Information technology consulting

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 (on "1099"), employees of staffing firms (employed on "W-2"), or as subcontractors in their own right.

Contents
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* 1 List of IT consulting firms
o 1.1 Asia
o 1.2 Europe
o 1.3 North America
o 1.4 Defunct but notable
* 2 See also

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, finance or a generalized MBA (Masters in Business Administration).

[edit] List of IT consulting firms

The following is a list of the largest IT consulting firms in the world by number of consultants. 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 may not be equal to their number of employees; it indicates the total workforce.

[edit] Asia

* HCL Technologies, Noida, India
* Infosys (Bangalore, India)
* Satyam Computer Services Ltd., India
* Tata Consultancy Services (Mumbai, India)
* Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, India

[edit] Europe

* Atos Origin (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) (45,000)
* Capgemini (Paris, France) (60,000)
* Detecon (Bonn, Germany) ()
* Getronics (Amsterdam, Netherlands) (28,000)
* Indra (Madrid, Spain) (20,000)
* LogicaCMG (London, UK) (30,000)
* TietoEnator (Espoo, Finland) (15,000)

[edit] North America

* Accenture (Hamilton, Bermuda) (140,000)
* 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) (30,000)
* Computer Sciences Corporation (El Segundo, CA) (79,000)
* Deloitte Consulting LLP (New York, NY) (135,000)
* Electronic Data Systems (Plano, TX) (132,000)
* Fujitsu Consulting (DMR, Rapidigm,Greenbrier & Russel], (Edison, NJ) (11,000)
* HP Technology Solutions (Palo Alto, CA) (65,000)
* IBM Global Services (Somers, NY) (190,000)
* Keane Inc (Boston, MA) (10,000)
* Sapient (company) (Cambridge,United States, 5000+)
* Science Applications International Corporation (San Diego, CA) (43,000)
* Titan Corporation (San Diego, CA) (12,000)
* Unisys (Blue Bell, PA) (37,000)

[edit] Defunct but notable

* Arthur Andersen Business Consulting
* MarchFirst