I recently co-hosted a Meridian West’s webinar alongside Brenda Plowman. We highlighted five forces transforming the legal and professional landscape and the smart strategies that firms are taking in response. Over 45 minutes we covered a lot of ground. Here’s a summary of what we discussed, including what our live audience had to say.

Five forces reshaping the landscape

Brenda and I shared five trends we’ve been hearing repeatedly at recent industry conferences and in our conversations with firms. These aren’t predictions. These are tangible shifts happening across legal, professional services and B2B industries right now.

1. MBD rapidly repositioning as the growth engine. The pace of change is unmistakable: MBD teams are being evaluated on what growth they have helped to generate for the firm. As MBD’s remit is shifting titles like Chief Growth Officer and Revenue Enablement Leader are emerging to bring together MBD capabilities in new ways to drive growth. The Association of Accounting Marketing has even renamed itself the Association of Accounting Growth to reflect this change in emphasis.

2. Data quality and client intelligence driving competitive advantage. Firms that are pulling ahead are the ones with better operational alignment and more sophisticated use of data. MBD teams are uniquely placed to hold that helicopter view across internal systems and external market intelligence and use it to unlock commercial value.

3. Client experience (CX) as a strong differentiator. Technical expertise has long been table stakes. Clients aren’t leaving firms because of poor advice, they are leaving because of poor experience. Our CLIMB research (benchmarking over 200 professional services firms globally) shows that while client listening maturity has grown from 39% to 45%, firms are still falling short of translating that into real impact. The gap between collecting insight and acting on it is where the real opportunity lies for firms.

4. Combining AI and human superpowers is the winning sweetspot. AI integration is now an expectation, not a differentiator. However, the real value comes from the combination of AI to handle process and synthesis, while freeing people to focus on creativity, relationship-building, and the nuanced problem-solving that clients will pay a premium for.

5. The client value equation is being recalibrated. With AI changing delivery models, pricing and value conversations are intensifying. Value can’t just be stated, it has to be felt by clients. Many firms have be slow to understand and respond to this shift leaving them on the backfoot, with clients continuing to exert pressure on fees.

What our audience told us

We put the question directly to attendees: which of these forces is getting the most time and attention in your firm right now?

Client experience came out on top (32%), closely followed by combining AI and human superpowers (29%). Data and client intelligence came in at 19%, MBD repositioning at 16%, and the client value equation at 3%.

When the audience was asked how their firms are responding, the answers were candid and varied, ranging from investment in AI tools alongside team training; pilots and test groups to evaluate new MBD workflows; firm-wide restructuring with a sharper focus on growth; client service excellence charters; and team-by-team workshops to identify automation quick wins.

One response captured a very real tension many are feeling: “analysis paralysis.” There is no shortage of options. The challenge for MBD team and their firms is making smart strategic choices about where to focus.

Where next for firms

When we asked attendees where they’d most like to invest their energy over the next 12 months, making client experience promises tangible and measuring their impact came in at 50%. This is by some distance the top priority. Strategic alignment and cross-functional collaboration came second at 18%, with embedding a growth mindset in the firm and reframing client value conversations both at 14%.

This tells us something important: people aren’t short of CX ambition. What is missing in many firms today is better ways to make those CX commitments concrete, trackable, and commercially visible within the firm and to clients and prospects.

How AI fits in

Our conversation then turned to how AI is helping MBD teams achieve more in each of these priority areas. MBD function leaders are investing in AI to achieve time savings on routine, repeatable and admin tasks, surfacing insights from large volumes of client data, aiding opportunity discovery, and building automation agents to take away the daily grind.

All of this has been happening for many months now, and what’s possible with AI will continue to evolve as technologies evolves. So perhaps the more interesting question for MBD teams and their firms, is not just how we use AI to keep pace, but how do we use the time and efficiency gains AI creates to generate new value for our firms and our clients? That subtle reframing moves the conversation from cost to growth strategy.

The opportunity for broader cross-sector conversations

One theme that ran throughout our discussion was the opportunity for legal, accountancy and other professional sectors to learn from each other. For example, while legal has developed strong client listening practices, accountancy brings deep account management and advisory-led cross-selling disciplines. Consulting has often moved further and faster on integrating AI into client propositions. The firms that will move quickest are likely those willing to look beyond their own sector for inspiration.

With this in mind, at Meridian West we want to be at the forefront of keeping the conversation going across sectors.

This webinar was the first in a new cross-sector series Brenda and I are building, bringing together MBD from legal, accountancy, consulting and professional services to tackle shared challenges. Upcoming sessions will dig deeper into many of the topics our webinar has brought to the surface – AI adoption, client experience measurement, pricing and value, and more — with roundtable formats planned both virtually and in person in London and North America.

Drop me a message if you’d like to join a future session or would like to talk about any of the themes raised. We’d love to hear what’s resonating with you and what you’d add to the conversation.