Insights from the VFP Consulting Team
As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in enterprise platforms like Salesforce’s Agentforce, the enterprise technology consulting landscape is shifting faster than ever. The next generation of consultants will not be defined by how well they configure systems but by how well they translate business strategy into intelligent, AI-driven outcomes.
The rise of Agentforce marks a clear inflection point. Tasks that once required hours of hands-on work, such as building automations, generating reports, and writing validation rules, are becoming increasingly automated. But while AI may reduce the demand for manual configuration, it simultaneously elevates the importance of consulting, critical thinking, and domain expertise.
From Hands-on Keyboards to Hands-on Strategy
For decades, consulting value has been measured in “hands-on keyboards.” Clients paid for the hours it took to design, build, and test configurations. But AI will rapidly erode that model. When an AI can produce a functional automation in seconds, the cost of manual labor becomes irrelevant.
The differentiator, then, isn’t the ability to build; it’s the ability to advise, interpret, and lead.
As David Parshall, Managing Consultant at VFP, points out, AI has a fundamental limitation regarding forward-looking strategy:
“AI calculates its decisions based on historical data/information feeds. It’s tough for it to predict what’s going on ahead in the future to look around corners or to detect nuances from the client.”
Clients will still need human partners who can frame the right business questions and look around those corners. In short, the future consultant’s value lies not in their ability to manipulate a platform, but in their ability to create clarity amid complexity.
What Clients Will Pay for Now: The Human Element
For years, it was enough to be an expert in Salesforce, NetSuite, or Workday. But as AI automates technical execution, “product-only” expertise will likely become commoditized. Clients will instead look for consultants with hybrid fluency, those who understand both technology and the human dynamics of business.
This includes the ability to navigate organizational politics and “read the room”—skills AI currently lacks.
“Human beings are not normally logical creatures… There’s always an emotional and political influence,” David explains. “AI can do things a lot faster, but there are subtle elements unique to a consultant: to be able to read the room, to understand the politics, to look around the unique case… and make a judgment about the best approach to take.”
A skilled consultant in the AI era must combine platform architecture with deep emotional intelligence to translate business goals into responsible automation.
The Necessity of Judgment and Accountability
Having “15 years in Salesforce” won’t be enough. What matters is domain fluency combined with the ability to validate AI outputs. The more we rely on AI, the more critical the human element of accountability becomes.
We can look to other industries to see how this plays out. David draws a parallel to healthcare:
“We see examples in highly regulated industries, like healthcare, where AI is used to look at X-rays. They’ve trained AI with millions of different studies, and whilst the AI is very accurate, the final decision and diagnosis must be made by a qualified and accountable individual. The same applies to consulting: AI allows us to handle transactional tasks much faster, but it cannot make accountable judgments. It is only as accurate as the data given.”
The consultant serves as the safety valve, ensuring that what the AI builds is not just code-compliant but business-compliant.
Toward Outcome-Based Services
As AI compresses project timelines, consulting firms must rethink how they measure and price value. The traditional time-and-materials model assumes labor is the core asset. But when AI handles labor, the asset becomes intellectual capital, strategy, innovation, and foresight.
However, this shift also highlights where AI struggles. It has difficulty interpreting and considering ambiguity, and it completely lacks the capacity to work through the political, psychological, and emotional aspects of a client engagement.
The actual value of a consultant today lies in the ability to bring disparate elements together, uniting the technical efficiency of AI with the nuance of human judgment.
Leading firms are already moving toward outcome-based service engagements defined by their impact, not the effort required. This evolution aligns perfectly with AI enablement. When automation does the work, consultants become accountability partners. This requires a strong ethical framework.
“It still needs that human being to have the accountability to make the right call,” says David. “[You need] someone who has the experience… but also has the ethical, moral, and emotional intelligence to be able to take accountability for what comes out of it.”
The New Skill Set
The next-generation admin or consultant needs strong communication, analytical thinking, and the ability to QA and refine AI results. In addition to familiarity with security, ethics, and change management, the modern consultant must master:
- Emotional Intelligence: The ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics.
- Psychological Insight: The capacity to understand why people behave the way they do.
- Political Acumen: The skill to manage stakeholders and influence decisions.
- Climate Sensing: The ability to read the “room” and sense the unspoken climate of an engagement.
However, this does not mean technical skills are obsolete. On the contrary, deep technical knowledge is required to prompt and validate the AI effectively.
“If you have someone who does not have the technical skills, they’re not going to be able to get the best out of AI. Consultants still need to have their subject matter and domain expertise… You need to understand the landscape and how to interrogate AI effectively to achieve those outcomes. It is about having the experience of looking at the output and asking: ‘Does this make sense?’ You should use AI, but you shouldn’t rely on AI.”
AI isn’t replacing consultants, it’s refocusing them. The days of value measured in deliverables are giving way to a model where value is measured in outcomes, relationships, and long-term impact.
Agentforce and similar platforms will automate the “how.” Consultants will define the “why” and the “what next.”
As the old saying goes, “a presentation is a good servant but a bad master.” The same is true for AI. For those willing to evolve, this is a tremendous opportunity: to move up the value chain, to lead transformation rather than execute it, and to redefine what partnership means in the age of AI.
