how strategy consulting firms and financial advisory services are dividing the 2025 agenda

Boardrooms don’t need another turf war; they need a routing rule that says, “who owns what, when.” Strategy consulting firms shape where the business is going, AI roadmaps, operating models, ESG strategy, while financial advisory services keep the engine funded and compliant, capital raises, restructuring, and creditor management.  

The trick is sequencing: design first where choices are existential; mobilise capital where timelines and covenants are unforgiving. 

AI transformation 

If it smells like operating‑model redesign, data architecture, and use‑case portfolios, it’s squarely in strategy’s lane, with an asterisk: advisory steps in when scaling needs capex planning, incentives, or CFO comfort on ROI. Smart boards separate the blueprint (strategy consulting firms) from the financing and governance stack (financial advisory services), so pilots don’t become expensive theatre. Bonus filter: if the slide you’re looking at mentions model risk, vendor lock‑in, or payback periods, both teams are now in the room, by design, not by accident. 

ESG, minus the eye‑roll 

ESG is no longer a brochure; it’s regulation plus money flows, and it splits cleanly: materiality, targets, and value creation go to strategy consulting firms; reporting architectures and transition finance tap financial advisory services. Expect scenario planning, KPI design, and portfolio moves from strategy; think sustainability‑linked loans, green bonds, and carve‑out financing from advisory. The sanity test: if it changes the P&L narrative, strategy leads; if it changes the term sheet, advisory leads. 

Cost takeout 

The cost is a two‑storey house. Upstairs: strategy teams redesign the operating model, zero‑based work, automation where it actually pays, and organisation simplification. Downstairs: advisory tightens working capital, negotiates with lenders, and manages covenant relief and liability restructuring when cash is tight. Mix them wrong and you digitise waste; mix them right and you bank savings fast without breaking the ship. 

Capital restructuring 

This is advisory ground zero: liquidity diagnostics, debt refi, ABL lines, DIP financing, creditor strategy, and cash governance, often under time pressure with board oversight. Strategy consulting firms show up to frame portfolio options, carve‑out logic, and synergy theses so the capital plan funds a future worth owning, not just a prolonged present. Translation: advisory keeps the runway open; strategy decides where to fly next. 

The one‑screen matrix 

• AI transformation: Strategy leads; Advisory funds and governs. 
• ESG agenda: Strategy sets value and KPIs; Advisory structures financing and disclosure. 
• Cost takeout: Strategy redesigns; Advisory optimises cash and covenants. 
• Capital restructuring: Advisory leads; Strategy frames portfolio moves. 

Conclusion 

Pick the owner by the outcome, not the logo: when the brief reshapes the business, call strategy consulting firms; when the brief protects liquidity or resets capital, call financial advisory services, and for anything that touches both the P&L and the term sheet, make them sit together from day one. That’s the matrix that ends the politics, saves the quarter, and, quietly, builds a better year.