AI is rewriting the baseline and speeding things up. I’ve seen technology shifts before, but this one feels different. This isn’t a smooth curve of progress; it’s a step change. One day you’re flicking through spreadsheets, the next you’ve got machine learning models spotting patterns before you’ve even noticed them yourself.

In this chapter, I strip the jargon away and get to the heart of what’s actually driving this shift from manual processes to machine learning, natural language processing, robotic process automation and agentic AI. We’ll look at how these aren’t just new tools in the consultant’s toolkit, they’re changing the work itself. Tasks that once took weeks are now completed in a fraction of the time. Insights land in real time. Strategies adapt as the data changes.

But the tech is only half the story. I’ll also show you why the real advantage lies in how you use it, the blend of human judgement and machine intelligence. Get that balance right and you’re not just keeping up, you’re leading.

Next up: Chapter 3, where we go back to the fundamentals. Before you can supercharge a maturity assessment with AI, you’ve got to know the foundations inside out. And if you’re still on the fence about getting the book, this is the point where you’ll realise, you can’t afford not to.