2024 has proved to be an uneven year for the UK’s £240 billion professional services sector. However, confidence in the industry remains high. We’ve seen this when conducting our own survey of UK professional services leaders and through recent positive media headlines, such as in The Financial Times’ analysis of UK economic growth which spotlighted the sector.
Here we unpack the key trends set to shake up the professional services industry in 2025.
Long-anticipated economic recovery
While the professional services sector spans a broad range of industries, there is an overarching story of recovery and optimism for the year ahead. With this comes more solid footing to refocus on longer-term strategies, while counselling clients on broader macro themes.
Current and prospective clients will be looking for insights and specialist advisory not just on sector growth, but also on navigating changes afoot from governments in the first year of their new term, increasing global reporting standards, continued regulatory crackdowns, as well as commercial advancements in digital transformation.
As competitors vie for client attention, firms that can harness the hard-earned lessons from a tough economic environment into communicating best practice will be better placed to stay ahead. A steady stream of bold views, fresh insights and expert commentary in the media will be more important than ever.
It will also be critical that professional services firms avoid falling into a false sense of security that broader market optimism can bring. Our survey of 150 professional services CEOs found that a key portion did not have crisis communications plans in place in the event of inflationary pressure impacting operations (21%), increased regulatory scrutiny (28%) or geopolitical conflict affecting business negotiations (20%).
Private equity changes the playing field
With positive sector growth projections come high investor interest. In particular, according to Brabners, private equity is now so active it has become the dominant source of dealmaking.
PE houses ready to put dry powder to work are likely to focus much of their attention to professional and financial services, which can already be seen in recent reports emerging from the accountancy and cybersecurity space.
Strategic communications will be imperative to effectively communicate the benefits that any investment and M&A can bring. The standard investment press release distributed through a ‘spray and pray’ approach won’t enough to capture market attention.
Rather, for those professional services firms receiving PE backing, brand messaging about growth objectives and strategic focusses would benefit from a refresh. Alongside this, early and considered planning will be key to making the most of every business milestone achieved through investor backing and proactively mitigating against any reputational risk associated with PE takeovers.
Engaging a changing workforce
Additionally, 2025 looks to be a year of significant internal change, with reforms to employee rights legislation expected to roll on throughout the year. We can expect the pressure to attract and retain top tier talent will hit a new peak in the coming months, meaning strategies to promote a strong employer brand will become a core strategic pillar to maintain a competitive edge.
It’s an issue playing strongly in professional services CEOs’ minds, given Gen Z’s workplace demands were called out as a key ‘threat’ which they have the least confidence (at 38%) in handling. Laying the groundwork for setting up emerging talent for success will be essential over the coming months, both to upskill Gen Z’s and prepare for Gen Alpha to enter the workforce before 2030.
A proactive approach to employer brand and consistent internal communications could help to soften the blow of any unforeseen reputational risk. Ultimately, preparation will be key to help address any gaps and support businesses through workforce changes in 2025 and beyond.
Keeping pace with digital change
Recent years have encouraged businesses to integrate digital transformation into their everyday practice, so much so that it’s become the norm. With jam-packed set piece activity expected to keep the professional services sector on their toes, the need to leverage digital environments and platforms won’t let up anytime soon. Digital transformation 3.0 – a wave of organisational development with AI at its heart – brings new meaning to ‘adapt or die’.
The challenge for professional services businesses is to apply AI-driven tools to business challenges beyond operational inefficiencies, using it to enhance accurate predictions for clients. In tandem, organisations will be grappling with their stance on AI guardrails against bias, IP protection and data cleanliness; such foundational hurdles need to be addressed quickly to keep up with speed and scale that both clients and board members demand.
With such stiff competition in a ‘recovery’ year, businesses need to ensure they have their communications stance on major business issues well and truly covered. AI integration fits squarely within this arena, so robust and cohesive proof points on future-proofing business operations can offer a powerful tale to the broader market.
Optimism ahead
Overall, 2025 should prove to be an exciting time for the professional services sector. There are multiple positive industry stories to tell, and those with communications strategies that are effectively plugged into these evolving trends will be the ones best placed to own those narratives.
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