Information technology consulting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Information technology consulting (IT consulting or business and technology services) is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives. In addition to providing advice, IT consultancies often implement, deploy, and administer IT systems on businesses' behalf.

The IT consulting industry can be viewed as a three-tier system:

  • Professional services firms which maintain large professional workforces and command high bill rates. These firms are increasingly sourcing their employees from low-cost nations.
  • Staffing firms, which place technologists in businesses on a temporary basis. These firms are pejoratively known as "body shops". While they are geographically limited by their customers, they can exploit global cost differences by bringing guest workers to their host country. Body Shops are typically distinguished from Consultancies by their commercial practice of pricing service by the day (the input), rather than by the results of their work (the outputs, or deliverables).
  • Independent consultants, who function as contractors (in the U.S, on "1099"), employees of staffing firms (in the U.S, employed on "W-2"), or as subcontractors in their own right.

Contents

There is a relatively unclear line between management consulting and IT consulting. There are sometimes overlaps between the two fields, but IT consultants often have degrees in computer science, electronics, technology, or management of information systems while management consultants often have degrees in accounting, economics, Industrial Engineering, finance, or a generalized MBA (Masters in Business Administration).

The following is a list of the largest IT consulting firms in the world, along with their corporate headquarters location and the total number of consultants they have. Many of these serve primarily as third-party consultants. Many enterprise software companies, such as SAP and Oracle, employ their own consultants for services related to their own products. Among the corporations listed below, the number of consultants listed is less than their total number of employees.

Name Headquarters Consultants
Infosys Bangalore, India 75,000
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Mumbai, India 24,000
Patni Computer Systems Mumbai, India 13,000
Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Hyderabad, India 40,000+
Tata Consultancy Services Mumbai, India 100,000+
Tech Mahindra Pune, India 17,000+
Fujitsu Consulting India Limited India, India 6,700
Wipro Technologies Bangalore, India 68,000

Name Location Consultants
Atos Origin Hoofddorp, Netherlands 45,000
Capgemini Paris, France 75,020
Getronics Amsterdam, Netherlands 28,000
Indra Madrid, Spain 20,000
LogicaCMG London, UK 40,000
Siemens IT Solutions and Services Munich, Germany 40,000+
TietoEnator Espoo, Finland 15,000

Name Location Consultants
Accenture Hamilton, Bermuda 146,000
Affiliated Computer Services Dallas, TX 40,000
BearingPoint McLean, VA 16,000
Booz Allen Hamilton McLean, VA 18,000
CGI Group Montreal, Canada 25,000
Cognizant Technology Solutions Teaneck, NJ 50,000
Computer Sciences Corporation El Segundo, CA 79,000
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu New York, NY 135,000
Electronic Data Systems Plano, TX 132,000
Fujitsu Consulting Edison, NJ 6,700+
HP Technology Solutions Palo Alto, CA 65,000
IBM Global Business Services Armonk, NY 320,000
Keane Inc Boston, MA 10,000
Perot Systems Plano, TX 21,000
Science Applications International Corporation San Diego, CA 43,000
Titan Corporation San Diego, CA 12,000
Unisys Blue Bell, PA 37,000

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.