New industry research shows AI agents are moving from experimentation to operational necessity as firms face worsening resource constraints and rising client expectations

Eighty seven percent (87%) of professional services organizations plan to use AI Agents as part of their workforce, according to the annual State of the Professional Services Industry Report, sponsored by Kantata, a leading provider of Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions. Nearly nine in ten (89%) professional services leaders also agree that future revenue growth will depend more on how effectively they scale AI than on how they scale headcount, underscoring a fundamental shift in how firms expect to grow.

For professional services firms, resourcing is now a challenge that spans both human capacity and AI capability. More than 66% of professional services organizations report turning down work due to resourcing constraints, while the share of leaders citing skill availability as a barrier has climbed to 68%, up from 45% in the previous year, signaling that talent shortages are intensifying rather than easing.

As firms turn to AI agents to fill these gaps, execution is emerging as the primary constraint: managing and integrating AI agents into delivery workflows is cited as the top resource and project management challenge professional services teams are facing. Reflecting this shift, 90% of leaders say their systems will need to attribute work, costs, and value across both humans and AI agents in the near future, exposing limitations in traditional workforce and financial models.

“The State of the Professional Services Industry report reveals a sector at an inflection point,” said Micheal Speranza, CEO of Kantata. “The conditions that defined success in professional services for decades no longer apply. Artificial intelligence isn’t just knocking on the door of service delivery anymore; it’s already inside, rearranging the furniture. It’s reshaping how work gets done, how value is created, and how firms compete.”

AI is already making an impact. Among organizations using AI to optimize essential processes, the results suggest tangible performance gains:

• 54% report more efficient project execution
• 53% report improved proposal quality and win rates
• 52% report improved forecast accuracy or utilization

Those gains are becoming increasingly critical as commercial pressures intensify. Client expectations continue to rise across multiple dimensions, with 72% of respondents citing higher expectations for quality of work, 51% for speed of delivery, and 47% for transparency. At the same time, profitability remains under strain: 70% of respondents say margin pressure is a top concern, outpacing a focus on topline growth (62%). Despite advances in tooling and analytics, execution gaps persist, with more than half of firms (54%) reporting that at least 10% of their projects miss budget goals.

As reliance on AI increases, confidence in the data that underpins service delivery is deteriorating. Just 12% of professional services leaders say they fully trust the data in their systems, down from 24% last year, with respondents citing limited transparency from AI outputs, siloed data, and duplication issues as key contributors. While 88% of respondents say they trust AI outputs enough to use them in operational decisions, nearly the same share (89%) say they spend a significant amount of time verifying those outputs.

“This moment isn’t about technology alone — it’s about leadership,” added Speranza. “Every services firm can see the same forces at work. The difference will come down to the choices leaders make now: whether they use AI to optimize around the edges, or to fundamentally raise the bar on how their firm delivers value, proves expertise, and competes.”

These findings are based on a Kantata-sponsored survey of 200 professional services leaders conducted by Censuswide to gain a better understanding of where the industry is now — and where it is headed in the year to come.

For additional insights and survey findings, download a full copy of Kantata’s State of the Professional Services Industry Report at: https://www.kantata.com/resource/2025-state-of-professional-services.

About Kantata

Kantata takes professional services automation to a new level, giving people-powered businesses the clarity, control, and confidence they need to optimize resource planning and elevate operational performance. Our purpose-built cloud software is helping over 1,500 professional services organizations in more than 100 countries focus and optimize their most important asset: their people. With Kantata, PS firms gain access to the information and tools they need to win more business, ensure the right people are always available at the right time, and delight clients with project delivery and outcomes. To learn more, visit www.kantata.com.

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Nearly nine in ten (89%) professional services leaders indicate that future revenue growth will depend more on how effectively they scale AI than on how they scale headcount, underscoring a fundamental shift in how firms expect to grow.