Consulting meets the future at XLRI’s FULCRUM 6.0
Pioneer News Service
Jamshedpur
XLRI – Xavier School of Management hosted FULCRUM 6.0, its flagship consulting conclave, bringing together industry leaders, academicians and students to discuss the theme, “Navigating Disruptions, Resilience, and Strategic Transformation in the Consulting Industry.” The event was organised by the PGDM (GM) programme in association with the Kautilya Consulting Club.
The conclave featured three panel discussions on the future of consulting. The first session, “Judgement in the Age ofInformation Overabundance,” focused on balancing data-driven insights with human intuition. Experts from EY, Infosys Consulting, IBM Consulting, Accenture, PwC, Persistent Systems and Alvarez & Marsal stressed that while technology has improved access to information, effective consulting still depends on experience, critical thinking and client engagement.
The second panel, “Generative AI as a Disruptor,” examined the growing role of artificial intelligence in consulting. Speakers from Accenture, IBM Consulting, PwC, EY, Genpact and ZS said Generative AI should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat, highlighting that human creativity, empathy and strategic thinking will remain essential alongside AI tools.
The concluding session explored fee pressures, commoditisation and consulting margins in the AI era. Industry leaders from Deloitte India, KPMG, CGI, IBM Consulting, ZS and Axeno Consulting discussed changing business models and agreed that trust, domain expertise and value creation will continue to differentiate successful consulting firms.
FULCRUM 6.0 was conceptualised by Prof. Kanagaraj Ayyalusamy, Prof. Sunil Sarangi and Mr. Rajni Ranjan, and organised by the Kautilya Consulting Club, with faculty members and students coordinating the event.
