Aon | Professional Services Practice
Evolving Risks, Evolving Solutions: Risk and the Lifecycle of a Consulting Firm
Release Date: October 2025The risk profile of a consulting firm evolves as it grows. A firm can face new exposures, greater complexity and higher stakes as it moves through this evolution. Understanding the risk landscape of the different phases is vital for developing appropriate risk management and insurance strategies and can assist the firm when thinking about both business expansion and M&A opportunities.
Key Takeaways
- Consulting firms face different risk landscapes as they grow and evolve
- Understanding the changing risks and adjusting risk mitigation strategies helps to ensure the protection of the firm
- In each stage, and when involved in business expansion and mergers and acquisitions, firms should work with an experienced insurance broker to secure appropriate coverage
A Small and Medium-sized Enterprise: The Initial Phase
For firms with revenues under US$1 billion, risk management is often about protecting cash flow, reputation, and client relationships with limited resources. Client-facing professional services risk, talent retention, privacy and cybersecurity are top concerns.
Very often, firms at this juncture are focused on transferring risk to insurers through standard commercial policies. Insurance brokers can help identify critical exposures, structure cost-effective insurance solutions, and ensure that the firm is not left vulnerable to uninsured losses.
Scaling Up: The Large Phase
The complexity and scale of the firm’s consulting projects increase as the firm expands nationally and revenues exceed US$1 billion. The firm’s risk profile changes with a broader employee base, more diverse service offerings, and national, or perhaps, global operations.
Legal and regulatory requirements become more demanding, and cyber threats more sophisticated. Larger firms will often retain some risk, explore captive insurance, and require higher coverage limits for crucial risk exposures. Brokers can work with the firm to assess evolving risk exposures and develop tailored insurance solutions.
Thinking Globally: The Enterprise Phase
For consulting firms with revenues above US$5 billion, risk management becomes a strategic enterprise-wide function. These firms are exposed to cross-border liabilities, geopolitical risks, and high-value client engagements.
Insurance needs become highly specialized, requiring coordinated global programs with robust limits and customized policy wordings tailored to complex risk exposures. The firm will need a broker with deep risk and insurance expertise and with global and local capabilities that can help the firm to anticipate emerging risk exposures, protect the firm’s reputation, and maintain business continuity on a global scale.
Match Business Growth and Development with Appropriate Risk Advice
As a firm grows, its risk landscape evolves. So should its insurance strategy.
A trusted broker and risk advisor can help identify new exposures, optimize insurance solutions, and ensure that the firm is prepared for what is next. Each firm’s growth story is unique, and its insurance should be too.
Contact
The Professional Services Practice at Aon values your feedback. To discuss any of the topics raised in this article, please contact Catherine Jones.
Catherine Jones
Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Consulting Firm Leader
New York
About Aon
Aon (NYSE: AON) exists to shape decisions for the better — to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world. Through actionable analytic insight, globally integrated Risk Capital and Human Capital expertise, and locally relevant solutions, our colleagues provide clients in over 120 countries with the clarity and confidence to make better risk and people decisions that help protect and grow their businesses.
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