News
April 20, 2026

Signal S1.EP3: Your junior consultant is now an AI agent

One big move from PwC, one quiet move from us. 73% of clients now expect real-time visibility into project status, while 89% of services leaders still manually verify AI outputs before sharing them. This Signal unpacks PwC's launch of PwC One, what mid-market firms should take from it, and a stat that might make you rethink how your team works with AI.
One big move from PwC, one quiet move from us. 73% of clients now expect real-time visibility into project status, while 89% of services leaders still manually verify AI outputs before sharing them. This Signal unpacks PwC's launch of PwC One, what mid-market firms should take from it, and a stat that might make you rethink how your team works with AI.

Glad you're here! We've had a busy few weeks. PwC made a big move, we've got a new Jubel article out, and there's a stat in here that might make you rethink how your team works with AI. Grab a coffee and let's get into it. ☕

NEWS

73% of clients now expect real-time visibility into project status

Kantata's industry report found that nearly three quarters of clients demand real-time project visibility, while 89% of services leaders still spend significant time manually verifying AI outputs before sharing them.

PwC launches PwC One

PwC introduced PwC One, a platform combining its proprietary methodologies with AI models from Microsoft, Google Cloud, AWS, OpenAI, and Anthropic, letting clients interact directly with autonomous agents for tax analysis, deal diligence, and sustainability assurance.

What can we learn from this?

PwC just made 364,000 employees share the room with an AI agent. Not because AI is interesting, but because having juniors rebuild the same analysis for the fifth time doesn't scale. PwC One stores institutional knowledge in the platform instead of in people's heads. Smart move. But it also exposes the real gap: most firms have no structured way to retain what they learn. New engagement? Start from zero. New handoff? Context gone.

The Big Four can build custom AI platforms. Mid-market firms can't. So the firms that win won't be the ones with the best AI. They'll be the ones whose operations were already ready for it.

BEHIND THE SCENES

We are releasing the first feature of our new product this week 👀

Something's coming. This week, we're dropping the first feature of something we've been building quietly. Want in before everyone else?

👉 Don't miss out, join the waitlist

Bye bye Nora. Happy 30th Mathias.

Two milestones. We said goodbye to Nora after a great internship (she left us better than she found us, which is exactly how it should work). And we celebrated Mathias' birthday with the team. Cake was involved. Strong opinions about cake were also involved.

New Jubel article is out

The jam problem: Why professionals stick with bad tools.

73% of audit firms call themselves digitally transformed. Only 19% are happy with their own client-facing tools. The gap isn't about technology. It's about the behavioral patterns that keep firms locked into what they've always done. Read the article, second in the series.

👉 Dutch version 👉 English version

INSIGHTS
"89% of services leaders still spend significant time manually verifying AI outputs before sharing them with clients."

(Insight from Kantata | State of the Professional Services Industry Report)

🔍 The Systems View

Toto De Brant, Co-founder Alkmist

If you're spending hours double-checking your AI, you haven't built verification into the workflow. The answer isn't more review. It's structured outputs with built-in validation.

💬 Behavioral Perspective

Mathias Celis, Co-founder Alkmist | PhD Psychology & Business Economics

This is a trust gap, not a tech gap. People verify because they're afraid of looking stupid in front of a client. Fix the fear first, automate the checks second.

We're looking for an AI Engineer

*Master's in CS/AI/ML required.

👉 Read the vacancy here

TIPS
If a client asks you to resend a file, your process already failed. Keep every document exchange in a single, shared location with activity tracking. The question "did you receive it?" should answer itself.
Come Find Us at Accountex | 13-14 May | London

The UK's biggest accounting event is almost here, and we'll be on the show floor ready to chat, demo, and maybe even share a few secrets.

👉 Get free tickets here

See you for the next one!

Multi party collaboration, simplified.
Talk to our founders today!
Talk To Our Founders
Continue reading
Tips
Your client is not asking for AI. Your client is asking for attention.
Clients don't leave because the work was bad. They leave because the process felt too heavy. Research from Ghent University and Alkmist reveals what clients actually remember about professional engagements, and it's never the final deliverable.
Read article
Insight
Your most experienced people spend 11 hours a week in their inbox. Here's what that costs you.
McKinsey says knowledge workers spend 28% of their week managing email. Microsoft puts the daily intake at 117 emails. For senior partners at audit, accounting, M&A, legal, and insurance firms, that is more than a full workday lost to coordination every week. The fix isn't a better inbox.
Read article
Accounting
97% of accounting firms say they use technology inefficiently. The fix isn't more technology.
Almost every accounting firm invested in technology over the past five years. Almost none of them feel like it's working. The problem isn't the tools. It's the gap between them.
Read article