not just plug-and-play models.

• Case in point: SPAR Austria worked with Microsoft to build a demand forecasting model across stores. It now predicts local demand with 90%+ accuracy, cutting waste and improving availability.

Consultants help integrate these models into existing retail systems, aligning them with margin goals and customer experience improvements.

5. Logistics and transportation

This sector is full of moving parts, literally. AI supports everything from route planning to supply chain forecasting, but building a full system around AI takes more than a few APIs.

• Case in point: UPS built ORION with analytics consultants. The platform now saves 100 million miles of driving and up to $400M a year. That’s not just smart routing, it’s AI at scale with measurable ROI.

Logistics AI consultants also work across areas of a business, helping to forecast demand, manage fleets, and reduce fuel costs through AI-driven decision-making.

Final thoughts: An AI consulting firm plays a vital role in driving digital transformation

Adopting AI isn’t a matter of downloading a tool or copying a trend. It’s about building the right system for your business. That means aligning AI with your infrastructure, your team, and your long-term business goals. It means understanding which use cases to prioritize, how to scale, and when to adjust.

That’s where the role of AI consulting firms becomes critical. A strong partner won’t just help you implement AI. They’ll help you leverage AI in ways that matter to your operations. From strategy to deployment to optimization, the right firm can help you enjoy the real benefits of AI: efficiency, speed, insight, and adaptability.

At Devōt, we don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. We offer AI consulting services that are built around your context, your data, your workflows, your goals. Our team delivers customized AI solutions and practical roadmaps through every phase of AI implementation. Whether you need help modernizing infrastructure, launching your first model, or scaling AI across teams, we’re built for that.

We also provide AI strategy consulting services to help you stay ahead of future trends in AI, so you're not just solving for now, but building for what’s next. Our consultants know how to identify the right opportunities and make sure you’re set up to foster meaningful transformation, not just deploy another tool.

If you're ready to adopt AI in a way that actually supports your business, it’s time to choose AI consulting partners with intention. Let’s make it work.