RSM Middle Market AI Survey 2026
Professional services firms are focusing on AI’s practical uses
Firms look to AI for improvements in efficiency and productivity
Read the full 2026 AI survey report
Key takeaways
Professional services firms are using AI for practical gains.
AI pilots are succeeding, but scaling remains a challenge.
Human judgment remains central to establishing client trust.
Rather than aiming for industry disruption and sweeping transformation, many professional services firms are taking a grounded approach to artificial intelligence that emphasizes measurable business value. These firms are concentrating on specific use cases that improve productivity, accelerate knowledge work and create efficiencies.
Fifty respondents to the RSM Middle Market AI Survey 2026 identified as professional services firms. An overwhelming 84% of these respondents reported that AI is fully or partially integrated into their operations. Furthermore, among the 98% of professional service firms that initiated AI pilots in the past 24 months, almost all (98%) said those pilots have been highly or moderately successful (41% and 57%, respectively).
This optimism is based on AI enhancements in day-to-day operations rather than enterprise transformation. When asked what business outcome their organization was trying to achieve with AI in the next year, the top choice of professional services respondents was increased employee productivity (56%).
That aligns with the most popular answer those respondents gave when asked what outcome would signal their AI initiatives had been successful: 58% identified improved employee efficiency as their chief indicator.
“Professional services firms are focusing on applications that create real value today,” says Drew Faries, a principal at RSM US. “They are less interested in chasing transformation for its own sake.”
AI’s immediate impact vs. its potential
Faries says AI investments in the professional services industry are likely to be tied to specific business outcomes. Firms are using AI tools to streamline research, accelerate content creation and automate repetitive tasks.
While many industry leaders recognize AI’s potential to fundamentally change their business, Faries believes that most firms are using the technology to reshape their daily operations. But he thinks that improvements in productivity are only the beginning.
“The firms that win will turn AI into a strategic differentiator,” Faries says. “The immediate value is efficiency, but the longer-term opportunity is changing how work is delivered, priced and scaled.”
Scaling AI requires stronger data governance
Although AI continues to advance rapidly, many firms are still learning how to integrate the technology into their workflows and decision-making processes.
Among professional services respondents who reported moderate or limited success with their AI pilots in the past 24 months (59%), the most common causes of failure were data quality issues (45%) and integration challenges (41%). Although this sample size was small (29 respondents), the results indicate that many firms are still building the technological capabilities needed to take advantage of AI.
As AI use expands, professional services organizations must address significant concerns around data governance given that they routinely handle sensitive client information. Feeding that data into AI systems can create risks that leaders cannot afford to ignore.
“The big issues are confidentiality, privacy, data leakage and unreliable outputs,” Faries says. “Firms are responding with stronger governance, security controls and clear usage policies. But just as important are education and building baseline awareness across the workforce about the AI ecosystem.”
The firms that win will turn AI into a strategic differentiator. The immediate value is efficiency, but the longer-term opportunity is changing how work is delivered, priced and scaled.
Drew Faries, Principal, RSM US
The importance of human judgment
Despite AI’s growing capabilities, the professional services industry remains fundamentally a relationship business. Clients hire advisors not only for information but also for judgment, accountability and trust. Those qualities cannot be automated.
“AI should support research, drafting, summarization, knowledge access and workflow acceleration,” Faries says. “But it should operate within a human-in-the-loop model.”
In such an environment, humans remain responsible for evaluating outputs, making decisions and standing behind the advice provided to clients. Clients expect advisors to exercise professional judgment, not simply relay machine-generated responses.
Survey respondents in the professional services industry are confident that they have the talent to balance these fundamental needs with AI’s potential. Eighty-two percent either completely or somewhat agreed that they had the right in-house AI expertise to implement AI solutions effectively.
But there is a contradiction behind this confidence. When asked to identify the greatest inhibitor to AI deployment within their organization, 30% of industry respondents pinpointed talent or skills gaps in their personnel. This was the most popular answer, indicating that professional services firms may be torn between believing in their staff members and feeling nervous about their actual abilities to manage AI effectively.
AI is reshaping how professional services firms develop talent
Historically, junior employees learned through repetition—conducting research, reviewing documents and performing analytical work that gradually helped them build expertise over time.
As AI automates portions of that work, some leaders worry that younger professionals will lose critical learning opportunities. But Faries sees the issue differently.
“The apprenticeship model doesn’t go away,” he says. “It evolves. Junior talent will spend less time on manual work and more time learning judgment, validation and how to work with AI.”
Human AI collaboration will indeed be crucial in the near future, according to survey respondents in the professional services industry; 84% completely or somewhat agreed with the statement that two to three years from now, humans and AI systems will work together as integrated teams. The same percentage (84%) either completely or somewhat agreed that their firms’ workforce size and composition will look fundamentally different within the same time frame because of AI.
Adaptation will determine success
AI is likely to raise the baseline capabilities of nearly every professional services firm. But those changes alone will not determine who is successful.
“AI will raise the floor,” Faries says. “But the winning firms will adapt faster and use these tools to create more value.”
Faries says the differentiator will continue to be the ability to build trust, develop relationships and deliver meaningful outcomes for clients. AI may change how work gets done, he says, but it won’t eliminate the human element needed at the center of professional services.
From AI investment to business impact
Discover how organizations are approaching AI adoption, overcoming barriers and preparing to scale enterprise value.
