2025 UK Clarity Study: Technology and AI are Set to Drive Profits Up for Architecture, Engineering & Consulting Firms

In January 2025, Deltek surveyed 200 senior decision-makers working in UK-based architecture, engineering and consulting organizations to understand their challenges and opportunities.

Their responses make up the 6th Annual Deltek Clarity UK Industry Study. While the report covers a wide range of industry trends, technology was a key topic.

Business leaders continue to emphasize how crucial emerging technology is to their firm's success, and the majority plan to support this by increasing their investment. While artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as a potential profit driver across professional services firms, concerns over cyberattacks are at the forefront of decision-makers' minds.

Read on to learn more about how firms are responding to challenges and embracing the opportunities offered by technology and AI.

Firms Continue to Mature Digitally

Architecture, engineering and consulting firms have already accelerated their digital transformation progress in the last 12 months, and plan to increase their focus on this in 2025.

In the survey, 81% of firms estimate they will be at a mature or advanced level of digital transformation by 2028. But, achieving this requires significant investment and effective transformation initiatives. We asked firms what these initiatives could look like for them, and they listed their priorities as:

• Create a strategic plan for implementing technology trends (49%)
• Identify technology partners (47%)
• Identify and develop technology subject matter experts (46%)
• Develop a budget for strategic investment (45%)

As potential clients increasingly look for modern services, and workers seek out modern companies, achieving digital maturity sooner rather than later is a must to stay competitive. In fact, 82% of business leaders are concerned about competitors implementing new technologies faster than they can, leaving them behind.

The majority of firms estimate that they will be at a mature or advanced level of digital transformation within three years

Technology is a Priority for Investment

Architecture, engineering and consulting firms plan to increase their investment in emerging technologies in 2025, with AI (44%) and Cybersecurity (38%) earmarked for highest investment increases, followed by data analytics (28%). Overall, firms identified that AI and Cybersecurity are very important to the success of the business.

On average, 68% of firms expect to increase investment in emerging technology in 2025, including 27% that plan to invest significantly more. Small and medium firms have the highest ambitions to increase technology investment—with more planning to increase their investment in Cybersecurity (87% vs. 75% for large firms), AI (87% vs. 75% for large firms) and data analytics (86% vs. 61% for large firms).

AI May Become a Key Profit Driver

As firms embed AI into their day-to-day operations, many are starting to understand the potential benefits the technology could generate throughout their organization. In fact, 82% of firms believe that the successful implementation of AI will significantly impact profitability. Other perceived benefits of AI include improved operational efficiency (52%) and project timeline and delivery (50%).

In addition, 40% of firms feel that successfully adopting generative AI and automation to simplify project processes is essential to their organization's success in 2025. And 36% feel technology and automation will be the single biggest internal driver of their firm's profitability in 2025.

Despite its potential benefits, firms are conscious of the potential impact that AI could have on their social and governance initiatives, with 80% agreeing that it's important to fully consider potential threats, ethical issues, accuracy and bias risks before introducing AI.

The majority of firms believe that AI will positively impact profitability

AI's Potential Impact on the Workforce

Architecture, engineering and consulting firms are increasingly confident that investing in AI will help them offer more services to the market, with 87% agreeing. To achieve this, 82% of firms believe they need specific job roles or departments focused on implementing AI.

While there are discussions about how AI might affect the wider workforce, it's important to note that the proportion of firms agreeing that successful implementation of AI would result in improved staff job satisfaction has increased significantly since last year (85% vs 71%). This positive trend highlights the potential for AI to enhance the work environment and overall job satisfaction.

Although 81% of firms agree that AI implementation might lead to fewer staff hirings, and 79% believe it could result in existing staff redundancies, the focus remains on the transformative benefits AI can bring. Firms are more likely to agree this year than in 2024 that AI will impact hiring strategies, reflecting a proactive approach to integrating AI into their operations.

Cybersecurity is Seen as a Key Component of Success

Over one-third of professional services firms experienced a Cybersecurity attack in the last 18 months. And the same proportion (36%) are extremely concerned about Cybersecurity risks or breaches.

The percentage of firms that view Cybersecurity as very important to their business success has increased since last year (58% compared to 48% in 2024), and 36% of firms have it as one of their top three organizational priorities (up from 23% last year).

These concerns are reflected in how firms plan to prioritize investment in 2025. 79% plan to increase their investment in Cybersecurity this year compared to last year, and 38% plan to invest significantly more.

Over a third of firms see Cybersecurity as one of their top priorities this year

What Are Your Plans for 2025?

The 6th Annual Deltek Clarity UK Industry Study further explores technology attitudes, challenges and opportunities for architecture, engineering and consultancy. But that's not all it has to offer.

Read the full report to learn about other industry trends, including the economic outlook and a deeper dive into challenges and opportunities facing your workforce.