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In the 1990s, the business consultancy practices of the majority of the Big Five accountancy firms (Ernst & Young, PwC Consulting and KPMG) were sold off and snapped up by IT services companies, all eager to add business acumen to their IT portfolios; or in the case of Arthur Andersen spun off to form a new consulting and technology services organisation (now called Accenture). Since then, Capgemini (Ernst & Young), IBM (PwC Consulting) and Atos Origin (KPMG) have endeavoured to get the most value from their acquisitions. In response, their IT services company peers, such as LogicaCMG and EDS, have sought to build up business consultancy capability from the ground up. In parallel, the pure-play business consultancies have continued to offer standalone advice, often in competition with the IT services players, while also seeking to gain some revenue stability from longer-term engagements. This market activity has resulted in business consultancy playing an increasingly important role in the IT services market.

This report analyses the role of business consultancy in IT services and answers key questions such as:

What is business consultancy? And what is the relationship between business consultancy and IT services?
Can IT services companies offer advice of the same quality as the pure-play business consultancies? What type of business consultancy should IT services players undertake? Should IT services players with consultancy capabilities effect enterprise-wide business change amongst their clients?
How should IT services firms manage their business consultancy organisations? Should they claim to be neutral? Should business consultants be rewarded for pulling through revenues for the core IT services organisation?

The report draws on interviews with representatives from the client community, both commercial and public sector, and the supplier community, both IT services companies with ‘captive’ business consultancy capability and pure-play business consultancies. These interviews were undertaken during February 2007.

Table of contents

Executive summary

The role of business consultancy in IT services
Recommendations for IT services suppliers
Recommendations for consultancy buyers

What is business consultancy?

Business consultancy versus IT consultancy
The hierarchy of business consultancy

The competitive landscape

Pure-play consultancies: search for revenue stability
Captive consultancies (owned by IT services companies): building business consultancy capability

The role of business consultancy in IT services

Tactical business consultancy: the norm for IT services
Enterprise business consultancy: unusual in IT services firms
Pure versus bundled business consultancy

The limits of business consultancy in IT services

Restricted by skills and expertise
Restricted by ‘brand permission’

IT services companies and neutrality

Is integrity a substitute for neutrality?
Should technology neutrality be an issue?
To reward or not to reward?
The importance of reporting lines

The future of business consultancy in IT services

Business consultancy will remain an important part of the IT services landscape
The heritage of companies will remain an issue for clients
The brand revival won’t make much difference
IT services companies should ‘specialise, specialise, specialise…’
’Second tier’ pure-plays will struggle
IT services companies must prepare their consultancy practices for the downturn
Big Five ‘inheritors’ will struggle to get back upmarket

Recommendations for IT services companies

Tactical and enterprise business consulting
Organisation and governance issues
Branding and marketing
Preparing for the future

Recommendations for consultancy buyers

Table of figures

Figure 1 Supplier and user views on the relationship between business consultancy and IT consultancy
Figure 2 Ovum view on the relationship between business and IT consultancy
Figure 3 Operational consultancy: the use of business and IT consultants
Figure 4 Business consultancy: the competitive landscape
Figure 5 Characteristics of tactical consultants versus enterprise consultants