“The State of Professional Services: 2024” is the story of two countervailing themes: inertia and change. Professional services (PS) leaders are balancing the need to “keep the lights on” and manage the business as usual (inertia) while confronting and capitalizing on many emerging forces, trends, and pressures (change). The intersection of inertia and change is affecting everyone in every PS organization: PS leaders, line managers, operational leaders, and individual contributors. PS stakeholders must have a very clear understanding of the forces of inertia and change and how to navigate both at the same time. This paper will delve into these themes, with special emphasis on how trends like organizational convergence and the rise of AI are likely to change how PS organizations organize and optimize for company and customer value. We will draw on the TSIA Core PS Benchmark study data, as well as data from other surveys and polls that we’ve done over the last year on key emerging topics.