Market View
Navigating the AI transformation journey: How global service providers are reimagining value creation
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Jon McClay
Global Director of Strategy & Analytics at Baker McKenzie
About Jon McClay
Jon McClay is the Global Director of Strategy & Analytics at Baker McKenzie, where he develops and implements global strategy while working closely with the firm's leadership. With over 25 years of experience in global financial and professional services firms, Jon specialises in client strategy rollout, establishing business analytics functions, and improving revenue growth across markets, practice groups, and industries. His expertise in fostering strategic and commercial marketing approaches has consistently driven sustained growth for the organisations he serves.
How is AI beginning to reshape relationships between global service providers and their enterprise clients?
When considering AI's impact on service providers, it's important to distinguish between technology providers and professional service firms like Baker McKenzie. For technology providers, Generative AI represents an existential threat. Many are scrambling to incorporate AI into their offerings, essentially putting a wrapper around the intelligence of large language models.
Technology providers aren't just competing amongst themselves anymore. If you're a CRM provider, you're increasingly competing with Microsoft, which is becoming the core operating system for organisations. Many corporates are questioning how many IT solutions they need when they can simply ask their Copilot solution for client information.
For professional services firms, AI has potential to level the playing field. An experiment by Boston Consulting Group demonstrated that while high-performing consultants remained good with or without AI tools, average performers improved significantly with AI access. I believe this same dynamic will play out at the macro level - top firms will remain top, but mid-tier firms will expand their reach and compete more effectively.
We're also seeing a shift in power dynamics between in-house counsel and external legal advisors. As AI tools enable clients to answer routine legal queries directly, they'll likely reserve external counsel for more complex matters.
For professional services firms like ours, AI has real potential to level the playing field. Top-tier firms will remain top-tier, but mid-tier firms will be able to expand their reach and compete more effectively, intensifying competition across the board.
The first critical step is moving to the cloud. I cannot imagine incorporating generative AI effectively if your data remains fragmented across on-premises silos. Getting your information into the cloud, ideally into a single solution, is absolutely essential.
How do you see AI changing client expectations around service delivery and value?
Clients expect us to be using AI. Only a few express concerns about its presence in our workflow, primarily around information accuracy - something that's rapidly improving with retrieval augmented generation technology.
The impact varies by service type. For routine work like commercial contracting, clients are focused on efficiency, automation, and standardisation. This translates into expectations of lower costs and significant margin compression. Some firms will need to decide whether to continue offering these services or cede ground to alternative providers.
For premium services like major M&A deals or litigation, clients expect AI to augment what lawyers can do. There's significant value for companies in minimising the time between announcing and closing a deal, especially in volatile markets. Generative AI enables lawyers to perform due diligence more quickly, reducing uncertainty for clients and shareholders.
I believe clients will pay for this value, and we'll see margins hold for premium services despite AI adoption. The expectation isn't necessarily lower costs but rather what can be accomplished and how quickly.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities for AI to add value in legal services?
We've been using AI for quite some time, particularly for document review in litigation and due diligence for transactions. What's interesting now is that we're seeing measurable benefits in new business directly attributable to our knowledge of generative AI as both a subject matter and a tool.
We're spending considerable time advising clients on AI governance and risk management. Companies frequently approach us seeking governance frameworks or risk assessments for AI-enhanced products.
Simultaneously, we're deploying AI alongside our lawyers to solve client problems more effectively. A good example involves data breaches, where organisations face numerous reporting obligations with short compliance windows. We use generative AI with our proprietary regulatory playbook to deliver this service quickly and accurately.
This exemplifies our main contribution: helping clients derive value from AI by enabling them to deploy it safely, purchase it intelligently, and navigate legal challenges.
We're seeing measurable benefits in new business directly attributable to our knowledge of generative AI as both a subject matter and a tool. We're spending considerable time advising clients on AI governance and risk management for their own AI deployments.
What foundational improvements have you made to support your AI initiatives?
The first critical step is moving to the cloud. I cannot imagine incorporating generative AI effectively if your data remains fragmented across silos. Getting information into the cloud is absolutely essential.
Process standardisation is another fundamental requirement. Having consistent global standards makes a tremendous difference. For legal work, this means establishing clear guidelines for handling different matters and identifying the information sources we rely on.
If you've standardised how support services are delivered, logging requests, measuring volume, and mapping processes, you're better positioned to exploit generative AI than with a "cottage industry structure."
We take a coordinated approach rather than allowing siloed initiatives. We have individuals focused on data governance, global deployment projects for common AI tools, and strategic initiatives that help identify where we can find the greatest benefits.
What new capabilities have you needed to develop to support AI implementation?
Our AI teams typically combine early-adopter partners and associates with knowledge lawyers who curate our "sources of truth" - legal reference materials that interact with generative AI.
We've added new roles in IT for understanding AI models and their infrastructure, including Microsoft 365 specialists and data scientists who build bespoke client solutions, though this represents just the tip of the pyramid. AI is used much more widely throughout the organisation.
For most applications, we focus on being smart users of vendor products and integrating them effectively. Sometimes AI is operated by specialist teams in our legal centres who process information for the lawyers handling transactions.
By approaching AI implementation with clear understanding of our processes and targeted application of technology, we enhance service delivery while maintaining the expertise that clients value most.
About Baker McKenzie
Baker McKenzie is a premier global law firm with 74 offices across 45 countries, employing approximately 13,000 people worldwide, half of whom are lawyers. Founded in 1949 in Chicago, the firm has pioneered the global law firm model and is renowned for its cross-border expertise and local market knowledge. With annual revenue exceeding £3 billion, Baker McKenzie serves the world's leading companies by helping them grow their businesses through M&A and investments, operate in a compliant manner, and defend their value through litigation and dispute resolution.
About Enate
Enate is the leading SaaS solution for business services. Enate orchestrates work from start to finish, giving clients the visibility and control needed to deliver better services. From email management and data analysis to intelligent document processing, Enate also offers a host of touch-button AI features designed to slash the time spent on manual work. Trusted by global service teams, Enate ensures smooth, consistent operations that help clients perform at their best.