---
title: "How IT consulting firms win advisory clients from AI search"
description: "By being the independent adviser AI names for a company’s size, industry and decision, such as an ERP choice or a fractional CIO, with proof buyers can check."
canonical: "https://underneath.agency/resources/it-consulting-firms-clients-ai-search"
published: 2026-10-07
updated: 2026-10-08
publisher: "Underneath (https://underneath.agency/agent)"
entity: "https://underneath.agency/.well-known/entity.json"
---
Guide · AI search

# How can an IT consulting firm win more advisory clients when mid-size companies ask AI first?

By being the independent adviser an AI assistant names when an executive describes their company’s size, industry and decision, and by publishing the proof that makes the recommendation hold up. Mid-size companies are under pressure to make big technology choices without a senior IT leader, and many now ask an assistant what to do before they call anyone. No study has yet measured how many advisory engagements begin that way.

This guide covers advisory IT consultancies: IT strategy and roadmaps, architecture reviews, software and vendor selection, fractional or virtual CIO services, and oversight of projects others deliver. Hands-on IT projects and support are covered in our guide to how IT services firms win projects from AI search. Large enterprise programs are covered in how technology consultancies reach enterprise shortlists.

## The short version

1. Mid-size companies need help with AI: in [RSM’s 2025 middle market survey](https://rsmus.com/insights/services/digital-transformation/rsm-middle-market-ai-survey-2025.html) of 966 technology decision-makers, 62% said generative AI had been harder to implement than expected, and 70% said they needed outside help.
2. The cost of a wrong system is high: [Gartner](https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/erp_disaster_gartner/) says 70 percent of ERP initiatives fail to fully meet their original business case goals, and 25 percent fail catastrophically.
3. Part-time leadership is growing from a small base: [Lightcast](https://lightcast.io/blog/rise-of-fractional-leadership) counted at least 34,000 US workers with “fractional” in their job title in 2025, up 265% since 2019, and 97% of fractional job postings in 2026 came from medium and small companies.
4. A full-time IT leader is expensive: the median wage for computer and information systems managers was $175,140 in 2025, according to [O*NET](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-3021.00) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
5. Technology buyers now research with AI and use analysts less: in [TrustRadius’s 2026 report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/news-brief/trustradius-ai-has-changed-how-buyers-research-but-not-what-they-trust/53853/), 63% of buyers used AI during their purchase, while analyst reports were used by only 13%.

## Who hires an IT consulting firm, and what is a client worth?

Usually a mid-size company’s CEO, CFO or COO with no CIO, or an IT manager needing strategic backing.

Three buyers account for most advisory work:

- **The executive without an IT leader.** A company with a few hundred employees, an IT manager or an outsourced provider, and no one at the leadership table who owns technology strategy. The CFO often holds IT by default.
- **The IT manager who needs cover.** Strong on operations, but facing a board question about AI, a major system replacement or a security audit, and wanting an outside view to support the business case.
- **The owner or investor preparing for change.** Growth, an acquisition or a sale exposes old systems, and someone must say what to fix first. The finance side of those moments is covered in [how financial consultancies win CFO and deal work](https://underneath.agency/resources/financial-consulting-firms-clients-ai-search).

The client is worth more than the first engagement. A paid assessment or roadmap often leads to a software selection project, then to oversight of the implementation, and in many cases to a monthly fractional CIO retainer. The comparison buyers make is with a hire: the median wage for an IT director-level manager was $175,140 in 2025, before benefits and recruiting. A part-time adviser is the cheaper way to get that judgment, which is why the fractional model has spread among smaller firms. Lightcast found only 0.3% of fractional leaders list a Fortune 1000 employer. Its data does not break out fractional CIOs; finance leads, at 46% of fractional postings. Large enterprise programs are a different sale, covered in [how technology consultancies reach enterprise shortlists](https://underneath.agency/resources/technology-consulting-firms-ai-search).

## Why do mid-size companies look for IT advice now?

AI pressure, risky system decisions and missing in-house expertise, often all at once.

**AI.** In RSM’s survey, 91% of respondents reported using generative AI, yet 92% had run into implementation challenges and 53% of those who had implemented it felt only “somewhat prepared.” Among those who felt unprepared, 39% named a lack of in-house expertise as their top issue. That is the gap an adviser fills.

**Big system choices.** ERP, CRM and data platform decisions shape a company for a decade, and they go wrong often. At Gartner’s Symposium, an analyst named “bad business cases, unrealistic scope, underestimated complexity, and scope creep” as common causes of ERP disasters. The Register cites Birmingham City Council, whose Oracle project costs rose from around £19 million to £170 million. A 2023 survey of 251 tech leaders found 73 percent felt their ERP strategy was not strongly aligned with their business strategy.

**Thin teams.** A mid-size company rarely employs an architect, a security strategist and a sourcing specialist. It rents that expertise when a decision demands it.

## Where does AI search fit in how executives find an IT adviser?

At the first two steps: understanding the decision, then finding someone independent to help make it.

A typical path:

1. **Trigger.** A board asks about AI, the ERP vendor ends support, the IT manager resigns, or an investor asks hard questions.
2. **Self-education.** The executive asks an assistant what the options are and what similar companies did.
3. **Finding help.** Referrals from the accountant, lawyer, investor or peers, plus searches and AI answers.
4. **Two or three conversations.** Fit, independence, fees and references.
5. **First engagement.** Usually a fixed-fee assessment or roadmap.
6. **Ongoing work.** Selection, oversight and a fractional retainer.

Step 2 is where AI changes this industry most. TrustRadius found 63% of technology buyers used AI during their purchase journey and 83% shortlisted three or fewer products. An assistant now drafts the software shortlist that a vendor-selection adviser used to build. That cuts both ways. Some executives will skip the adviser. Others will want an expert to check the assistant’s work: 94% of the AI users in the same survey fact-check its answers at least some of the time.

Services marketplaces are moving into the same conversations. Clutch, which lists IT consulting firms among many service categories, [launched an app inside ChatGPT](https://www.demandgenreport.com/?p=52857) in 2026 for comparing providers, reviews and “pricing signals.”

## What do executives ask AI when they need IT advice?

Questions about their own situation, framed by company size, industry and a decision they dread. Every example below is ours, written to show the phrasing; none is a captured buyer query.

| Situation | Example question |
|---|---|
| No IT leader | “Do I need a fractional CIO for a 200-person manufacturer, and how do I find a good one?” |
| ERP decision | “Should we replace our ERP or upgrade it? We are a $150 million distributor.” |
| Selection | “Independent ERP selection consultant that does not resell software, Midwest?” |
| Before a sale | “Who can assess our IT before a private equity sale?” |
| AI plan | “IT strategy consultant to build an AI roadmap for a regional bank?” |
| Price | “How much does an IT strategy assessment cost for a mid-size company?” |

The details in these questions matter. In [our prompt phrasing study](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-prompt-phrasing-study), adding “I run a small business with about 10 employees” to a question kept the original first brand only 40.6% of the time, against 68.0% when the same question was simply asked again. Who is asking changes who gets named. An adviser that only appears for generic questions may vanish when a buyer describes a 300-person company in a specific industry.

## How does an AI recommendation turn into an advisory engagement?

Through a discovery call. The assistant can put your name forward; the first conversation still has to earn the assessment.

1. **AI answer.** The executive sees a few advisers or types of adviser, sometimes with a reason for each.
2. **Check.** Your site, LinkedIn profiles, reviews and any articles quoting you. In [our hidden-searches study](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-hidden-searches-study), ChatGPT itself looked for reviews in 46.2% of its answers before replying.
3. **Discovery call.** The buyer tests whether you understand companies like theirs.
4. **Fixed-fee assessment.** A defined first purchase with low risk.
5. **Selection, oversight or retainer.** The larger and longer revenue.

Independence is the deciding trust factor in this industry. A buyer choosing an ERP or a cloud platform wants to know whether the adviser earns referral fees or resells. A firm that says plainly what it does not sell, and shows decisions it has steered in both directions, gives both the buyer and the assistant a reason to recommend it, we infer. Firms that also deliver hands-on projects can read [how IT services firms win projects from AI search](https://underneath.agency/resources/it-service-firms-leads-ai-search).

## What decides whether an assistant names an IT adviser?

No platform documents how it picks consultants. Studies suggest answers vary widely, and that reviews and specific context matter.

**Documented by the platforms.** None of the major assistants publishes rules for recommending professional advisers.

**Observed in our studies, in other categories.** We have not studied IT consultancies directly:

- **Answers vary from run to run.** In [our consistency study](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-recommendation-consistency-study), a single ChatGPT answer showed 57.8% of the brands its five answers named between them, and 25.2% of the brands appeared in all five runs. One check of one question proves little; we compare engines in [which AI engine is most consistent for brands](https://underneath.agency/resources/most-consistent-ai-engine-for-brands).
- **Context reshuffles the list.** The prompt phrasing study shows company size and budget wording change who is named.
- **Reviews are looked up.** ChatGPT searched for reviews in nearly half of its answers in the hidden-searches study.

**Our inference, specific to advisory IT.** Advisers that publish clear decision guides (replace or upgrade, how to run a selection, what a fractional CIO does in the first 90 days), state the company sizes and industries they serve, and are quoted in regional business and trade press give assistants more to cite. Smaller firms can win here; we explain why in [how small brands get recommended by AI](https://underneath.agency/resources/how-small-brands-get-recommended-by-ai).

## What does it cost an IT consultancy to be missing?

The executives who decide alone, or with whichever adviser the assistant named. No study has measured that loss.

- **The adviser’s role is being automated at the edges.** TrustRadius found analyst reports used by 13% of buyers, a 63% decrease since 2022. If buyers trust an assistant’s shortlist more than a research report, the adviser who is absent from the assistant’s answer loses the chance to challenge it.
- **The first engagement leads to the rest.** Missing the assessment means missing the selection, the oversight and the retainer.
- **Wrong descriptions send the wrong buyers.** An answer that calls you an IT support company, or a reseller of one vendor, repels the executives who want independent advice. Our guide to [correcting wrong brand information in AI answers](https://underneath.agency/resources/fix-wrong-brand-information-in-ai-answers) shows how to fix that at the source.

## How does GEO work for an IT consulting firm?

It makes your independence, specialties and client fit clear to assistants and buyers. No one can guarantee a recommendation.

1. **Say what you are and are not.** Advisory, vendor-neutral, no resale, or the partnerships you do hold. State it the same way on your site, LinkedIn, Clutch and association profiles.
2. **Name your client profile.** Company sizes, industries and regions. Assistants answer size-specific questions, and our phrasing study shows those details change the list.
3. **Publish decision guides.** Replace or upgrade, build or buy, how to run a software selection, what a roadmap contains, how fractional CIO retainers work. Dated, specific and signed by a named adviser.
4. **Show outcomes and both-way decisions.** Case summaries where you recommended against a purchase are strong evidence of independence.
5. **Collect reviews that name the work.** “Ran our ERP selection and saved us from a bad fit” says more than “great to work with.”
6. **Explain fees.** Fixed-fee assessments, day rates or retainer ranges, at least in outline. Buyers ask, and assistants look for prices.
7. **Get quoted.** Regional business journals, industry associations and trade publications that cover your clients’ sectors.
8. **Test the questions in context.** Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode your buyers’ questions, with their company size and industry, several times each. For the software those buyers end up choosing, see [how ERP vendors appear in AI search](https://underneath.agency/resources/erp-software-ai-search).

## What is still unproven about AI and IT advisory work?

Whether AI answers send executives to advisers or replace them. No study has tested either for IT consulting.

- **No survey of advisory IT buyers.** RSM surveys mid-size companies’ AI use, not how they hire advisers; TrustRadius surveys software buyers.
- **Fractional CIO data is thin.** Lightcast does not break out IT roles.
- **ERP failure rates are an analyst view.** Gartner’s 70 percent comes from a conference presentation, not a published study we could read in full.
- **Our studies covered other categories.** Their patterns may not hold for advisers.

## Where should an IT consulting firm start?

With the questions your best clients asked themselves before they called you, phrased with their size and industry.

Write 20 of them: fractional CIO, ERP decisions, AI roadmaps, pre-sale assessments, fees. Ask each major assistant several times. Record which firms or types of adviser are named, what sources are cited, and whether your independence and specialties are described correctly.

If you would like a second opinion on what you find, [ask us to review your advisory questions](https://underneath.agency/contact). We will show where your firm appears, where other advisers or software vendors fill the answer instead, and which gaps in your guides, reviews and profiles are most likely costing you discovery calls and first assessments. Beyond that review, our [generative engine optimization service](https://underneath.agency/services/generative-engine-optimization) page explains how an independent adviser’s decision guides, profiles and press mentions are built up and retested over time.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do executives really ask ChatGPT whether they need a fractional CIO?

No survey isolates that question. TrustRadius found 63% of technology buyers used AI during a recent purchase, and fractional leadership is growing fast among smaller firms.

### Will AI assistants replace vendor-selection consultants?

Not for complex decisions, we infer. Buyers shortlist with AI, but 94% of the AI users in TrustRadius’s survey fact-check its answers.

### Should an IT adviser publish fees?

At least explain the structure. Buyers ask about cost early, and fixed-fee assessments are easier to choose than open-ended work.

### Does company size in the question change the answer?

In our phrasing study, adding a small-business detail kept the original first brand only 40.6% of the time, against 68.0% for a plain rerun.

### How is this different from managed services?

Advisers sell judgment and independence; managed service providers sell ongoing operations. See [how MSPs win clients from AI search](https://underneath.agency/resources/msps-customers-from-ai-search).

## Sources

- RSM US (2025), [The middle market is embracing AI to drive innovation and efficiency: RSM Middle Market AI Survey 2025](https://rsmus.com/insights/services/digital-transformation/rsm-middle-market-ai-survey-2025.html)
- The Register (2025-11-13), [ERP carnage continues as orgs jump in unprepared](https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/erp_disaster_gartner/)
- CIO Dive (2025), [Companies mitigate ERP project risks](https://www.ciodive.com/news/companies-mitigate-ERP-project-risks/752801/)
- Lightcast (2026-08-20), [The rise of fractional leadership](https://lightcast.io/blog/rise-of-fractional-leadership)
- O*NET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor (2025), [Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-3021.00)
- Demand Gen Report (2026-07-30), [TrustRadius: AI has changed how buyers research, but not what they trust](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/news-brief/trustradius-ai-has-changed-how-buyers-research-but-not-what-they-trust/53853/)
- Demand Gen Report (2026-05-12), [Clutch launches first B2B services marketplace app on ChatGPT](https://www.demandgenreport.com/?p=52857)
- Underneath (2026), [Does rewording a question change AI brand recommendations?](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-prompt-phrasing-study)
- Underneath (2026), [The hidden searches AI assistants run before they answer](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-hidden-searches-study)
- Underneath (2026), [Ask an AI the same question 5 times: do the brands change?](https://underneath.agency/research/ai-recommendation-consistency-study)

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