
Michael Kempe on How AI Is Reinventing the Professional Services Business Model
Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)Show Notes
AI may make professional services faster, but Grant Thornton Advisors CIO Mike Kempe believes the bigger opportunity is to rethink what clients are actually buying.
In this episode of Technovation, Kempe joins Peter High to discuss how Grant Thornton is using AI to reimagine professional services from the ground up. He explains why simply automating individual steps leaves much of AI’s potential untapped, how the firm keeps human judgment at the center of AI-enabled work, and why trust and governance remain essential as adoption scales. Kempe also explores a larger shift in the industry: away from traditional time-and-materials engagements and toward a model built around outcomes, insight, confidence, and results.
The conversation also covers Grant Thornton’s AI investments, its GTAP audit platform, experimentation with AI agents, M&A integration, and the evolving role of the CIO.
This episode is presented by ElevenLabs — Bringing technology to life. Learn more at elevenlabs.io
This episode is also presented by Retool — Build internal software better, with AI. Learn more at retool.com
More from Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)
AI layered onto a broken process doesn’t fix the process; it just runs it faster. Prakash Kota spent his first 18 months at UKG consolidating two legacy companies into unified CRM, ERP, and data systems before any AI conversation began. Now, as Chief Transformation Officer, he is shifting the question from “what tools can we deploy?” to “what outcome are we trying to reach?” That discipline extends to the customer funnel, where AI-assembled signals travel with a prospect through every handoff, and to sales reps, where an autonomous assistant pushes pre-meeting briefs before a rep has to ask, reclaiming the 40–50% of call-prep time currently spent on research.
The binding constraint on AI adoption is not access to tools. It is the organizational fear and mindset shift required to reimagine work entirely.
Healthcare has accumulated friction that patients have come to accept as normal. Novant Health’s Chief AI Officer is systematically dismantling it.
Most generative AI programs stall at the pilot stage. Zoetis reached 95% computer-based colleague adoption.
The next generation of technology giants may not be built in software. They may be built in factories.