The top cybersecurity consulting firms in 2026 are Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, PwC, EY, and KPMG among the global integrators; McKinsey and BCG Platinion for cyber strategy; and Mandiant, Unit 42, CrowdStrike, and Booz Allen Hamilton for specialist defense and incident response. Which one is “best” depends entirely on the problem: transformation programs go to the…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated July 2026. Can AI do consulting work? Not yet, at least not the whole job. The most rigorous test to date, Mercor’s 2026 APEX-Agents benchmark, dropped leading AI models into realistic consulting tasks and found that the best of them finished fewer than 25% correctly on the…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated July 2026. Will AI replace junior consultants? No, not the role, but yes, much of the old entry-level task list. AI handles the research, data work, and slide drafting that once filled a junior’s first year and built their judgment. Firms still hire juniors, but they expect…
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Updated June 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant If you have a McKinsey final round coming up, you have probably seen the headlines. McKinsey is adding an AI interview, and half the internet is telling you to drop everything and learn prompt engineering. That advice is mostly wrong, and following it can…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated July 2026. The impact of AI on consulting is the shift from a people-heavy pyramid, where large cohorts of junior analysts do research, modeling, and slides, toward leaner, AI-augmented teams. AI now handles much of that entry-level production work, which raises the bar on judgment, client skills,…
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Florian spent five years at McKinsey as a Senior Consultant and is a highly experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach. Having conducted interviews with hundreds of candidates, he understands exactly what top-tier firms look for in successful applicants.
He founded StrategyCase.com to make top consulting careers more accessible by providing tailored, up-to-date insights into the recruiting process. Recognized as the most successful case and fit interview coach, Florian has helped his clients secure 700+ offers at MBB, Tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms over the past four years.
He is the author of “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview,” “The 1%: Case Interview Workbook,” and “Consulting Career Secrets”, all available on Amazon.
