Business architecture stands at a critical crossroads as AI-driven disruption and accelerating change challenge traditional practices. In this live recording from the Twin Cities Business Architecture Forum, four industry veterans debate whether the profession is properly equipped for the future, examining everything from framework fatigue to the irreplaceable human skills that no technology can automate. Watch for 5 things you must know about the future of business architecture...

We Discuss:

• Is business architecture too rigid and dogmatic to adapt to current challenges like AI disruption?
• Are we overthinking frameworks and tools instead of just doing the work
• Will AI replace business architects?
• How do we manage the expectation that AI can help us when models always have inherent latency?
• Should we train business relationship managers (BRMs) to do business architecture instead of maintaining separate architecture practices?

5 Takeaways:

1. Business architecture is at an inflection point where the profession must evolve beyond documenting current state to strategically designing organizations with intent across people, process, and technology in an era of unprecedented AI-driven disruption.
2. AI will transform the architect's role by automating artifact generation and model creation, allowing practitioners to spend more time on irreplaceable human activities like stakeholder engagement, asking the right questions, and strategic thinking.
3. The most critical non-negotiable skills for business architects are storytelling ability, epistemic humility, and the capacity to replace judgment with curiosity while maintaining principles of systemic thinking over siloed approaches.
4. Organizations risk failure when they eliminate dedicated architecture roles under the false assumption that "everyone should think like an architect," because without accountability and specialized focus, strategic architectural thinking simply won't happen.
5. The profession must urgently address talent pipeline challenges by increasing visibility through university programs, hackathons, and mentorship models, as most people are familiar with building architects but have never heard of business or enterprise architects.

Happy Christmas! The Consulting model is totally collapsing! Well, perhaps it is just the traditional consulting pyramid business model that is being disrupted. Check out this episode for 5 things you need to know about it...

We Discuss:

• Can AI do all the consulting work, making consultants obsolete?
• What happens to the consulting pyramid structure when AI eliminates junior analyst roles?
• How can consulting firms maintain revenue when they need fewer billable bodies?
• Where will future consultants get their experience if there are no entry-level positions?
• Is this disruption happening now or is it still years away?

5 Takeaways:

1. AI is fundamentally disrupting the traditional consulting pyramid model where one person can now output what previously required five people, forcing firms to reconsider their staffing structures and revenue models that have relied on billable bodies for over a century (00:02:03 - 00:08:15).
2. The consulting industry is shifting from task specialization to end-to-end problem-solving, where consultants must now handle everything from analytics to implementation and training, rather than just creating plans and recommendations then walking away (00:12:16 - 00:12:59).
3. Firms will need to pivot from time-and-materials billing to outcomes-based pricing models because clients won't accept invoices for AI agents processing data for hours, forcing a fundamental change in how consulting services are valued and sold (00:14:40 - 00:15:21).
4. The traditional entry-level analyst role is disappearing, creating a career pipeline problem where firms can't sustain the pyramid structure if they have no junior intake, potentially making industry experience the new entry point rather than coming straight from college (00:23:41 - 00:25:18).
5. AI may actually save consulting by eliminating the burnout-inducing grind work, allowing the industry to focus on what consultants should truly do—provide human judgment, industry expertise, and strategic thinking—while AI handles data processing and analytical tasks (00:25:18 - 00:29:27).

Article referenced in this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/not-so-quiet-collapse-consulting-pyramid-dave-clark-icg5e

With AI, the consulting industry faces an existential crisis beyond technical roles. Traditional strategy and advisory work is now threatened. Check out this episode for 5 takeaways to help you navigate this change... We Discuss:

• What are consulting firms actually selling in the age of AI?
• Is "strategy through execution" enough going forward, or do consultants need to provide something more?
• Will consulting shift from human meetings to AI-integrated platforms?
• How can consultants avoid becoming commoditized like bank tellers or gas station attendants?
• What role does the human element play as AI capabilities expand?

5 Takeaways:

1. AI is creating a bifurcation in consulting where top performers must shift from selling frameworks and thinking to delivering concrete outcomes and accountability that clients can't get from AI tools alone.
2. The human element of consulting—building trust, providing emotional support through change, and making clients feel valued—remains critical because people remember how you made them feel more than what you told them.
3. Consultants who survive the AI disruption will be those who know which strategic questions to ask and where to apply their expertise, rather than those who can be replaced by increasingly sophisticated automation.
4. The consulting industry risks commoditization as AI handles lower-value work like slide creation and report generation, forcing professionals to move up the value chain to strategic advisory roles.
5. Future consulting may fundamentally shift from human-to-human meetings to AI-integrated collaborative platforms where advisory insights are embedded directly into the documents and tools clients use daily.

Stories mentioned in the discussion:

• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-o-dowd_a-month-ago-i-highlighted-that-accentures-activity-7341911790261297153-Txpo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABb6A4B6Bfgr3O3JnrFYNVBjrqyKshAVKc
• https://www.ft.com/content/a1a5c903-0a24-4c42-aae0-f86e04c06910
• https://furtheradvisory.com/insights/what-a-successful-advisory-firm-looks-like-in-2026/