Qantas Partners with Accenture to Shift Roles, While IT Consulting Adapts to AI

Australian carrier Qantas recently informed staff that approximately 850 positions will be affected in the coming years by a new partnership with Accenture, with initial operational changes slated to begin by mid-2027. According to internal communications shared with employees, functions including finance, procurement, human resources, and marketing are scheduled to transition first, with services delivered primarily by Accenture teams located in India.

The decision aligns with a rapidly evolving corporate landscape where major advisory and consulting firms are adjusting their traditional operating models. Across the broader technology and professional services sectors, artificial intelligence tools are reshaping project delivery. While some large advisory firms such as McKinsey, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG have announced layoffs in recent months due to changing client demands, others maintain that industry expertise and global delivery capabilities remain critical.

Edwin Miranda, founder of AI consulting firm konsultora, noted that large consulting companies continue to hold significant advantages in complex integration and regulatory compliance. "What AI is attacking is the traditional operating model behind the engagement," Miranda stated, explaining that tasks which previously required weeks of manual research and large document analysis can now be compressed significantly.

At the same time, the broader U.S. labor market showed resilience in October, defying some initial fears that artificial intelligence would immediately cause widespread job losses. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that management, scientific, and technical consulting employment expanded by 17,300 jobs between September and October, reaching record headcount levels above 1.9 million workers. Economists suggest the surge may reflect companies hiring external experts to help implement and adopt emerging technologies.

Despite growth in consulting headcounts, industry leaders emphasize that the nature of client engagements is fundamentally changing. Brad Belzak, founder of Acuity Global Partners, observed that corporate clients are increasingly pushing back against multi-year transformation projects in favor of shorter, more modular sprints. According to Belzak, frontier AI models have largely absorbed the routine work previously handled by generalist junior consultants, shifting the market premium toward specialized engineers and structured data analysts.

Furthermore, organizations in various sectors are recalibrating their internal strategies to meet growing technological demands. Membership groups like the AI Workforce Consortium, which includes corporate giants such as Accenture alongside Cisco, Google, and Microsoft, note that baseline skill requirements are shifting toward prompt engineering, AI security, and agent orchestration. As enterprises navigate these complex transformations, the focus of both consulting firms and internal corporate teams continues to pivot rapidly toward measurable outcomes and advanced technological integration.