AI still needs a human touch. Consulting stocks are the latest proof.
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- Accenture earnings showed companies aren't simply buying AI bots — they still need help making them useful.
- Consulting stocks are bouncing back as AI's former victims become its installers.
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When it became clear that AI was going to be an unprecedented world-transforming force, investors were quick to write off entire industries. Goodbye, software. And consulting? Doomed to be replaced by the machines. The stock losses were swift and unforgiving.
In the time since, both industries — and many others briefly afflicted by AI mania — have made their way back. The ball has been in their court to prove themselves, and the number of reclamation stories is growing.
Accenture became the latest comeback kid on Thursday after reporting an across-the-board earnings beat. Investors keyed in on evidence that the company is successfully adjusting to the AI boom. More than 400 clients began advanced-AI projects during its fiscal year, showing that businesses are paying Accenture to put the technology to work at scale.
The company was rewarded with a 16% single-day stock surge, bringing its recovery to 71% from a nearly nine-year low reached in June.
The rebound is rippling outward. Cognizant, another IT-services company that was swept into the June sell-off, has also rallied sharply off its own low. Its shares jumped another 6% on Thursday alongside Accenture's results.
So not only is AI not crushing the consulting industry, it's actually fueling a new line of business installing AI systems. It's the type of adaptability that investors like to see.
Remember the SaaSpocalypse?
Consulting is hardly the first sector to turn the AI-cannibalization narrative on its head. Software has also been blazing a trail back to prominence, with companies like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, and CrowdStrike leveraging AI in different ways to juice growth, rather than being squashed.
Of course, there is some nuance required. The firms that perform critical data, workflow, or security tasks have most clearly shown that AI can be applied to their business in a positive way.
A wave of AI-apocalypse fears has made cybersecurity the best-performing theme within software in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the shares of more pure-play developers are still working their way back to positive territory for the year. Investors shouldn't get too far ahead of themselves quite yet.
Somebody has to install the future
Enter consultants, who are proving themselves to be connective tissue between new AI software tools and actual adoption. Companies need help figuring out how to use AI, integrate agents into existing systems, and retrain workers.
Accenture's results suggest firms are willing to pay for help with AI. They're not simply buying a bot and firing everyone. It reflects an emerging investment theme: "AI survivors" that can generate upside by controlling workflows and making the technology usable.
After all, while everyone rushes to automate the world, someone still has to make sure it all works.
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