The software consulting firms have been waiting for

    One platform. One AI chat. Everything you need to run a modern consulting firm without spreadsheets and generic CRMs.

    The problem with consulting firms today

    Most consulting firms still work with tools built for other industries: B2C CRMs, ERP systems, shared spreadsheets. None of them fit the consulting business model.

    • Salesforce is too much: too expensive, too slow, too generic
    • Excel doesn't scale: above 30 consultants it becomes chaos
    • Vertical tools (ATS, CRM, billing) don't talk to each other
    • Know-how stays in people's heads, not in the systems
    • Board reporting still done by hand every month

    Software designed specifically for modern consulting

    hice.ai understands what T&M, milestone, assessment, proposal mean. You don't have to adapt your business to the software.

    • "How many senior consultants did we propose to TIM in the last 6 months?"
    • "Generate a commercial proposal for the Eni data engineering project"
    • "Show me projects with margin below 25%"
    • "Notify Anna that the Generali interview is confirmed for Tuesday"
    Try it in chat

    Examples you can ask:

    Static demo of hice's AI chat.

    What you get

    Consulting-first CRM

    Pipeline designed for the long sales cycles typical of consulting.

    Built-in ATS

    Candidate database with automatic AI matching to open projects.

    T&M management

    Per-role rates, hours, milestones, real-time project margin.

    Executive dashboard

    Sales, operations, finance KPIs in one view for the board.

    Multi-language

    EN, IT, FR, ES for cross-border firms.

    Standard connectors

    E-billing, payroll, BI, MS365.

    Which processes the system must cover, and in what order to roll them out

    A consulting firm has four journeys that must chain together without manual re-keying: opportunity to project, role requirement to assigned consultant, delivered work to logged hour, and approved hour to billable amount. Whenever one of the four breaks, somebody keeps a spreadsheet to plug the gap.

    There is no need to unify everything at once, and doing so usually exhausts the team's patience. The lowest-risk order starts with the project-and-hours pair, because that is where the economic data is born and where the improvement shows at the first month-end. Capacity and assignments follow, then the pipeline with demand fields, and candidates last.

    • Opportunity to project without re-entering the client
    • Role requirement to assignment with real availability
    • Logged hour to billable amount without collection work
    • Shared definitions of utilization, cost and margin

    When an ERP does not solve a consulting firm's problem

    An ERP is designed around product, inventory and accounting. A consulting firm does not sell units: it sells the availability of specific people on specific dates, and its P&L depends on decisions taken weeks before any accounting document exists.

    Adapting an ERP to professional services therefore tends to handle the end of the process well and leave uncovered the part with the most value: planning capacity, deciding assignments and seeing project margin while it can still be corrected. The practical conclusion is not to replace accounting, but not to ask it to run operations.

    • Accounting and tax in the accounting system, with integration
    • Capacity, assignments and project margin in the operational layer
    • One owning system for every shared data point
    • Billing data exported in the accountant's format

    How to assess fit before committing

    Demonstrations all look alike, and the difference between a product used daily and one that merely demos well appears when the buyer brings the scenario. It is worth preparing your own case, not sending it in advance, and asking for the keyboard for fifteen minutes.

    The scenario should run a full cycle with real data: an opportunity becoming a project, an assignment with an availability conflict, a timesheet with an out-of-contract booking, and a month-end with billing preparation. The exceptions show the product; the happy path shows the marketing.

    • Your own scenario, not the vendor's standard demo
    • Permission testing with a real user from each role
    • Verification of the full data export before signing
    • Operations and finance in the room, not only leadership

    35-person strategy consulting boutique

    Before: 1 sales, 1 HR, 1 PM, each with their own Excel. Management never had a unified real-time view. With hice.ai: one source of truth, accessible via chat. The CEO asks "How are we doing this quarter?" and gets the answer in 5 seconds during a client meeting.

    hice.ai vs common alternatives

    Featurehice.aiExcel + generic CRM
    Total costOne licenseMultiple tools + integrations + human time
    Built for consultingYes, nativeNo, generic B2B
    AI for matchingIncludedManual or absent
    Time to generate reportSecondsHours
    Internal adoptionHighLow
    Multi-language nativeYesOften English only

    FAQ

    What kind of consulting firms is it for?+

    IT, engineering, strategy, HR, financial consulting. All firms that sell projects, deliverables or consultant hours.

    Does it replace Salesforce?+

    Yes. For consulting firms it's a more focused, cheaper, faster-to-adopt alternative. See comparison page.

    Can I keep using Excel in parallel?+

    Yes initially. We import your spreadsheets as baseline, then usage gradually shifts to chat.

    Does it handle freelancers?+

    Yes. Distinction between employees and freelancers, different rates, separate billing.

    Can I integrate e-invoicing?+

    Yes, standard connectors to major e-invoicing providers.

    Difference vs an ERP?+

    An ERP runs the whole company; hice.ai focuses on the consulting operational core (projects, people, clients, invoices).

    How much does implementation cost?+

    Standard setup included. For firms above 100 consultants we offer dedicated onboarding.

    Can I try before buying?+

    Yes, instant free access. For a 30-minute guided demo contact us.

    Replace Excel, CRM and ATS with one chat

    30-minute demo or instant free access.

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