The overlooked lever: business services in professional services firms

Reframing Professional Services – a monthly series by Alastair Mitchell 

Professional services firms are operating in an environment defined by greater connectivity, volatility and scrutiny. Many of the assumptions that shaped firm leadership, structure and status even a decade ago no longer hold. 

In this series, Alastair Mitchell draws on his experience as a COO for several global law firms as well as his work as a PSFI Partner advising senior teams navigating complex change. He reflects on some of the changes he sees most consistently across global professional services firms – what is shifting, what is being underestimated, and where leadership attention is now most needed.

Much of the discussion about change in professional services focuses on client‑facing innovation: new service lines, sector strategies, AI pilots and digital transformation narratives. Far less attention is paid to the internal support architecture that ultimately determines whether change is sustained. 

HR, finance, business development, IT, risk, knowledge management and operations are not peripheral functions. They are the operating system of the firm. 

Over time, most firms have experienced repeated waves of transformation: lean initiatives, cultural refreshes, digital upgrades, post‑merger integration, leadership frameworks and agile pilots. While the language evolves, fatigue often accumulates. Business services teams become the custodians of change memory – they understand what gained traction, what stalled quietly, and where strategic intent collided with operational reality. 

Refreshing how firms approach change is rarely about adopting the next fashionable methodology. It is about honestly applying what has been learned. 

The same patterns recur across firms: 

• Change declared at the top but misaligned with partner incentives 

• Technology introduced without behavioural adoption 

• Process redesign layered onto legacy systems rather than replacing them 

• Cultural ambition unsupported by commercial structures 

Business services sit precisely at the intersection of these tensions. How they are positioned and empowered is therefore one of the most strategic decisions firm leadership can take. 

This might mean: 

• Giving HR a stronger voice in governance and leadership discussions 

• Aligning finance more closely with forward‑looking strategy, not only historical reporting 

• Embedding risk teams early in innovation initiatives rather than at the point of constraint 

• Treating IT as a strategic partner rather than a cost centre 

Professional services firms can sometimes assume that, because they advise clients on transformation, they are naturally adept at internal change. Advising and implementing, however, are very different disciplines. 

Sustained relevance requires institutionalising change capability – not as a series of episodic programmes, but as an embedded, continuous capacity. Business services are central to that capability, yet are still too often under‑leveraged. 

For firms serious about adapting to a more volatile, fast‑moving market, this may be the most overlooked lever of all. 

This article is part of a monthly series exploring leadership, change and organisational effectiveness in global professional services firms. 

If you would like to discuss any of the themes raised, or how they are playing out in your firm, please get in touch. 

Author

Alastair Mitchell