The Future of the Firm

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Tom Shave, President for Europe and APAC at Ryan, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore the primary levers for fast growth in the global tax services market. We explore the following questions and more: What key factors are currently driving resilience and growth in the global tax market today? What are the primary forces disrupting the global tax market? Is AI changing traditional billing models toward value-based pricing? What are the different strategic levers that are helping firms like Ryan to scale? How can firms use AI to expand into new markets? What are the most common growth pitfalls for professional services leaders to avoid in a fast-moving market? Accelerate your firm's growth in key sectors. Get in touch with our experts today to access our latest market data on client priorities, competitor insights, and emerging opportunities.

Kim Bozzella, Protiviti’s Global CIO & CISO Solutions Leader and a former banking-sector CIO, explores what truly unlocks value in technology transformation. They discuss executive scepticism around AI, C-suite alignment, workforce readiness and ecosystem orchestration. The conversation also covers data governance, cybersecurity, practical AI adoption and why success measures should come before technology choices.

Priyanka Chaudhry, EY’s Global Deputy Vice Chair for Managed Services, brings a tax and finance background to a wide-ranging discussion on navigating a nonlinear, volatile business world. Explore how managed services connect transformation with execution, unite expertise across functions, and create more agile careers. The conversation also covers AI collaboration, human judgment, and the leadership lessons found in community partnerships.

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Sophie Gunn, Senior Consultant at Source, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore the latest findings from Source's Client Perceptions programme and discuss what firms really need to know about how clients perceive them in 2026. We explore the following questions and more: What are the top attributes clients look for when choosing a consulting firm today? Why is expertise alone no longer enough to differentiate professional services firms? How are shifting macroeconomic conditions impacting client confidence across different client segments? Why are "undecided" clients the most critical and challenging group for firms to engage with? Where are mid-sized and boutique firms outperforming larger competitors? How can firms capitalise on client advocates to win new business? If you're interested in listening to more episodes like this one, click here. Want to strengthen your firm's market positioning and target growth? Get in touch with our experts today and access our latest data to gain insight into client priorities, competitor strengths, and market gaps.

Ganesh Devarajan, Americas Cyber Risk Leader at EY and former offensive/defensive researcher, discusses how cyber threats now move at machine speed and shift up the stack. He highlights the surge in vulnerabilities from Anthropic’s Mythos, the need for a minimum viable enterprise to survive breaches, and why firms must upskill in AI, reallocate budgets, and partner widely to scale protection.

Rob Fisher, Global Head of Advisory at KPMG with roots in audit, technology and financial risk, joins to discuss adaptability. He explores why incremental fixes fail and how AI alone does not speed decisions. They cover the competitor blind spot, the limits of tactical partnerships, and why investing in people and new operating models matters most.

Elizabeth Bolshaw, Global Content Strategist at EY who leads its Global Insights editorial team. She discusses how AI has flooded the information landscape, the risk of a “sea of sameness,” and the need for deep expertise to stand out. She covers client cynicism about AI, the rise of generative engine optimisation, governance and fact-checking practices, and how smaller teams can niche and use AI wisely.

Bhaskar Ghosh, former Accenture strategy and innovation chief and AI technologist, discusses how AI is reshaping consulting. He covers whether the industry will grow, the Three C's of disruption (cannibalization, cost structure, capabilities), shifts from advice to implementation, new pricing models, and the risk of losing human judgment. Short, forward-looking takes on talent, speed of adoption, and building AI-enabled differentiation.

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Francine Bennett, Board Member at the Ada Lovelace Institute and at The British Library, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore the rapid evolution of AI and its practical implications for business leaders. Drawing on over 20 years of experience, Francine address the following questions and more: Where are we with agentic AI, and how far have businesses really got with its adoption? In what ways are multimodal AI and direct speech-to-speech voice models transforming customer interactions? How can leaders effectively leverage AI for strategy development while keeping human judgement at its heart? Why does mandating AI adoption through blunt metrics (like number of hours spent using AI) backfire, and what is a better approach to building workforce skills? Where can consultants add the most value for clients around AI? Where are we with the challenge posed by hallucinations and overconfident AI outputs today? If you enjoyed this conversation, we have a whole catalogue of back episodes for you to delve into. In a recent episode, we sat down with Geert van den Goor, CEO at Valcon, to talk about the new competitive advantage of regional firms.

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Paul Clark, Partner & Global Alliance Leader - EY Microsoft at EY, joins Fiona Czerniawska, CEO at Source, to discuss reinventing technology alliances. We address following questions and more: Is AI ushering in a new era of implementation partner dynamics? You don't get to the lightbulb through continuous reinvention of the candle. How can we reimagine the entire partner model to integrate deep domain expertise, sector insights, and an understanding of business processes? What if the real value of AI isn't replacing people, but amplifying human capability at scale? Are clients moving beyond the traditional divide between business and technology teams to fully integrated decision making? AI could completely reshape the future of payment models in professional services. Will outcomes-based pricing become the new normal? With large-scale alliances like EY-Microsoft, how can firms work together to make the most of the expertise on both sides? If you enjoyed this conversation, don't miss our sister podcast, Business Leader's Voice. In the latest podcast episode, we spoke to Andrea Lattimore, Global Director – Compliance & Business Integrity at Vodafone, to explore how trust can be leveraged as a driver of growth and resilience in a global organisation.