Sector Spotlight: Professional Services embracing the future with AI

In a sector built on people and expertise, AI isn’t replacing the professional. It’s equipping them to do more, better, and faster. With the right mindset and guidance, it’s worth investing in.

In spite of much chatter around AI, the reality is that its adoption thus far is ad hoc and varies across industries. While most professionals are currently passive observers, a minority are ploughing full-steam ahead, embracing it and applying it to great effect. The gulf between them and the non-adopters is growing wider by the day – and so to shun it is a risk.

As Inflexion invests across a broad range of professional services businesses, the firm can see the impact of AI from multiple angles. "It’s a powerful enabler when it’s embedded thoughtfully which can create opportunities for businesses and help them do things better," explains Isabelle Pagnotta, Inflexion Partner and Head of Services. “If you don’t have an AI strategy, you’ll be left behind as the rate of adoption increases in your market.”

It is not just to automate low-value tasks, but to enhance how professionals work, think and create. Take for example pitch creation, a once-manual task familiar to most professional services firms. As Tom Green, Partner at Inflexion, explains: "I can now generate a branded, fully formatted pitch deck with 90% of the right content in minutes. What used to take me four hours now takes 30 minutes – freeing up time for more strategic thinking."

People-powered progress

To ensure its diverse and sizeable portfolio is making the most of AI, Inflexion shares learning and best practices from its own in-house expertise as well as from across the full portfolio. “It’s deliberate action to help accelerate uptake. We see the shift unfolding across our portfolio, with firms increasingly using AI to deliver better client outcomes, strengthen operational efficiency and unlock new growth opportunities. By fostering collective discussion, we can help encourage adoption as one firm’s experiment can become another’s shortcut,” says Tom. Most recently Inflexion hosted a dinner to bring together CTOs and CEOs from its portfolio to meet with industry leaders in the area to discuss their ideas and experiences.

AI adoption doesn’t happen by accident. Inflexion works with all its portfolio companies to make AI a standing item on company board agendas, encouraging management teams to consider it as part of their strategy. "It’s not a nice-to-have or a back-page discussion. Buyers will want to see an AI plan as part of any exit. It’s now both offensive and defensive," Isabelle adds.

It can benefit businesses of all sizes. “Most businesses lack the know-how with AI, as it’s still a very new development, and many lack the resource to gain expertise,” points out Dominic Clark, Assistant Director at Inflexion focused on lower mid-market businesses. “These businesses can really benefit from the support we can bring.”

Incremental time-saving is where AI delivers compounding value. In more structured environments like conveyancing, it is even enabling full automation of previously human-led workflows – pushing margins and speed higher without compromising service.

Importantly, this doesn’t mean fewer people. "AI gives firms the space to do more with the same workforce," says Isabelle. "It lets people focus on higher-value activity, while creating new opportunities to widen the value proposition."

Driving smarter decisions

AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data is transforming how services are delivered. "It can wrap traditional propositions with added value at almost no marginal cost," says Tom. "That might mean benchmarking, predictive insights, or tailored content – all generated by the data firms already hold."

Some Inflexion portfolio companies are already exploring how AI can help generate insights that weren’t previously viable to produce manually. The result can be stickier client relationships and an enhanced service experience.

Of course, embedding AI isn’t just technical – it’s cultural. Inflexion is seeing a growing trend of younger employees naturally embracing AI, often leading to a kind of reverse mentorship within firms. "Digital natives are showing senior teams how to integrate AI into daily workflows," says Isabelle. "It’s happening even within our own team."

It may necessitate a re-think on training. "There’s a question of whether the next generation will get the same apprenticeship experience," says Tom. "We need to make space for learning through mistakes, not just AI shortcuts."

Isabelle agrees: "There has to be a human overlay. AI can draft the work, but people must review, challenge, and refine it. That’s how value is created, and that’s why it won’t replace headcount – it will enhance it."

Adoption must therefore be done with intention. "What drives success is open-mindedness, a willingness to experiment, and the humility to admit we don’t have all the answers yet," says Isabelle. "But we know AI is here to stay. So we’re helping our companies embrace it – not just efficiently, but intelligently."

Ambitious businesses can grow faster with the right capital and expertise, with Inflexion’s flexible funding offering minority or majority capital and access to a sizable team to accelerate growth. The Inflexion team has significant experience in supporting the growth of a number of professional services companies of different sizes, including dss+, DWF, GRC, Celnor, CMSPI, TC Group, Wood Thilsted and Finanzen.net. All have access to Inflexion’s value acceleration strategies of digital enhancement, international expansion, M&A, commercial effectiveness, sustainability and talent management.