Our second report is out: forty interviews across more than fifty executive-search firms, in two rounds of research.
Almost every firm wants AI doing more than it does today.
The maturity gap is widening. Leading firms are increasing technology investment and shifting towards smaller, more senior teams supported by AI. The majority remain at the experimentation stage.
Human adoption has overtaken data quality as the primary risk. The technology is capable; the constraint is organisational will and leadership commitment.
CRM is being recognised as the foundation for AI. AI only delivers value on top of a well-structured, complete database. Firms are investing in data quality, recognising the CRM must become the central intelligence hub before meaningful automation is possible.
The capability gap is becoming apparent. Most firms lack the internal expertise to evaluate, build, or maintain AI solutions. The gap between ambition and ability to execute is one of the clearest findings.
AI strategy is becoming a firm-wide leadership issue. What started as a technology question now touches positioning, pricing, and competitive differentiation, requiring alignment across leadership, operations, and technology.
Stemming intelligence leakage. Most firms lose the vast majority of insight generated through calls and meetings. Leading firms have found systematic, AI-driven ways to ensure intelligence from every interaction is retained and reusable.
Removing the manual step from deliverables. Many firms use ChatGPT to help draft reports, but still rely on copying, pasting, and prompting. Leading firms have automated the pipeline end-to-end: CRM data flows directly into finished documents.
Enriching the intelligence base beyond internal data. Leading firms are augmenting their CRM with external market data and exploring new AI-driven channels for gathering candidate intelligence directly.
Rethinking the operating model. Rather than bolting AI onto existing processes, leading firms are redesigning how teams are structured, shifting capacity from assembly and administration towards judgment and client relationships.
What proportion of your candidate intelligence actually reaches your CRM, and how much is lost after every call?
If AI handled research, documents, and administration, what would your firm look like in two years?
Are you building a compounding data asset, or simply saving time on individual tasks?
How does your maturity compare to the firms competing for the same mandates?
The complete study includes detailed benchmarking, tool evaluations, and maturity-specific recommendations across 35 pages. Participate in a 30-minute confidential conversation and receive the full report, including how your firm compares to others competing for the same mandates.